GAMEPSY-9

Over the past decade, there has been a notable increase in the occurrence of mental health issues, such as sleep disturbances, anxiety, and depression, among Swedish adolescents. At the same time, the expansion of virtual platforms, including digital media like online/offline gaming, has resulted in young individuals spending a significant portion of their waking hours in virtual environments. This trend may potentially influence the emergence of mental health problems among adolescents. In what way and to what extent the use of digital media plays role for the development of adolescent mental health problems remains an area that requires more research. As an extension of the original GAMEPSY project funded by Svenska spel (FO2024-0020) in the current study we aim to a) unravel the short-term and long-term links between mid-adolescent mental health problems and gaming, and b) to offer understanding of the focal mechanisms playing a role for these links. Following research questions will be answered:

RQ1. What is the interplay between adolescent gaming and mental health problems on a day-to-day basis?

RQ2. What is the interplay between adolescent gaming and mental health problems in a longitudinal perspective?

RQ3. To what extent do the type of use (interactive vs. solemn) and motives for gaming, such as interaction with others, skill development, and creative use, play a role for development of mental health problems over time?

RQ4. To what extent do individual factors, such as neurodevelopmental disorder (e.g., ADHD) and social factors, such as parent-child relationship and parent attitudes toward gaming, play role for the developmental trajectories involving adolescent gaming and mental health problems?