Gaming disorder symptoms and psychiatric comorbidity from adolescence to early adulthood – a longitudinal study

Abstract Gaming is an increasingly common pastime activity. Gaming Disorder (GD) is characterized by excessive gaming habits, loss of control and priority of gaming resulting in negative consequences. Psychiatric symptoms have been suggested as an important factor affecting GD, yet longitudinal studies are limited. This study examined the temporal stability of GD symptoms and longitudinal comorbidity with psychiatric symptoms, from adolescence to adulthood. Self-ratings on symptoms of GD, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), depression, anxiety and conduct disorder (CD) were collected at four waves (W1: n = 1834, Mean age = 14.40; W2: n = 1642, Mean age = 17.37; W3: n = 1211, Mean age = 20.19; W4: n = 1066, Mean age = 22.93). Linear Growth Mixture Models were used to assess trajectories of GD symptoms. Generalized Linear Mixed Models and binary logistic regression were used for investigating associations between GD trajectories and psychiatric comorbidity. Three trajectories of GD symptoms were found, “Low Descending” ( n = 1436), “Moderate Stable” ( n = 211) and “Problematic Ascending” ( n = 74). The “Moderate Stable” group rated more symptoms of ADHD, anxiety and depression, whereas the “Problematic Ascending” group rated more symptoms of ADHD, anxiety and CD, as compared to the “Low Descending” group. The “Moderate Stable” and the “Problematic Ascending” groups also had higher odds of reporting a diagnosed psychiatric condition. No sex-specificity were found between GD trajectories and psychiatric comorbidities, although males rated more GD symptoms. GD and psychiatric symptoms followed parallel developmental patterns, suggesting a reciprocal relationship. The findings stress the importance of identifying problematic gaming when assessing psychiatric symptoms, and vice versa, potentially important for targeted prevention and early intervention.