title: The Metacognitions about Online Gaming Scale: Development and psychometric properties.
abstract: Recent research has suggested that metacognitions may play a role across the spectrum of addictive behaviours. The goal of our studies was to develop the first self-report scale of metacognitions about online gaming.
  
  
  
  We conducted two studies with samples of online gamers (n=225, n=348) to test the structure and psychometric properties of the Metacognitions about Online Gaming Scale and examined its capacity to predict weekly online gaming hours and Internet addiction.
  
  
  
  Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported a three-factor solution: positive metacognitions about online gaming, negative metacognitions about the uncontrollability of online gaming, and negative metacognitions about the dangers of online gaming. Internal consistency, predictive and divergent validity were acceptable. All the factors of the Metacognitions about Online Gaming Scale correlated positively with weekly online gaming hours and Internet addiction. Regression analyses showed that negative metacognitions about the uncontrollability of online gaming and levels of Internet addiction were the only significant predictors of weekly online gaming hours, and that positive metacognitions about online gaming and negative metacognitions about the uncontrollability of online gaming were the only significant predictors of Internet addiction.
  
  
  
  The Metacognitions about Online Gaming Scale was shown to possess good psychometric properties, as well as predictive and divergent validity within the populations that were tested.
authors.affiliation: Division of Psychology, School of Applied Sciences, London South Bank University, London, UK. Electronic address: spadam@lsbu.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Marcantonio M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Spada
authors.affiliation: Division of Psychology, School of Applied Sciences, London South Bank University, London, UK; Studi Cognitivi, Modena, Italy; Sigmund Freud University, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Gabriele
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Caselli
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016739:Behavior, Addictive / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D000067489:Metacognition; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D018910:Video Games / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Internet addiction; Metacognition; Metacognitions; Online gaming; Problematic online gaming; Psychometric measure