title: Characteristics of Social Network Gamers: Results of an Online Survey.
abstract: Current research on Internet addiction (IA) reported moderate to high prevalence rates of IA and comorbid psychiatric symptoms in users of social networking sites (SNS) and online role-playing games. The aim of this study was to characterize adult users of an Internet multiplayer strategy game within a SNS. Therefore, we conducted an exploratory study using an online survey to assess sociodemographic variables, psychopathology, and the rate of IA in a sample of adult social network gamers by Young's Internet Addiction Test (IAT), the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-26), the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), the Symptom Checklist-90-R (SCL-90-R), and the WHO Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF). All participants were listed gamers of "Combat Zone" in the SNS "Facebook." In this sample, 16.2% of the participants were categorized as subjects with IA and 19.5% fulfilled the criteria for alexithymia. Comparing study participants with and without IA, the IA group had significantly more subjects with alexithymia, reported more depressive symptoms, and showed poorer quality of life. These findings suggest that social network gaming might also be associated with maladaptive patterns of Internet use. Furthermore, a relationship between IA, alexithymia, and depressive symptoms was found that needs to be elucidated by future studies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Campus Charité Mitte, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin , Berlin , Germany.
authors.forename: Olga
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Geisel
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Campus Charité Mitte, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin , Berlin , Germany.
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Panneck
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Campus Charité Mitte, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin , Berlin , Germany.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stickel
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Campus Charité Mitte, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin , Berlin , Germany.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Campus Charité Mitte, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin , Berlin , Germany.
authors.forename: Christian A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Müller
keywords: Internet addiction; Internet use disorder; alexithymia; behavioral addiction; online role-playing games; social networking sites