
Mark D GriffithsNottingham Trent University | NTU · Psychology Department
Mark D Griffiths
BSc, PhD, CPsychol, FRSA, FBPsS, FAcSS
About
2,096
Publications
2,534,346
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Introduction
Dr. Mark Griffiths is a Chartered Psychologist and Distinguished Professor of Behavioural Addiction at the Nottingham Trent University, and Director of the International Gaming Research Unit. He is internationally known for his work into gambling and gaming addictions. He has won 27 national and/or international prizes for his research and has published over 1600 refereed research papers, seven books, over 200 book chapters, and over 1500 other articles.
Additional affiliations
October 1995 - October 2015
October 1995 - present
September 1990 - September 1995
Publications
Publications (2,096)
Aim: This study aimed to examine the co-morbidity and temporal relationship between substance abuse disorders (SUDs) and gambling disorder (GD). Method: Cross-tabulated census data were retrieved from the Norwegian Patient Registry. The data included the number of patients by year of first-time incidence of GD and/or SUD diagnoses, age and sex from...
The 11th Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) formally recognized gaming disorder as an addictive health disorder like gambling disorder. The ICD-11 assumes that excessive online gaming can lead to functional/clinical impairments and psychological distress among a minority of individuals. The present study investigated...
The present study is the first to examine account-based tracking data of Portuguese online lottery players comprising the gambling activity of all active players over a one-year period (N = 154,585). The main research goal was the identification of groups or segments of players by their engagement levels (high, neutral, low) and to assess preferenc...
The present study sought to provide empirical evidence for the sequential mediating role of social comparison orientation and fear of missing out (FoMO) in the relationship between self-concept clarity (SCC) and problematic smartphone use (PSU) within the framework of the Interaction of Person-Affect-Cognition-Execution (I-PACE) model. A sample of...
Objective
The association between depression and gambling disorder (GD) has been well-researched. However, prior research lacks consensus on the temporal association between depression and GD. Furthermore, the extant literature has not explored the nature of the aforementioned relationship using objective research methodology data and large-scale s...
Internet gaming disorder is a type of maladaptive behavior that can arise from gaming activities. Analyzing the risk factors is crucial to understanding the trajectory of the disorder. This study aims to determine the differences between low and high psychological risk factors (loneliness, basic psychological needs, state boredom, and family functi...
Smartphone addiction (SA) has become a pervasive issue among university students. Therefore, it is important to better understand the conditions under which SA develops. Previous studies indicate that fear of missing out (FoMO), a psychological barrier to behavioural self‐regulation, is often associated with SA risk. In the pedagogical context, poo...
The present study utilized advanced psychometric methods (i.e., Rasch analysis and confirmatory factor analysis [CFA]) to evaluate the factor structure of the Multiple Intelligence Scale (MIS) and its validity among Taiwanese older adults. Methods: A cross-sectional study design using convenience sampling was conducted among 200 community-dwelling...
Background and aims
There are limited data regarding associations between gaming disorder and physical activity (PA). The present study investigated the direct association between these two variables and assessed the potentially mediating roles of PA avoidance and two types of weight stigma (i.e., internalized weight stigma and perceived weight sti...
Recent research has suggested that metacognitions about social media use may play a role in social media addiction. The aim of the present study was to investigate (a) the contribution of positive and negative social media use metacognitions in explaining social media addiction after accounting for a range of risk factors related to negative affect...
Background: Exercise addiction, marked by an inability to control exercise and associated with distress that clinically impairs daily activities, is a significant but underrecognized issue in physical activity and health. While its physiological, psychological, and behavioral aspects have been studied, the genetic basis of exercise addiction remain...
The relationship between problematic social media use (PSMU) and psychological distress has been widely investigated and confirmed. However, little is known about the connections between the specific symptoms of these variables within a comorbidity network. The present study aimed to establish a network model of the symptoms of PSMU and psychologic...
The present study evaluated the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the newly developed Escapism Social Media Scale (ESMS). Construct validity, convergent validity, and discriminant validity of the ESMS were analyzed with other related constructs such as coping strategies, fear of missing out (FoMO), problematic social media use (PSMU...
