A New Short Version of Internet Gaming Disorder-20: An Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this paper was to contribute to the psychometric properties and dimensionality of the IGD-20. METHOD: An online survey was completed by 392 Italian online gamers (M(age) = 29.2, SD = 11.3; 45.2% males). A battery of self-report questionnaires was administered to assess internet gaming disorder, internet addiction, loneliness, anxiety, depression, stress, social-interaction anxiety, self-esteem, and perceived social support. To test the factor structure of IGD-20, both traditional (i.e., EFA and CFA) and innovative (i.e., ESEM) techniques were applied. Convergent, concurrent, discriminant, and criterion-related validity were evaluated. RESULTS: Our study revealed the outperforming 3-factor ESEM model (χ(2)=39.951, p = 0.0021; RMSEA = 0.056, 90% C.I. [0.032 - 0.079]; CFI = 0.986; TLI = 0.965; and SRMR = 0.017; ω = .76, .77, and .79, respectively) as a new short version (IGD-10SV) for the IGD-20. The validity of the IGD-10SV was supported by significant associations with theoretically related measures. CONCLUSIONS: The current findings support the adoption of the analytic ESEM approach for complex multidimensional measures and the use of the IGD-10SV for the assessment of internet gaming disorder.