Stephanie L. Diez

Pennsylvania Western University

Background: A concerning behavior among many youth is problematic Internet use (PIU). PIU is associated with academic failure, mental health issues, and substance abuse. Empirical evidence indicates parental monitoring has a significant effect on addictive behaviors (including PIU) and school performance among youth. However, there is scant literat...

For many, video gaming can become a maladaptive coping mechanism in response to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), toxic stress, and/or trauma. These experiences can occur both within the context of video gaming and in the physical world, yet the psychological & physical impacts go well beyond the virtual world. This presentation will provide p...

Problematic Internet use (PIU) and problematic video gaming (PVG) are associated with various negative health outcomes and are increasingly concerning behavioral health issues among youth. While market research indicates that US Latinx use the Internet and video games more frequently than non-Latinx US youth, research on PIU and PVG among this hist...

Identification, Screening and Understanding of working with clients who may be experiencing problematic gaming or Gaming Disorder.

International prevalence rates for gaming disorder range with approximately 3.05% of individuals meeting criteria. Despite the high potential for diagnosis, most clinicians in health care facilities who treat known comorbidities (e.g., anxiety or depression) do not assess clients at intake for gaming disorder. The present study aims to evaluate the...

The present study investigated how teachers' cyberbullying experiences are associated with their mental health. Data of 372 school teachers in Germany were assessed via online surveys. Overall, 91.1% of the teachers reported that cyberbullying is an issue at their school, and 69.9% wanted more training in how to manage cyberbullying. In a moderated...

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to increased involvement in video game related activities, including Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) (Nielsen, 2020). Specific to MMORPG’s, this genre of game can integrate with a player’s sense of self, and often reinforces continued play which leads to an experience of enjoyment and purpose...

“Cross-addiction” involves a person substituting one form of addictive behaviour for another. Indeed, cross-additive presentations have been frequently described (e.g. from drugs to alcohol, gambling to sex), and risk profiles have been assumed. Nevertheless, there has been a dearth of evidence considering the occurrence of cross-addiction risk pro...

Background: Adverse life experiences, such as having a parent or caregiver misuse/abuse drug/alcohol or becoming a caregiver for a family member, have been found to be associated with substance misuse among Latinx youth and adults (Madruga et al., 2011). In addition, early adverse life experiences have been identified as a risk factor for problemat...

Amid the U.S. opioid crisis that has been ongoing for nearly two decades and has reached epidemic portions, this book offers a family systems therapy (FST) approach to treatment with adolescents, who are arguably one of the more susceptible populations at risk of developing addictions. The authors provide a comprehensive definition of systems theor...

With the exponential growth of online information seeking by young people, it is imperative for health and sexual health educators to consider online information a resource young people will pursue. Access to accurate and comprehensive sexual health information is important, yet there is a scarcity of research evaluating the quality of this informa...

227 million gamers in the US. In 2020, 13 million joined the gaming community. Today, more people have access to, and are participating in, gaming activities than ever before. While many can enjoy video games without developing any consequences, there are a proportion of those who stray from responsible levels of play, to areas of problematic play....

Through the collaborative efforts of an interdisciplinary international workgroup consisting of individuals focused on prevention of gaming disorder, research will focus on gaming specific questions addressing: frequency of gaming, limits or rules on gaming, awareness of problematic gaming and/or concerns over gaming, and other behaviors that are o...

Sexual trauma is a national public health concern due to the alarming rates at which it occurs and decades of research supporting its long‐term deleterious effects on health outcomes. We assessed the impact of gender norms and sexual trauma on power within sexual relationships among Latina immigrant farmworkers. At baseline, participants (N = 175)...

Religious institutions can be a source of support for recent Latino immigrants struggling to adjust to a new culture. For undocumented immigrants, who are often marginalized from other formal institutions, they may symbolize a place of refuge and hope through supportive social networks that mitigate common challenges such as social isolation and ot...

Non-Latinx black and Latinx youth have reported more frequent Internet use compared to White youth, yet problematic Internet use among these groups of youth remains underexplored. This study aimed to validate the Problematic Internet Use Questionnaire-Short Form (PIUQ-SF) and investigate the characteristics of problematic Internet use among non-Lat...

Electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use among adolescents has rapidly increased in recent years, especially among Latinx and non-Latinx Black adolescents. Yet, limited research exists on adolescent attitudes that may contribute to the popularity of these products. This is in part due to the lack of measures focused on assessing adolescent attitudes...

Link for Podcast: https://www.insocialwork.org/episode.asp?ep=248 Podcast Interview for the University of Buffalo's School of Social Work podcast series InSocialWork. Stephanie Diez discusses the relationship between Internet gaming disorder and other addictive behaviors, and how Internet gaming is categorized within the DSM-5. National and intern...

Background: Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) has become increasingly prevalent in youths worldwide and associated with physical and psychosocial impairments. DSM-5 proposed nine criteria for the potential diagnosis of IGD and noted that further empirical research on the psychometric properties of measurement instruments for IGD are warranted. In resp...

Background: A rapidly growing body of literature has identified that problematic Internet use (PIU) is increasingly prevalent among youth worldwide. Youth with PIU evidence health issues, mental distress symptoms, and behavioral problems. However, very few studies have examined characteristics and psychosocial correlates of PIU among racial/ethnic...

Previous research studies and media reports have advised that a number of adolescents frequently play video games in excess which results in problematic video gaming, however less research has been conducted on the effect of parental monitoring on frequency of video game play among US adolescent. By analyzing data from a national US survey of adole...

Adolescents lack comprehensive, accurate, and adequate information regarding sexuality and safe sexual behaviors. Sexuality health education Web sites and social media pages are a promising medium to deliver sexuality health education to adolescents and perhaps increase adolescent sexual health. This article reviews diverse literature to highlight...

Throughout the past decade, HIV rates in Florida—particularly South Florida, where many Latina seasonal farmworkers reside and work—have ranked among the highest in the nation. In this brief report, we delineate important lessons learned and preliminary findings from the implementation of the HIV prevention intervention Progreso en Salud (Progress...

Abstract: Throughout the past decade, HIV rates in Florida—particularly South Florida, where many Latina seasonal farmworkers reside and work—have ranked among the highest in the nation. In this brief report, we delineate important lessons learned and preliminary findings from the implementation of the HIV prevention intervention Progreso en Salud...

Internet Addiction (IA) and Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) are emerging interconnected behavioral problems for many adolescents. Several psychosocial treatment methods have been used to treat IA/IGD but little is known on the efficacy of these approaches. A critical review of the literature was conducted that yielded 281 search results of which sev...

Problematic video game use, internet addiction, and internet gaming addiction or disorder are interconnecting terms in the literature that have become increasingly more common in the past decade. In 2013 the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5 included Internet Gaming Disorder as a condition warranting more research (American Ps...