Citation

Borges G, Benjet C, Orozco R, Albor Y, Contreras EV, Monroy-Velasco IR, Hernández-Uribe PC, Báez-Mansur PM, Covarrubias Diaz Couder MA, Quevedo-Chávez GE, Gutiérrez-García RA, Machado N. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023; 20(3): e2063.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, MDPI: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute)

DOI

10.3390/ijerph20032063

PMID

36767430

Abstract

We seek to evaluate whether Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) among university students in Mexico during their first year at university predicts a long list of mental disorders a year later, controlling for baseline mental health disorders as well as demographics. This is a prospective cohort study with a one-year follow-up period conducted during the 2018-2019 academic year and followed up during the 2019-2020 academic year at six Mexican universities. Participants were first-year university students (n = 1741) who reported symptoms compatible with an IGD diagnosis at entry (baseline). Outcomes are seven mental disorders (mania, hypomania, and major depressive episodes; generalized anxiety disorder and panic disorder; alcohol use disorder and drug use disorder), and three groups of mental disorders (mood, anxiety, and substance use disorders) at the end of the one-year follow-up. Fully adjusted models, that included baseline controls for groups of mental disorders, rendered all associations null. The association between baseline IGD and all disorders and groups of disorders at follow-up was close to one, suggesting a lack of longitudinal impact of IGD on mental disorders. Conflicting results from available longitudinal studies on the role of IGD in the development of mental disorders warrant further research.

Language: en

Keywords

Mexico; epidemiology; longitudinal; substance use disorders; depression; anxiety; internet gaming disorder (IGD)