[en] Some people have serious problems controlling their Internet and video game use. The DSM-5 now includes a proposal for 'Internet Gaming Disorder' (IGD) as a condition in need of further study. Various studies aim to validate the proposed diagnostic criteria for IGD and multiple new scales have been introduced that cover the suggested criteria. Using a structured approach, we demonstrate that IGD might be better interpreted as a formative construct, as opposed to the current practice of conceptualizing it as a reflective construct. Incorrectly approaching a formative construct as a reflective one causes serious problems in scale development, including: (i) incorrect reliance on item-to-total scale correlation to exclude items and incorrectly relying on indices of inter-item reliability that do not fit the measurement model (e.g., Cronbach's alpha); (ii) incorrect interpretation of composite or mean scores that assume all items are equal in contributing value to a sum score; and (iii) biased estimation of model parameters in statistical models. We show that these issues are impacting current validation efforts through two recent examples. A reinterpretation of IGD as a formative construct has broad consequences for current validation efforts and provides opportunities to reanalyze existing data. We discuss three broad implications for current research: (i) composite latent constructs should be defined and used in models; (ii) item exclusion and selection should not rely on item-to-total scale correlations; and (iii) existing definitions of IGD should be enriched further.
Disciplines :
Treatment & clinical psychology
Author, co-author :
van Rooij, Antonius J.
Van Looy, Jan
Billieux, Joël ; University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Language and Literature, Humanities, Arts and Education (FLSHASE) > Integrative Research Unit: Social and Individual Development (INSIDE)
External co-authors :
yes
Language :
English
Title :
Internet Gaming Disorder as a formative construct: Implications for conceptualization and measurement.
Publication date :
2017
Journal title :
Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences
ISSN :
1440-1819
Publisher :
Blackwell, Oxford, United Kingdom
Volume :
71
Issue :
7
Pages :
445-458
Peer reviewed :
Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi
Commentary :
(c) 2016 The Authors. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences (c) 2016 Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology.