Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Online gaming and internet gaming disorder in Iran: patterns, motivations, and correlates

  • Published:
Current Psychology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Online gaming may be associated with adverse outcomes in a minority of players. While some suggest that pathological patterns of online gaming are a public health concern in Iran, the evidence on pathological gaming among Iranian online gamers remains scarce. This study aims to investigate the patterns, motivations, and correlates of pathological online gaming in Iran. An online survey in Persian was performed among adult online gamers recruited across Iranian universities and social media. The 10-item Internet Gaming Disorder Test (IGDT-10) was used to screen for Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD). Motivations for gaming were assessed using the Motives for Online Gaming Questionnaire (MOGQ) and correlated psychiatric symptoms were assessed using the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI). After the estimation of descriptive statistics and bivariate tests, multivariate linear and logistic regressions were used to assess the correlates of the IGDT-10 score and IGD. A total of 791 individuals (75.4% men) responded to the survey. More than 5% played 42 h or more per week. Only 3.7% of respondents met the threshold for IGD. IGD was 9.4 times more common among male than female gamers. The most commonly endorsed criteria were “continuation”, “negative consequences”, and “preoccupation”. Younger age, time spent on gaming, using a PC instead of a smartphone for gaming, “escape” and “fantasy” gaming motivations and psychiatric symptoms were associated with the IGDT-10 score. A small minority of Iranian online gamers may be at risk of pathological gaming and its associated harms, especially younger gamers who play long hours and play with escapist and “fantasy”-related motivations. Further research is needed to elucidate the causes and consequences of gaming-related problems and to evaluate proposed diagnostic criteria and screening instruments.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aarseth, E., Bean, A. M., Boonen, H., Colder Carras, M., Coulson, M., Das, D., et al. (2017). Scholars’ open debate paper on the World Health Organization ICD-11 gaming disorder proposal. Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 6(3), 267–270.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Acock, A. C. (2014). Working with missing values-multiple imputation: A gentle introduction to Stata (fourth edition.). College Station, Texas ….

  • American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). American Psychiatric Association.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Ballabio, M., Griffiths, M. D., Urbán, R., Quartiroli, A., Demetrovics, Z., & Király, O. (2017). Do gaming motives mediate between psychiatric symptoms and problematic gaming? An empirical survey study. Addiction Research & Theory, 25(5), 397–408.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Billieux, J., Chanal, J., Khazaal, Y., Rochat, L., Gay, P., Zullino, D., & Van der Linden, M. (2011). Psychological predictors of problematic involvement in massively multiplayer online role-playing games: Illustration in a sample of male cybercafé players. Psychopathology, 44(3), 165–171.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Billieux, J., Schimmenti, A., Khazaal, Y., Maurage, P., & Heeren, A. (2015). Are we overpathologizing everyday life? A tenable blueprint for behavioral addiction research. Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 4(3), 119–123.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Brunborg, G. S., Mentzoni, R. A., & Frøyland, L. R. (2014). Is video gaming, or video game addiction, associated with depression, academic achievement, heavy episodic drinking, or conduct problems? Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 3(1), 27–32.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Carli, V., Durkee, T., Wasserman, D., Hadlaczky, G., Despalins, R., Kramarz, E., et al. (2013). The association between pathological internet use and comorbid psychopathology: A systematic review. Psychopathology, 46(1), 1–13.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Carras, M. C., & Kardefelt-Winther, D. (2018). When addiction symptoms and life problems diverge: A latent class analysis of problematic gaming in a representative multinational sample of European adolescents. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 27(4), 513–525.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chiu, S.-I., Lee, J.-Z., & Huang, D.-H. (2004). Video game addiction in children and teenagers in Taiwan. Cyberpsychology & Behavior, 7(5), 571–581.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chiu, Y.-C., Pan, Y.-C., & Lin, Y.-H. (2018). Chinese adaptation of the ten-item internet gaming disorder test and prevalence estimate of internet gaming disorder among adolescents in Taiwan. Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 7(3), 719–726.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Demetrovics, Z., Urbán, R., Nagygyörgy, K., Farkas, J., Griffiths, M. D., Pápay, O., et al. (2012). The development of the problematic online gaming questionnaire (POGQ). PLoS One, 7(5), e36417.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Demetrovics, Z., Urbán, R., Nagygyörgy, K., Farkas, J., Zilahy, D., Mervó, B., et al. (2011). Why do you play? The development of the motives for online gaming questionnaire (MOGQ). Behavior Research Methods, 43(3), 814–825.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Derogatis, L. R. (1975). SCL-90-R: Symptom Checklist-90-R: Administration, scoring, and procedures manual. NCS Pearson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Derogatis, L. R., & Melisaratos, N. (1983). The brief symptom inventory: An introductory report. Psychological Medicine, 13(3), 595–605.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Derogatis, L. R., & Spencer, P. (1993). Brief symptom inventory: BSI. Pearson Upper Saddle River.

