Prevalence and associated factors of internet gaming disorder among secondary school students in rural community, Thailand: a cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVE: Internet gaming disorder (IGD) is an emerging mental problem for adolescent that has been increasingly piqued interest over the last decade. Although many studies have been conducted, very few studies have studied populations with low technological access. Therefore, this study aimed to estimate the prevalence and associated factors of internet gaming disorder among secondary school students in an area with a comparatively lower technological access in a large community sample. We used Chachoengsao province, Thailand as our sample area with a comparatively lower access to technology. This cross-sectional study was conducted during December 2017–January 2018 among 12 secondary schools in Chachoengsao province, Thailand. RESULTS: 5.4% of the 5497 subjects were positive for IGD. The associated factors found were male gender (odds ratio (OR) = 1.4), not living with both parents (OR = 1.75), use of online dating (OR = 1.53), being bullied at school (OR = 1.51), depression (OR = 1.92), anxiety (OR = 1.62) and stress (OR = 3.57) after being adjusted for age, family composition, failure of an exam, limit of internet use, use of online dating, bully perpetration, bully victimization, cyber bully perpetration, cyber bully victimization, suicidal ideation, use of alcohol, depression, anxiety, and stress.