Theoretical analysis shows problematic online gaming mediates mental health issues in adolescents, suggesting intervention potential.
Key Points
High levels of problematic online gaming significantly elevate risks of mental health issues in adolescents, with depression and anxiety affected the most.
Adjusted risk difference indicates that problematic online gaming is tied to a 7.8% increase in incident depression and nearly 6% in psychotic experiences.
The analysis employed causal mediation methods ensuring temporal accuracy, adjusting for confounders in the large adolescent cohort dataset.
These findings point to problematic online gaming as a modifiable factor that could be targeted in interventions to improve mental health.