    Google Scholar 

  • DIREC. (2019). Landscape Report: The Most Significant Information of Digital Games Consumption in Iran. Retrieved from https://direc.ircg.ir/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/EnglishLandscape13990805.pdf

  • Discacciati, A., Orsini, N., & Greenland, S. (2015). Approximate Bayesian logistic regression via penalized likelihood by data augmentation. The Stata Journal, 15(3), 712–736.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Edy, D. F., Bellani, E., & Arifin, M. (2017). Motive on playing online game as predictor of Adolescence's problematic online gaming use in Makassar. Paper presented at the 8th international conference of Asian Association of Indigenous and Cultural Psychology (ICAAIP 2017).

  • Elliott, L., Golub, A., Ream, G., & Dunlap, E. (2012). Video game genre as a predictor of problem use. Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, 15(3), 155–161.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Ferguson, C., Klisinan, D., Hogg, J. L., Wilson, J., Markey, P., Elson, M., ... Siddiqui, S. (2018). An official** division 46 statement on the WHO proposal to include gaming related disorders in ICD-11. The Society for Media Psychology and Technology, division 46 of the American Psychological Association.

  • Funk, J. B. (1993). Reevaluating the impact of video games. Clinical Pediatrics, 32(2), 86–90.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gentile, D. A. (2011). The multiple dimensions of video game effects. Child Development Perspectives, 5(2), 75–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gough, C. (2020). Video Game Industry–Statistics & Facts. Retrieved from

  • Granic, I., Lobel, A., & Engels, R. (2014). The benefits of playing video games. American Psychologist, 69(1), 66.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Greenland, S., Mansournia, M. A., & Altman, D. G. (2016). Sparse data bias: A problem hiding in plain sight. BMJ, 352, i1981.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Griffiths, M. D., Van Rooij, A. J., Kardefelt-Winther, D., Starcevic, V., Király, O., Pallesen, S., ... Prause, N. (2016). Working towards an international consensus on criteria for assessing internet gaming disorder: A critical commentary on Petry et al.(2014). Addiction, 111(1), 167.

  • Gwinup, G., Haw, T., & Elias, A. (1983). Cardiovascular changes in video-game players: Cause for concern? Postgraduate Medicine, 74(6), 245–248.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Heinze, G. (2006). A comparative investigation of methods for logistic regression with separated or nearly separated data. Statistics in Medicine, 25(24), 4216–4226.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Iran Computer and Video Games Foundation. (2016). The situation of video games in Iran [In Persian]. Available from: https://www.ircg.ir/fa/news/4746.

  • Johnson, D., Wyeth, P., & Sweetser, P. (2013). The people-game-play model for understanding videogames' impact on wellbeing. Paper presented at the 2013 IEEE International Games Innovation Conference (IGIC).

  • Kardefelt-Winther, D. (2015). A critical account of DSM-5 criteria for internet gaming disorder. Addiction Research & Theory, 23(2), 93–98.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim, J. W., Han, D. H., Park, D. B., Min, K. J., Na, C., Won, S. K., & Park, G. N. (2010). The relationships between online game player biogenetic traits, playing time, and the genre of the game being played. Psychiatry Investigation, 7(1), 17.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • King, D. L., Chamberlain, S. R., Carragher, N., Billieux, J., Stein, D., Mueller, K., ... Starcevic, V. (2020). Screening and assessment tools for gaming disorder: A comprehensive systematic review. Clinical Psychology Review, 101831.

