Devin J. Mills

• PhD - Educational Psychology (Human Development)
• Professor (Assistant) at Texas Tech University

Research has revealed that the push to engage in video games is in part the perception that they satisfy three basic psychological needs (competence, autonomy, relatedness). However, the pull toward a problematic style of video game engagement based on Internet Gaming Disorder symptomatology has been found to be explained in part by the daily frust...

Background: Research into problem gambling has established that the addiction results from a complex array of bio-psycho-social factors. The range of factors, however, has yet to be comprehensively identified. Applications of Self-Determination Theory (SDT) have shown that specific characteristics are associated with problem gambling, including use...

Objectives The present study investigated the five facets of mindfulness and nonattachment in individuals who gamble to identify latent profiles and explore descriptive differences in those profiles relative to etiological precursors to problem gambling.Methods An online convenience sample of 843 adults (59.91% male; Mage = 39.40 years; SD = 12.52)...

Objective Emotion-based impulsivity (EBI) and hazardous drinking have consistently been associated with elevated negative thoughts related to suicide ideation (N-SI); however, the interaction between these risk factors has not been tested empirically. Thus, we tested the moderating effect of hazardous drinking on the relation between EBI and N-SI i...

Objective: To explore how forgiveness relates to psychological distress and suicidality among college student problematic drinkers. Participants: 383 college students (ages 18 to 25). Methods: Participants provided demographic information and completed self-report questionnaires. Data was analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics, including Hayes PROCESS...

Introduction Addiction recovery can be conceptualized as multidimensional changes to health and wellness including changes in substance use, physical and mental health, and social relationships. These outcomes are often measured through recovery capital which recognizes the various resources, both internal and external, that one may use to enhance...

Using a two-wave, longitudinal survey, this study examined the civic potential of news consumers, moving beyond consideration of how closely they follow political news to also consider the nature of their news consumption. Specifically, we conducted latent profile analysis and compared the emerging political news consumer profiles in their levels o...

While problematic gaming (i.e., experiencing negative life consequences from video game use) has been positively associated with flow, its relationship to dispositional mindfulness remains unclear. However, research in a related area suggests dispositional mindfulness is negatively associated with problematic gambling. Thus, the present study sough...

The present research draws from the work in narrative transportation to examine the impact of problematic news consumption (PNC) on increased political hostility among partisans. Because individuals with high levels of PNC tend to become absorbed and fixated on the mediated political world, which is filled with exaggerated depictions of political c...

Background Students employ a variety of study strategies to learn and master content in their courses. Strategies vary widely in their effectiveness for promoting deep, long-term learning, yet most students use ineffective strategies frequently. Efforts to educate students about effective study strategies have revealed that knowledge about effectiv...

Background The relevance of emotion regulation (ER) difficulties to nonsuicidal self‐injury (NSSI; the deliberate destruction of one's bodily tissue without suicidal intent) has been repeatedly documented. Recently, specific mindfulness facets (i.e., awareness, nonjudging, describing) have been proposed as mechanisms that explain this relationship....

Purpose of Review This review highlights the fragmented network of gambling operators as a significant obstacle to effective harm reduction (HR) settings (e.g., bet/spend limits, self-exclusion). Players struggle to track their betting across operators without the ability to set universal limits, a situation exacerbated by the rising accessibility...

Gambling is common in the US, yet nearly one in three players experience gambling-related problems. Using Self-Determination Theory, this study explores how three causality orientations—autonomous, controlled, and impersonal—affect the severity of problem gambling. The study further investigates the mediating roles of nonattachment, dispositional g...

Background Students employ a variety of study strategies to learn and master content in their courses. Strategies vary widely in their effectiveness for promoting deep, long-term learning, yet most students use ineffective strategies frequently. Efforts to educate students about effective study strategies have revealed that knowledge about effectiv...

Objectives Addiction medications (AM) are effective in improving recovery outcomes, but many barriers still exist that reduce their implementation among young adults. While the perception of AM has been explored within clinicians and counselors in many settings, it has not yet been documented within collegiate recovery communities (CRC). The aim of...

Two of the most popular recreational activities, video gaming and gambling, have converged in a number of different ways including through (1) social casino gaming, (2) loot boxes, (3) skin betting, (4) esports betting, and (5) play-to-earn video gaming. These convergences have brought about concerns, surrounding the increased risk of problems rela...

Background: Financial trading is often categorized separately from traditional forms of gambling (e.g., blackjack, poker, lottery, slot machines), as it is often viewed from an investing lens. However, the arbitrary line separating investing from gambling has become increasingly questioned, especially as it relates to high-risk trading behaviors (e...

Objective: This study explores the presence of different profiles of video game players across five mindfulness facets (i.e., describing, observing, nonreacting, nonjudging, and acting with awareness) and nonattachment (i.e., the ability to relate to experiences without clinging onto them). Method: Adults who play video games (N = 629) were recruit...

