Comorbidity among symptoms of internet gaming disorder, social withdrawal, and depression in 3430 young people in Hong Kong: A network analysis

The present study aimed to examine the comorbidity among symptoms of internet gaming disorder (IGD), social withdrawal, and depression using the network perspective. An online survey recruited 3430 young people in Hong Kong (mean age = 19.4 years, 80.5 % male) via gaming channels in 2019. The participants completed the 9-item IGD Scale, Hikikomori Questionnaire, and Patient Health Questionnaire-9. Network analysis was conducted using R to estimate the central symptoms of IGD and depression in individual networks and identified the bridge symptoms in combined network of IGD, social withdrawal, and depressive symptoms. All network models showed high stability. ‘Withdrawal’, ‘Loss of control’, and ‘Tolerance’ were the central IGD symptoms, while ‘Depressed mood’ and ‘Self-blame/guilt’ were the central depressive symptoms. The bridge symptoms were ‘Gaming as escape or mood relief’ from IGD cluster, ‘Depressed mood’ and ‘Self-blame/guilt’ from depression cluster, and ‘Marked social isolation at home’ and ‘Significant distress due to social isolation’ from social withdrawal cluster. The combined network showed no significant differences in network structure and global strength across gender and age groups. The cross-sectional sample only indicated undirected associations between the symptoms in the three clusters and could not model the intra-individual variation. The present study provided the first results on the comorbidity among IGD, social withdrawal, and depression at a symptom level among Chinese young people via network analysis. The bridge symptoms highlight potential targets for interventions of comorbidity among the disorders. •We examined comorbidity among IGD, hikikomori, and PHQ-9 in 3430 Chinese young people.•Network analysis found ‘Withdrawal’ and ‘Tolerance’ as the central IGD symptoms.•‘Gaming as escape or mood relief’ was the bridge symptom for IGD in combined network.•‘Depressed mood’ and ‘Self-blame/guilt’ are central and bridge symptoms for PHQ-9.•We identified the bridge symptoms as potential targets of interventions among gamers.