  • King, D. L., Herd, M. C. E., & Delfabbro, P. H. (2017). Tolerance in internet gaming disorder: A need for increasing gaming time or something else? Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 6(4), 525–533. https://doi.org/10.1556/2006.6.2017.072

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Király, O., Bőthe, B., Ramos-Diaz, J., Rahimi-Movaghar, A., Lukavska, K., Hrabec, O., et al. (2019). Ten-item internet gaming disorder test (IGDT-10): Measurement invariance and cross-cultural validation across seven language-based samples. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 33(1), 91.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Király, O., Bothe, B., Ramos-Diaz, J., Rahimi-Movaghar, A., Lukavska, K., Hrabec, O., et al. (2019). Ten-item internet gaming disorder test (IGDT-10): Measurement invariance and cross-cultural validation across seven language-based samples. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 33(1), 91–103. https://doi.org/10.1037/adb0000433.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Király, O., Sleczka, P., Pontes, H. M., Urbán, R., Griffiths, M. D., & Demetrovics, Z. (2017a). Validation of the ten-item internet gaming disorder test (IGDT-10) and evaluation of the nine DSM-5 internet gaming disorder criteria. Addictive Behaviors, 64, 253–260.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Király, O., Tóth, D., Urbán, R., Demetrovics, Z., & Maraz, A. (2017b). Intense video gaming is not essentially problematic. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 31(7), 807.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Király, O., Urbán, R., Griffiths, M. D., Ágoston, C., Nagygyörgy, K., Kökönyei, G., & Demetrovics, Z. (2015). The mediating effect of gaming motivation between psychiatric symptoms and problematic online gaming: An online survey. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 17(4), e88.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Ko, C.-H., Yen, J.-Y., Chen, C.-C., Chen, S.-H., & Yen, C.-F. (2005). Gender differences and related factors affecting online gaming addiction among Taiwanese adolescents. The Journal of nervous mental disease, 193(4), 273–277.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kotov, R., Krueger, R. F., Watson, D., Achenbach, T. M., Althoff, R. R., Bagby, R. M., et al. (2017). The hierarchical taxonomy of psychopathology (HiTOP): A dimensional alternative to traditional nosologies. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 126(4), 454.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kovess-Masfety, V., Keyes, K., Hamilton, A., Hanson, G., Bitfoi, A., Golitz, D., et al. (2016). Is time spent playing video games associated with mental health, cognitive and social skills in young children? Social Psychiatry, 51(3), 349–357.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuss, D. J., & Griffiths, M. D. (2012). Online gaming addiction in children and adolescents: A review of empirical research. Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 1(1), 3–22.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kuss, D. J., Louws, J., & Wiers, R. W. (2012). Online gaming addiction? Motives predict addictive play behavior in massively multiplayer online role-playing games. Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, 15(9), 480–485.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Laconi, S., Pirès, S., & Chabrol, H. (2017). Internet gaming disorder, motives, game genres and psychopathology. Computers in Human Behavior, 75, 652–659.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lemmens, J. S., & Hendriks, S. J. (2016). Addictive online games: Examining the relationship between game genres and internet gaming disorder. Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, 19(4), 270–276. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2015.0415

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lin, C. Y., Imani, V., Brostrom, A., Arestedt, K., Pakpour, A. H., & Griffiths, M. D. (2019). Evaluating the psychometric properties of the 7-item Persian game addiction scale for Iranian adolescents. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 149. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00149

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Mihara, S., & Higuchi, S. (2017). Cross-sectional and longitudinal epidemiological studies of internet gaming disorder: A systematic review of the literature. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 71(7), 425–444. https://doi.org/10.1111/pcn.12532

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mohammadkhani, P., Dobson, K. S., Amiri, M., Ghafari, F. H., & psychology, h. (2010). Psychometric properties of the brief symptom inventory in a sample of recovered Iranian depressed patients. International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology, 10(3), 541–551.

    Google Scholar 

  • Na, E., Choi, I., Lee, T.-H., Lee, H., Rho, M. J., Cho, H., et al. (2017). The influence of game genre on internet gaming disorder. Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 6(2), 248–255.

    Article  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • O’Farrell, D. L., Baynes, K.-L., Pontes, H. M., Griffiths, M. D., & Stavropoulos, V. (2020). Depression and disordered gaming: Does culture matter? International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 1–19.

  • Olsen, L. R., Mortensen, E. L., & Bech, P. (2006). Mental distress in the Danish general population. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 113(6), 477–484. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0447.2005.00743.x

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Przybylski, A. K., Weinstein, N., & Murayama, K. (2017). Internet gaming disorder: Investigating the clinical relevance of a new phenomenon. American Journal of Psychiatry, 174(3), 230–236.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rehbein, F., Kliem, S., Baier, D., Mößle, T., & Petry, N. M. (2015). Prevalence of internet gaming disorder in German adolescents: Diagnostic contribution of the nine DSM-5 criteria in a state-wide representative sample. Addiction, 110(5), 842–851.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rho, M. J., Jeong, J. E., Chun, J. W., Cho, H., Jung, D. J., Choi, I. Y., & Kim, D. J. (2016). Predictors and patterns of problematic internet game use using a decision tree model. Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 5(3), 500–509. https://doi.org/10.1556/2006.5.2016.051

