Alexithymia in gaming addiction and engagement

It has been suggested that alexithymia plays a significant role in substance and behavioral addictions. However, only a handful of studies investigated this construct in relation to gaming addiction, and no study analyzed its differential effect on gaming engagement and addiction. A total of u adult gamers (Mage = 26.04, SD = 5.78, 94 % male) completed a questionnaire that included the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (and its subscales of difficulty identifying feelings, difficulty describing feelings, and externally oriented thinking), the Addiction-Engagement Questionnaire, and additional questions about gender, age, and time spent gaming. Structural equation modeling was used as the main analytical strategy. Difficulty identifying feelings (β = 0.28) and externally oriented thinking (β = 0.19) showed a significant positive effect on gaming addiction. Contrary to addiction, externally oriented thinking showed a significant negative effect (β = −0.21) on gaming engagement. No other alexithymia subscales were significant. The model with alexithymia explained 32.7 % of the variance in gaming addiction while only 10.4 % of gaming engagement. Alexithymia is a strong predictor of gaming addiction. Gaming engagement seems to be a qualitatively different phenomenon that shows an opposite association with alexithymia than gaming addiction. However, both are related to increased time spent gaming. This suggests a need to distinguish between problematic vs. non-problematic excessive gaming as they have different associations with affect dysregulation.