This review evaluated psychometric properties of measures developed based on the proposed DSM–5 criteria for Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) and investigated the prevalence of IGD via meta-analyses. Systematic searches in five databases identified 22 measures, examined in 56 pertinent studies. These measures, which seek to operationalize the same DS...

Previous studies have attempted to identify factors that explain the effect of problem drinking onto both depression and suicidal ideation. Problem drinking, depression, and suicide ideation are associated, but the mechanism(s) explaining this association is underdefined in the current research landscape. For this reason, the present study is vital...

The dualistic model of passion proposes two passion types, harmonious and obsessive, representing adaptive and maladaptive passion, respectively. Studies suggest interpersonal experiences explain harmonious passion benefits and obsessive passion negative consequences. However, research has not examined passion among individuals with clinically elev...

This study adds to the growing body of literature on problematic media behavior by introducing and explicating the concept of problematic news consumption, which we define as involving transportation, preoccupation, misregulation, underregulation, and interference. Using survey data from a national sample of U.S. adults, we examine the factor struc...

Studies have outlined the negative consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic to psychological health. However, the potential within-individual diversity of experiences during COVID-19, and how such experiences relate to indices of psychological distress and COVID-19-specific stressors, remains to be explored. A large online sample of American MTurk Wor...

Gambling Research Exchange Ontario (GREO) Snapshot of "Mindfulness article"

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) typically has an onset in adolescence. Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) could be associated with its subsequent development. The aim of this study was to examine whether NSSI among adolescents in the community is associated with a risk for BPD in emerging adulthood. Sixty-nine adolescents (11-13 years old) with a...

Background and aims Esports betting is an emerging gambling activity where individuals place bets on an organized video gaming competition. It represents only one of several gambling activities commonly endorsed by adolescents. To date, limited research has explored the relationship between esports betting and mental health among adolescents and it...

Background and aims. Esports betting is an emerging gambling activity where individuals place bets on an organized video gaming competition. It represents only one of several gambling activities commonly endorsed by adolescents. To date, limited research has explored the relationship between esports betting and mental health among adolescents and i...

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) typically has an onset in adolescence. Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) could be associated with its subsequent development. The aim of this study was to examine whether NSSI among adolescents in the community is associated with a risk for BPD in emerging adulthood. Sixty-nine adolescents (11-13 years old) with a...

Current theoretical frameworks posit that engagement in non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is due to an inability to regulate one’s emotions. In turn, mindfulness-based interventions have been shown to enhance emotion regulatory processes in those who engage in NSSI. Objective. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether a brief mindfuln...

Video game use becomes problematic when it disrupts the ability to fulfill social and personal responsibilities. It has also been associated with poorer subjective well-being (i.e., life satisfaction, positive and negative affectivity). Research suggests that dispositional (or trait) mindfulness (e.g., general tendency to have focused awareness of...

Few investigations have focused on problematic social casino gaming. Social casino games are a type of video game that feature gambling elements. Unlike gambling machines, social casino games present with a number of added interactive features that render them more like video games. Therefore, problematic social casino gaming may present with sympt...

In A. Begun and M. Murray (eds), The Routledge Handbook of Social Work and Addictive Behaviors (forthcoming)

In Begun, A & Murray, A (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Social Work and Addictive Behaviors (forthcoming).

Both problem gambling (PG) and problem video gaming (PVG) contribute to physical, psychological, and interpersonal issues, and are associated with elevated substance use. This is particularly troublesome among emerging adults (18–27 years) who report high levels of substance use and represent a significant proportion of the gamblers and video game...

Video games are a leisure activity with mass appeal for individuals of all ages. However, for some individuals, playing video games may become problematic and addictive, resulting in negative consequences affecting their physical, social, and psychological well-being. Internet gaming disorder (IGD) has estimated prevalence rates of around 3 percent...

Behavioral addictions are now recognized as a psychiatric condition. With this recognition came increased research interest, specifically within the video gaming and gambling fields, into the etiology and symptomology of these behavioral addictions. Emotion regulation (ER) has significant implications for mental health, with research highlighting t...

Behavioral addictions are now recognized as a psychiatric condition. With this recognition came increased research interest, specifically within the video gaming and gambling fields, into the etiology and symptomology of these behavioral addictions. Emotion regulation (ER) has significant implications for mental health, with research highlighting t...

The Dualistic Model of Passion (DMP) is an emerging framework in social psychology that assesses individuals’ passion for an activity. Although a passion parallels the definition for a serious leisure activity, the DMP further differentiates between a harmonious (HP) versus an obsessive (OP) passion, which are associated with adaptive versus malada...