Rates of gambling disorder (GD) have been found to be higher among people receiving disability benefit, but few studies have investigated whether receiving disability benefit prospectively actually increases the risk of GD. The present study investigated whether those with a disability benefit had an increased risk of developing GD using a case-con...
Low life satisfaction has often been associated with problematic social media use (PSMU), problematic smartphone use (PSU), FoMO and psychological distress. However, no studies have analyzed the relationship between life satisfaction, PSMU, PSU, FoMO, and psychological distress, in an integrated model. The present study hypothesized that life satis...
Background
In today's post‐truth times, where personal feelings and beliefs have become increasingly important, determining what is accurate knowledge has become an important skill. This is especially important during uncertainty crises (e.g., epidemics and pandemics) because alternative explanations other than scientific knowledge may be dissemina...
Background
Being overweight/having obesity is a prevalent condition not only among the general population but also among individuals with special occupations such as police officers, where fitness is often a necessity. The present study's aim was to assess how much a psychoeducational intervention based on social cognitive theory (SCT) would be hel...
Background and aims
The inclusion of gaming disorder as a new diagnosis in the 11th revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) has caused ongoing debate. This review aimed to summarise the potential neural mechanisms of gaming disorder and provide additional evidence for this debate.
Methods
We conducted a compre...
How the Internet is used and any negative outcomes of engagement with it—especially with regards to children—is a topic of great interest, bearing legitimate investigation. Proposed identifiers of problematic internet use(PIU) include aspects of use in correlation with distress or impairment across biological, psychological, sociological, and/or oc...
Background
With the widespread use of social media, the potential for problematic use has increased, making it crucial to understand the factors influencing its development and maintenance. Based on the I-PACE theory (through interaction of predisposing and mediating variables), the present exploratory study investigated the relationships between p...
Previous studies have focused on social, personality, emotional, and environmental factors associated with gaming and gaming disorder (GD) risk. However, little is still known about the relationship between cognitive functioning and GD in the context of playing action videogames. Consequently, the present study examined the association between gami...
Background
Weight stigma is pervasive, and it has a significant impact on the social, physical, and psychological health of an individual. Weight stigma is observed from several different sources. Therefore, the present study developed and validated a new instrument, the Weight Stigma Exposure Inventory (WeSEI), to assess different sources of obser...
The present study examined how individuals who have been clinically diagnosed as obese explain their decision to undergo bariatric surgery and how they deal with the stigmatization that such a decision may entail. A total of 23 participants (15 women and 8 men) who were awaiting bariatric surgery within the Spanish healthcare system, were interview...
Background
Gambling disorder has been consistently linked to suicidal ideation and suicide attempts, but few studies have investigated the association between gambling disorder and suicide mortality. This study examined the risk of suicide mortality associated with gambling disorder compared to the general population and other patient groups.
Meth...
Research interest in problematic gaming has increased considerably in the past decade leading the World Health Organization to classify ‘gaming disorder’ (GD) as a formal diagnosis in 2019. This chapter describes the current state of knowledge in relation to minors, as well as future research on GD along with recommendations for important stakehold...
Objectives: In this paper, we explore how emotion regulation strategies mediated in the associationsbetween inattention/hyperactivity and psychological distress (including anxiety and depression) amongyoung adults who sought mental health services. Methods: Students with mental health issues (N=83;age = 19.98 years [SD = 2.11]) completed measures a...
Objectives
An outbreak of monkeypox (Mpox) appeared suddenly and rapidly spread worldwide during 2022. Men who have sex with men (MSM) are at a high risk of contracting Mpox compared to other cohorts. In the present study, we intended to examine the psychometric properties of a newly developed scale among MSM: the Fear of Mpox Scale (FMS) assessing...
Intrinsic capacity (IC), an internal composite ability proposed by the World Health Organization, is fundamental to older people’s health. The present study examined potential models explaining the association between IC and quality of life (QoL) among older people in Taiwan. Frailty, basic activities of daily living (BADL), and instrumental activi...
