A Gamer's Personality: A Look Into the Relationship Between Internet Gaming Disorder, Impulsiveness and Extroversion
Video games are and continue to grow in popularity. Internet gaming disorder (IGD) is a disorder where engaging with video games becomes detrimental to the individual’s ability to function in society. The scope of the present study was to determine that a relationship exists between IGD and extroversion or impulsivity. Establishing a relationship between IGD and specific personality traits can help uncover etiologies and prognosis of IGD. Participants were administered a survey containing questions from three Likert style surveys: the Ten-Item Internet Gaming Disorder Test (IGDT-10), which assesses the presence of IGD based on the DSM-5, the Barratt Impulsivity Scale-Brief (BIS-Brief), which measures impulsivity, and the Maudsley Personality Inventory Scale (MPIE-Scale), which measures extroversion. No correlation between IGD and extroversion was observed. Similarly, there was no correlation between IGD and impulsivity. However, a trend towards significance in a negative correlation between IGD and extroversion was observed. Individuals who score low in extroversion are more likely to display characteristics associated with IGD. Increasing sample size could result in an stronger relationship between IGD and extroversion or impulsivity. Furthermore, other variables, including but not limited to, using video games as a coping mechanism are thought to be at play in the development of IGD. More research such as a longitudinal study will be necessary to uncover possible etiologies and prognosis of IGD.