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Rumpf, H.-J., Achab, S., Billieux, J., Bowden-Jones, H., Carragher, N., Demetrovics, Z., et al. (2018). Including gaming disorder in the ICD-11: The need to do so from a clinical and public health perspective: Commentary on: A weak scientific basis for gaming disorder: Let us err on the side of caution (van Rooij et al., 2018). Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 7(3), 556–561.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Saunders, J. B., Hao, W., Long, J., King, D. L., Mann, K., Fauth-Bühler, M., et al. (2017). Gaming disorder: Its delineation as an important condition for diagnosis, management, and prevention. Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 6(3), 271–279.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Sauter, M., Braun, T., & Mack, W. (2020). Social context and gaming motives predict mental health better than time played: An exploratory regression analysis with over 13,000 video game players. Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking.

  • Sereda, Y., & Dembitskyi, S. (2016). Validity assessment of the symptom checklist SCL-90-R and shortened versions for the general population in Ukraine. BMC Psychiatry, 16(1), 300–300. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-016-1014-3

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Shadloo, B., Farnam, R., Amin-Esmaeili, M., Hamzehzadeh, M., Rafiemanesh, H., Jobehdar, M. M., et al. (2017). Inclusion of gaming disorder in the diagnostic classifications and promotion of public health response: Commentary to the “scholars’ open debate paper on the World Health Organization ICD-11 gaming disorder proposal”: A perspective from Iran. Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 6(3), 310–312.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Shadloo, B., Farnam, R., Amin-Esmaeili, M., Hamzehzadeh, M., Rafiemanesh, H., Jobehdar, M. M., et al. (2018). Ambiguities in existing Iranian national policies addressing excessive gaming: Commentary on: Policy responses to problematic video game use: A systematic review of current measures and future possibilities (Király et al., 2018). Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 7(3), 540–542.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Smohai, M., Urbán, R., Griffiths, M. D., Király, O., Mirnics, Z., Vargha, A., & Demetrovics, Z. (2017). Online and offline video game use in adolescents: Measurement invariance and problem severity. The American journal of drug alcohol abuse, 43(1), 111–116.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Snodgrass, J. G., Dengah II, H. F., Lacy, M. G., Bagwell, A., Van Oostenburg, M., & Lende, D. (2017). Online gaming involvement and its positive and negative consequences: A cognitive anthropological “cultural consensus” approach to psychiatric measurement and assessment. Computers in Human Behavior, 66, 291–302.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spilkova, J., Chomynova, P., & Csemy, L. (2017). Predictors of excessive use of social media and excessive online gaming in Czech teenagers. Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 6(4), 611–619.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Stavropoulos, V., Gomez, R., & Griffiths, M. D. (2021). In search of the optimum structural model for internet gaming disorder. BMC Psychiatry, 21(1), 1–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tejeiro Salguero, R. A., & Moran, R. M. (2002). Measuring problem video game playing in adolescents. Addiction, 97(12), 1601–1606.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Van Rooij, A. J., Ferguson, C. J., Colder Carras, M., Kardefelt-Winther, D., Shi, J., Aarseth, E., et al. (2018). A weak scientific basis for gaming disorder: Let us err on the side of caution. Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 7(1), 1–9.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Weinstein, A., Feder, L. C., Rosenberg, K. P., & Dannon, P. (2014). Internet addiction disorder: Overview and controversies. In Behavioral addictions (pp. 99–117): Elsevier.

  • World Health Organization. (2019). International classification of diseases for mortality and morbidity statistics (11th Revision). Retrieved 21 January, 2020, from https://icd.who.int/browse11/l-m/en.

