Gaming addiction and screen time in a context of increase of internalizing symptoms: Moderation evaluation

Abstract

Children and adolescents were largely affected by the psychosocial impact of the 2019-2022 pandemic. During this time, there was an increase in internalizing symptoms, screen and internet use, and internet addiction. However, the interaction of these variables are not fully understood in a stressful time. Here, we have a repeated cross-sectional study aiming to model internalizing symptoms’ prediction depending on screen time and game addiction during the COVID-19 pandemic. Parent-reported online data were collected at three timepoints, 6 months apart from each other, from a total of 1211 participants. We found an increase in screen time, game addiction, and internalizing symptoms. Regardless of the time spent in front of screens, higher levels of game addiction were associated with higher levels of internalizing symptoms in children and adolescents. Even if participants demonstrated low screen time, if they were virtually dependent they tended to exhibit higher levels of internalizing symptoms. The same result was found in all three samples. There is a need to investigate the nature of the relationship between internet addiction and internalizing symptoms and the long lasting effects of long hours on the screen.