Peer-reviewed article
Problematic gaming, problematic social media use, and psychological well-being in adolescents: exploring networks of symptoms in 10 European countries.
Stašek A, Löchner D, Boniel-Nissim M, Canale N, van den Eijnden R et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined problematic gaming and social media use among 33,586 adolescents aged 11-15 across 10 European countries. Using network analysis, researchers identified escapism as the most common and central symptom linking both behaviors to psychological well-being outcomes like loneliness and nervousness. Behavioral consequences such as conflict and deception showed similar patterns across gaming and social media, suggesting they reflect a general underlying condition. The findings indicate gender differences, with escapism particularly connected to well-being and nervousness in girls.
Key points
- Escapism was the most common and key bridge symptom in both problematic gaming and social media use
- Escapism connected to loneliness in both genders and to overall well-being and nervousness in girls
- Behavioral symptoms reflecting negative consequences (conflict, deception, problems with others) were strongly related across both gaming and social media
- Gender-specific differences were found in how problematic media use relates to psychological well-being
- Symptom-level analysis reveals heterogeneity within problematic media use that aggregate scores may miss
Limitations
This is a cross-sectional study examining associations rather than causation, so it cannot determine whether escapism drives problematic media use or vice versa, or whether both result from underlying psychological distress. The study does not evaluate any intervention.
Abstract
Background Studies that jointly examine the specific symptoms of problematic gaming and problematic social media use with comparable conceptualizations and link them to adolescent psychological well-being remain scarce. Methods This study addresses this gap with an effective representative sample of n = 33,586 adolescents aged 11-15 years across 10 European countries, collected in the 2021-22 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey. A network approach was applied to data about problematic media use (i.e., Internet Gaming Disorder Scale, Social Media Disorder Scale) and psychological well-being (i.e., WHO-5 Well-being Index, Multiple Health Complaints Scale, and Loneliness). Results In gaming and social media, either separately or together, escapism was both the most common and the key bridge symptom: it was connected to loneliness in both genders and to overall well-being and nervousness in girls. Behavioral symptoms that reflect negative consequences of use (i.e., conflict, deception, and problems with others) were strongly related across gaming and social media, suggesting that they reflect a general condition rather than a behavior linked to a specific media use. Conclusions The findings highlight the central role of escapism in the interplay between adolescent problematic media use and psychological well-being, with some gender-specific differences. Symptom-level focus can guide prevention and intervention strategies. It can also prompt further research to move beyond aggregated symptom scores to better capture the heterogeneity of problematic media use as well as how specifically relevant the symptoms are for the two problematic behaviors in relation to psychological well-being.