Loot boxes are virtual items in many video games that let players to “gamble” on an item of chance. Loot boxes bring an element of gambling into video games, which might prime video game users to engage in online gambling activities. However, few studies have focused on this emerging issue. The present study investigated the relationships between l...

The Dualistic Model of Passion (DMP) is an emerging framework in social psychology that assesses individuals’ passion for an activity. The definition of a passion parallels that of a serious leisure activity. However, DMP offers a framework for understanding the quality of passion engagement itself by differentiating between a harmonious (HP) versu...

em>No research has examined whether the effect of high negative affect and poor life satisfaction on Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) is explained by gaming to cope or is dependent upon users’ passion for video gaming. An online sample of adults (N = 969 adults; 60.5% male) reported their passion for video games, positive and negative affect, life sa...

Problematic video game use (PVGU) is an inability to meet personal and social responsibilities due to video gaming. It is estimated to affect 5 to 6% of adolescents. Research demonstrates greater video game engagement is associated with a poorer perception of self in several domains; however, the relation between PVGU and self-perception has not ye...

Stress is a common experience for university students. Elevated stress with limited healthy coping capabilities may result in students turning to external resources such as substance use (alcohol and drugs) to cope. Undergraduate students (N = 5,917) were surveyed to examine the relationship between perceived stress and engagement in substance use...

Results indicated that the most frequent gamblers reported a stronger gamble to cope motivation and lower use of cognitive reappraisal strategies. Interestingly, only somatic anxiety appeared to contribute to the strength of individuals’ gambling to cope motivation, which was amplified, not reduced, by high mindfulness. These findings provide a fir...

Preliminary examination of the relationship between anxious symptoms, metacognition (i.e., knowledge/regulation) and emotion regulation strategies (i.e., suppression / reappraisal). As a pilot study it is the first step in understanding the role that metacognition and emotion regulation strategies play in the development of anxious symptoms among e...

Research applying Self-Determination Theory and the Dualistic Model of Passion (DMP) has shown video games may satisfy basic psychological needs (i.e., competence, autonomy, and relatedness) and be identified as a passion. The DMP distinguishes between healthy or harmonious passion (HP) and problematic or obsessive passion (OP), with the latter ref...

Motivation is often used as a predictor of a problematic style of video game engagement, implying that individuals’ gaming undermines optimal functioning. Drawing from recent advances in Self-Determination Theory (SDT), the present study explores the links between gaming motivations, the daily frustration of basic psychological needs, and reports o...

Motivation is often used as a predictor of a problematic style of video game engagement, implying that individuals’ gaming undermines optimal functioning. Drawing from recent advances in Self-Determination Theory (SDT), the present study explores the links between gaming motivations, the daily frustration of basic psychological needs, and reports o...

It is hardly surprising that almost everything about human life is influenced by politics. In this special issue of Translational Issues in Psychological Science (TPS), you will find articles that look at both the causes of political behavior and the consequences of it; some articles examine proximal influences whereas others examine more distal fa...

This study sought to determine if educators could deliver StressOFF Strategies (SOS), a brief classroom- based stress management program (Shapiro & Heath, 2013) to students and to evaluate educators’ perspectives on SOS delivery. Seventeen educators participated in a two-day training and delivered the program to 555 adolescents (51.4% female; Mage...

Failure to complete high school is associated with a myriad of negative outcomes. Some research has suggested a link between student anxiety and risk of dropout. Recently, there has been increasing evidence that mindfulness may diminish anxiety in adolescents; however, the relationship between anxiety, mindfulness and dropout has yet to be investig...

Problematic video game use (PVGU) is an inability to meet personal and social responsibilities due to video gaming. It is estimated to affect 5 to 6% of adolescents. Research demonstrates greater video game engagement is associated with a poorer perception of self in several domains; however, the relation between PVGU and self-perception has not ye...

Objectives: The present study applied self-determination theory to examine the onset, maintenance, and cessation of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) in adolescents. Specifically, the study examined the relationship between the basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness, and NSSI status. Methods: Participants were classifie...

Objectives: Mindfulness is often part of treatment for non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI); however, there has been limited research examining the role of mindfulness in NSSI. Thus, the current study sought to investigate the relationship between mindfulness, depressive symptoms and NSSI (past year) in adolescents (N = 764; 56.8% female, Mage = 14.42,...

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a public health concern that affects young adults at alarming rates. The present study examines the role of satisfaction of self-determination theory's three basic needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness in young adults' NSSI engagement. University students who reported ever having engaged in NSSI (n = 40,...

In 2010, a small, liberal arts college overhauled its course-based general education (gened) curriculum to an experienced-based curriculum. Initial focus groups identified student concerns in areas related to degree requirements, internal process, and course quality. A survey was developed to further investigate these issues and explore the issues...