Aims
Understanding the healthcare access challenges facing diabetic patients in low- and middle-income countries is very important. The present study investigated the association between availability (physical access) and affordability (economic access) to diabetes healthcare services and the frequency of diabetes-related complications.
Methods
A...
Background and aims
The authors of the present study wanted to know whether the previously reported psychiatric comorbidities of internet gaming disorder (IGD) based on DSM-5 criteria were also more prevalent among gaming disorder (GD) or hazardous gaming (HG) based on ICD-11 criteria. Therefore, the present case-control study evaluated the psychia...
Background: Teachers in demanding work environments are prone to anxiety, depression, and stress. Validated measures across different cultural contexts are required. The present study evaluated the psychometric properties of the 21-item Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) and DASS-12 and DASS-8 among Spanish and Chinese primary school te...
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common neurobehavioral disorder beginning in childhood and often extending into adulthood. ADHD may negatively impact emotional regulation and cause addictive behaviors such as social media addiction. The present study investigated the association of ADHD symptoms (i.e., attention deficit [AD] an...
Mukbang watching (i.e., watching eating broadcasts) is an emerging online behaviour that has recently gained popularity. Although, there are a number of positive impacts of recreational mukbang watching (e.g., helping overcome loneliness), for a minority of individuals, excessive mukbang watching may turn into problematic (i.e., addictive) mukbang...
Background
Anxiety is a common psychological disorder in school-aged children and adolescents. The present study aimed to assess the prevalence of anxiety symptoms and sleep disturbances and their relationship with academic achievement among female students in Herat, Afghanistan.
Methods
A cross-sectional survey of 737 female students (mean age 11....
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the fear of COVID-19 increased, especially among nurses. The present study investigated the effect of in-person and virtual methods of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) on the fear of COVID-19 among nurses. In a three-armed randomized control trial, the sample comprised 141 nurses working in hospital...
The relationship between smartphone use, interpersonal interaction, and friendship satisfaction (FS) remains underexplored in literature. The present study addressed this gap by examining how smartphone-related behaviours, such as phubbing and smartphone addiction (SPA), are associated with fear of missing out (FoMO), being phubbed (BP) and FS. The...
Background
Adolescence is a period marked by significant physical, psychological, and emotional changes as youngsters transition into adulthood. During this time, many adolescents consume alcohol, and in some cases, this leads to binge drinking, a behavior associated with various health risks and other problematic behaviors. However, knowledge abou...
An outbreak of monkeypox (Mpox) appeared suddenly and rapidly spread worldwide during 2022. Men who have sex with men (MSM) are at a high risk of contracting Mpox compared to other cohorts. The present study examined the psychometric properties of a newly developed scale among MSM: the Motors of Mpox Vaccination Acceptance Scale (MoMVA) assessing c...
In response to our study, the commentary by Infanti et al. (2024) raised critical points regarding (i) the conceptualization and utility of the user-avatar bond in addressing gaming disorder (GD) risk, and (ii) the optimization of supervised machine learning techniques applied to assess GD risk. To advance the scientific dialogue and progress in th...
The present study examined the psychometric properties of the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (SWEMWBS). A total of 742 Italian participants (84.6% female), with a mean age of 33.08 years (SD = 12.44) took part in a cross-sectional survey study. Confirmatory factor analysis and Rasch analysis were used to examine the psychometric pr...
Background
Despite the increasing proportion of older-aged individuals suffering from problematic gambling, research on gambling among this specific age cohort is still in its infancy. Chasing is a pathognomonic feature of disordered gambling and is considered one of the key risk factors in the transition from recreational to disordered gambling. D...
Emerging research has highlighted potential associations between micro-transaction use and problematic videogame and gambling behaviour. An increasingly prominent theory highlights that self-determined motivations and basic psychological needs may play crucial roles in the development of problematic videogame and gambling behaviour. However, litera...
