title: Gaming and Religion: The Impact of Spirituality and Denomination.
abstract: A previous investigation from Korea indicated that religion might modulate gaming behavior (Kim and Kim in J Korean Acad Nurs 40:378-388, 2010). Our present study aimed to investigate whether a belief in God, practicing religious behavior and religious denomination affected gaming behavior. Data were derived from a Western cohort of young men (Cohort Study on Substance Use Risk Factors, n = 5990). The results showed that a stronger belief in God was associated with lower gaming frequency and smaller game addiction scale scores. In addition, practicing religiosity was related to less frequent online and offline gaming. Finally, Christians gamed less frequently and had lower game addiction scale scores than subjects without religious denomination. In the future, these results could prove useful in developing preventive and therapeutic strategies for the Internet gaming disorder.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Schwabachanlage 6-10, 91054, Erlangen, Germany. birgit.braun@uk-erlangen.de.
authors.forename: Birgit
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Braun
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Schwabachanlage 6-10, 91054, Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kornhuber
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Schwabachanlage 6-10, 91054, Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Bernd
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lenz
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016739:Behavior, Addictive / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012067:Religion; D029181:Spirituality; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013557:Switzerland / Q000453:epidemiology; D018910:Video Games / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Belief in God; Gaming; Prevention; Religiosity; Religious denomination