J Korean Neuropsychiatr Assoc.  2015 Aug;54(3):322-329. 10.4306/jknpa.2015.54.3.322.

Comorbid Depression Interferes with Emotional Regulation in Adolescents with Internet Gaming Disorder

• Lee J
• Lee S
• Chun JW
• Cho H
• Kim DJ
• Jung YC

• KMID: 2035966
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4306/jknpa.2015.54.3.322

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
We investigated the effects of depression on emotional regulation in adolescents with internet gaming disorder.
METHODS
A stroop Match-to-Sample task with emotional interference was applied to 36 male adolescents to investigate how emotional stimuli (angry faces) interfered with performance of the stroop task in male adolescents with internet gaming disorder. For evaluation of psychiatric symptoms and personal characteristics, participants were asked to complete self-reports, including Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Beck Anxiety Inventory, Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, and the Aggression Questionnaire.
RESULTS
In emotionally interfered conditions, there was no significant difference of reaction time between the internet gaming disorder group and the healthy control group. However, the internet gaming disorder group showed a tendency of longer reaction time and lower accuracy rate in emotionally interfered condition, which can account for emotion regulation difficulties in the internet gaming disorder group. According to analysis of covariance and stepwise multiple linear regression analysis, BDI score showed association with reaction time of results.
CONCLUSION
These results indicate that adolescents with internet gaming disorder may experience more difficulties in emotion regulation during attention-required situations than those in the control group, and comorbid depression contributes to faulty emotional regulation in adolescents with internet gaming disorder.

Keyword

Internet gaming disorder; Adolescents; Emotion regulation; Depression

MeSH Terms

Adolescent*
Aggression
Anxiety
Depression*
Humans
Internet*
Linear Models
Reaction Time

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1 Stroop Match-to-Sample Task with emotional interference. Colored cue were displayed for 500 ms followed by interferer of 1700 ms. We used angry faces in emotion interfering condition as interferer and grey plate in neutral condition. The target word was either congruent or incongruent (for example, the target word 빨강, which means RED in Korean, was written in red font in congruent condition ; otherwise the target 파랑, which means BLUE in Korean, was written in red or green font in incongruent condition). Inter-trial interval was 1200 ms.

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