Supplementary files / Appendices for:
Kristensen, J. H., Baravelli, C. M., Leino, T., Pallesen, S., Griffiths, M. D., & Erevik, E. K. (2025). Association between gambling disorder and suicide mortality: a comparative cohort study using Norwegian health registry data. The Lancet Regional Health – Europe, 48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lanepe.2024.1...
Introduction: Intrinsic capacity, a concept proposed by the World Health Organization, includes multidimensions to better understand older adults’ health conditions for successful healthy aging. One of the key dimensions of intrinsic capacity is cognition. The present study aimed to examine if the cognitive test in Integrated Care for Older People...
Objectives: The objectives of the present study were to (i) re-evaluate and expand the psychometric properties of two weight stigma instrumentsdthe Perceived Weight Stigma Scale (PWSS) and the Weight Self-Stigma Questionnaire (WSSQ) among a large sample of adolescents using advanced psy-chometric methods and (ii) examine how the different types of...
Background and aims
Conflicting findings have been reported for the longitudinal course of behavioral addictions, especially for social media addiction (SMA) and work addiction (WA). Therefore, evaluating whether these constructs are more trait-like or state-like might be informative. The aim of the present study was to examine the proportion of va...
Objectification theory posits that puberty is likely to be a critical stage for experiencing body shame. Past research on experiences during puberty has largely focused on the association between pubertal timing (i.e., the onset of the process of physical maturation and sexual development) and physical and/or psychological health problems among ado...
Objectives
The study of comprehensive satisfaction with healthcare is still limited due to nonstandard measurement tools of patient satisfaction for the Chinese population. Therefore, the present study aimed to verify the validity, reliability, and measurement invariance of the revised Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire (PSQ-R) and conducted networ...
Background and aims
Abortion influences the composition and size of population. Estimating the overall and type-specific abortion rates, the reasons to choose the abortion can be helpful in designing and implementing preventive intervention. Therefore, the present study was designed to determine the: (i) prevalence of abortion, (ii) attitude of mar...
Background
Previous studies have shown that the Gaming Disorder Test (GDT) and Gaming Disorder Scale for Adolescents (GADIS-A) have promising validity and reliability when assessing symptoms of gaming disorder among young adults. However, validity and reliability properties of the two scales have not been established among a Vietnamese population....
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On the Cover
With public health emergencies (PHE) worldwide increasing, the perceived risk of PHE has been one of the critical factors influencing college students’ psychological distress. However, the mechanisms by which the perceived risk of PHE affects college students’ psychological distress are not clear...
Background
Long COVID symptoms (i.e., experiencing symptoms of COVID‐19 for 3 months post‐COVID‐19) affect individuals’ health and their quality of life (QoL). However, the pathways through which it does so are not fully known.
Aim
The present study examined the mediating roles of sleep quality, psychological distress, and self‐stigma in the assoc...
Previous evidence has demonstrated a relationship between insecure attachment and the development of emotional dependence towards an individual’s partner. However, the possibility that this relationship may be indirect and mediated by individual factors such as difficulties in emotional regulation has not previously been explored. Consequently, the...
Introduction
The present study examined the moderating effects of sleep quality in the relationship between coping and distress among medical college students. Present study was conducted to ensure the mental health of medical students and to dig out the reasons behind their disturbed health which can directly impact their performance at work.
Met...
Background
Perceived weight stigma (PWS) and internalized weight stigma (IWS) are both associated with psychological distress and food addiction (FA). Using the previously proposed ‘cyclic obesity/weight-based stigma’ (COBWEBS) model, the present study extended the framework to investigate the mediating effects of IWS and psychological distress in...
One of the key features of gambling disorder (GD) is impairment in cognitive-emotional control. Considering the negative consequences of GD, the present study investigated the effectiveness of emotional working memory training (eWMT) in improving cognitive control, attention, working memory capacity, and cognitive emotion regulation strategies (CER...
Problematic social media use (PSMU) has become an increasingly researched area in the general population, specifically among adolescents. Due to its association with poor well-being and negative consequences, it is important to have assessment instruments that are valid and reliable in evaluating PSMU. The Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS...