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Health, Media and Sexuality team at the Behavioural Addictions Conference

10 Jul 2025

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This year, they presented:

Exploring Gaming Disorder and substance use: Patterns and associations in adult gamers
Lukas Blinka, Dita Siřínková

Some adults who play video games a lot may also use various substances, including drugs and medications. A survey of over 6,000 adult gamers found that about 2.5% showed signs of Gaming Disorder (a condition where gaming negatively affects daily life). These gamers were more likely to use substances like cannabis, kratom, ADHD medication, and even illegal drugs such as methamphetamines—except for alcohol, which didn’t show the same pattern. Interestingly, playing more or fewer hours per week wasn’t strongly connected to substance use. The study suggests that although Gaming Disorder is not very common, it often goes hand in hand with substance use, especially stimulant medications.

Latent vs. network psychometric validation: The example of cross-national evaluation of the Internet Gaming Disorder Scale in European
adolescents
ANDREA STAŠEK, LUKAS BLINKA

How we measure problems like internet gaming disorder really matters. If we use the wrong tools, we might either exaggerate the problem or miss people who need help. This study looked at how well one commonly used questionnaire—the Internet Gaming Disorder Scale—works when tested with data from over 44,000 teenagers across Europe. The researchers compared two ways of analyzing the questionnaire: traditional methods and a newer approach called network analysis. They found that common rules for judging whether a questionnaire “fits” can lead to very different conclusions. The newer methods gave more detailed insights and may be better at detecting patterns in large groups. The study shows that using the right method makes a big difference in how we understand gaming-related problems and can lead to better tools for research and diagnosis.

Problematic pornography use in individuals with or without paraphilic
preferences: Insights from a large representative sample of Czech
adults
ANNA ŠEVČÍKOVÁ, LUKAS BLINKA, KATEŘINA KLAPILOVÁ

Problematic pornography use (PPU) is when someone feels their porn habits are out of control or causing distress. This study looked at how PPU is related to unusual or paraphilic sexual preferences, such as being aroused by non-consensual or aggressive acts. Using data from over 6,600 adults in the Czech Republic, researchers found that people with paraphilic preferences were much more likely to experience PPU—about 2.5 times more than those without such preferences. However, the same factors predicted PPU in both groups: being male, younger, religious, and preferring masturbation over sex with a partner. These results suggest that while PPU and paraphilic interests often occur together, they may stem from similar underlying patterns. More research is needed to understand whether preferring masturbation over partnered sex is a risk factor for PPU or a result of it.

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