  • Wu, A. M., Lai, M. H., Yu, S., Lau, J. T., & Lei, M.-W. (2016). Motives for online gaming questionnaire: Its psychometric properties and correlation with internet gaming disorder symptoms among Chinese people. Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 6(1), 11–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu, T. Y., Lin, C. Y., Arestedt, K., Griffiths, M. D., Brostrom, A., & Pakpour, A. H. (2017). Psychometric validation of the Persian nine-item internet gaming disorder scale - short form: Does gender and hours spent online gaming affect the interpretations of item descriptions? Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 6(2), 256–263. https://doi.org/10.1556/2006.6.2017.025

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Yee, C. M., Javitt, D. C., & Miller, G. A. (2015). Replacing DSM categorical analyses with dimensional analyses in psychiatry research: The research domain criteria initiative. JAMA Psychiatry, 72(12), 1159–1160.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Yu, H., & Cho, J. (2016). Prevalence of internet gaming disorder among Korean adolescents and associations with non-psychotic psychological symptoms, and physical aggression. American Journal of Health Behavior, 40(6), 705–716.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This study was supported financially by the Tehran University of Medical Sciences through contract number 95-02-49-32102. We wish to thank Dr. Emitys Tavakoli, Ms. Kebria Adli, Mr. Shahab Baheshmat, and Ms. Roya Azadi for their assistance in conducting the study. Orsolya Király was supported by the János Bolyai Research Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and by the ÚNKP-21-5 New National Excellence Program of the Ministry for Innovation and Technology from the source of the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund. Zsolt Demetrovics was supported by the Hungarian National Research, Development and Innovation Office (KKP126835; NKFIH-1157-8/2019-DT). These institutions had no role in the design, data collection, analysis and reporting of the present study.

Availability of Data and Material

The dataset analyzed during the current study is not publicly available to maintain participant anonymity, but anonymized data are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Author CRediT Statement

Hosein Rafiemanesh: Methodology, Software, Formal analysis, Data Curation, Writing - Original Draft.

Rabert Farnam: Supervision, Conceptualization, Project administration.

Arshiya Sangchooli: Writing - Original Draft, Writing - Review & Editing, Methodology.

Jamileh Rahimi: Investigation, Resources.

Marziyeh Hamzehzadeh: Investigation, Writing - Original Draft.

Kamyar Ghani: Writing - Original Draft.

Maral Mardaneh Jobehdar: Writing - Original Draft.

Masoumeh Amin-Esmaeili: Writing - Original Draft.

Behrang Shadloo: Supervision, Conceptualization.

Zsolt Demetrovics: Methodology, Conceptualization.

Orsolya Király: Methodology, Conceptualization.

Afarin Rahimi-Movaghar: Conceptualization, Project administration, Funding acquisition.

Funding

This study was supported financially by the Tehran University of Medical Sciences through contract number 95–02–49-32102. Orsolya Király was supported by the János Bolyai Research Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and by the ÚNKP-21-5 New National Excellence Program of the Ministry for Innovation and Technology from the source of the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund. Zsolt Demetrovics was supported by the Hungarian National Research, Development and Innovation Office (KKP126835; NKFIH-1157-8/2019-DT). These institutions had no role in the design, data collection, analysis and reporting of the present study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Alborz University of Medical Sciences, Karaj, Iran

    Hosein Rafiemanesh

  2. Iranian National Center for Addiction Studies (INCAS), Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Hosein Rafiemanesh, Rabert Farnam, Arshiya Sangchooli, Marziyeh Hamzehzadeh, Kamyar Ghani, Maral Mardaneh Jobehdar, Masoumeh Amin-Esmaeili, Behrang Shadloo & Afarin Rahimi-Movaghar

  3. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, North Khorasan University of Medical Sciences, Bojnurd, Iran

    Jamileh Rahimi

  4. Department of Neuroscience and Addiction Studies, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Marziyeh Hamzehzadeh, Kamyar Ghani & Maral Mardaneh Jobehdar

  5. Institute of Psychology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary

    Zsolt Demetrovics & Orsolya Király

Authors
  1. Hosein Rafiemanesh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Rabert Farnam
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Arshiya Sangchooli
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Jamileh Rahimi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Marziyeh Hamzehzadeh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Kamyar Ghani
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Maral Mardaneh Jobehdar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Masoumeh Amin-Esmaeili
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Behrang Shadloo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Zsolt Demetrovics
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  11. Orsolya Király
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  12. Afarin Rahimi-Movaghar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Afarin Rahimi-Movaghar.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interests

None.

Ethics Approval

The research protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of Tehran University of Medical Sciences in Iran (No. IR.TUMS.VCR.REC.1395.800).

Consent to Participate

All participants were informed regarding the purpose of the study and participant anonymity before choosing to participate in the online survey.

Ethics Approval

Participants were informed that provided data would be used for the preparation of publicly available research.

Additional information

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Rafiemanesh, H., Farnam, R., Sangchooli, A. et al. Online gaming and internet gaming disorder in Iran: patterns, motivations, and correlates. Curr Psychol 42, 13517–13531 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-02490-0

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-02490-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation