Too much data? Gaming, addiction and health for children and adolescents.

Gaming is one of the most common activities among children and adolescents in Sweden.

There is an ongoing debate among the general public, and in the research community about possible links between gaming and negativ consequences for health, school performance, and physical activity. Gaming disorder was recently added as a diagnosis in the WHO diagnose manual ICD.

The diagnose has been the topic of much debate, and there is a general lack of knowledge regarding gaming, health and gaming disorder.

This project aims to investigate possible links between gaming and health among children and adolescents, using a translational perspective with three different studies.

Study 1 is a register based study based on the CATSS register, which contains data on health and spare time activities for 32 000 Swedish twins.

Among these questions are items on gaming, which together with other registers provides the opportunity to investigate the link between gaming, health, school results and physical activity while controlling for heritibility. The scope and character of the registers enables studies that are unique within the research field.

Study 2 is a prevalence study on gaming disorder within the child- and adolescent psychiatry, compared to a matched cohort.

It will provide an insight into the prevalence of gaming related problems, comorbidity and possible differences between the groups. Study 3 is an intervention study for parents of children with gaming related problems.

The intervention aims to decrease parents´ stress, increase physical activity among the children, and lower symptoms of gaming disorder. The studies will be performed together with experienced researchers at Centrum för psykiatriforskning, KI.