Vasilis Stavropoulos

• PhD
• ARC DECRA Fellow at RMIT University

The Covid-19 Pandemic and subsequent actions taken by national/international organizations has generated a large amount of anxiety which may roam into the realm of pathology– COVID Anxiety. To measure this phenomenon, measures such as the CAS have been developed. The CAS being a self-report measure of anxiety-related physiologically symptoms that a...

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...

Background: Self-esteem constitutes a pivotal individual characteristic during adolescence, which is intertwined both with family processes and the development of depression. Similarly, adverse family environment has been associated with adolescent depression. Aim: The present study aims to examine the possible contribution of adolescents’ self-est...

The present study examines the potential of the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R) as a measure for the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTop) model. Two structural models were evaluated. In Model 1, the SCL-90-R dimensions were allocated to somatoform (com-prising somatization), internalizing (comprising obsessive-compulsive, interp...

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...

Les symptômes dépressifs ont été associés à la façon dont une personne est impliquée dans son activité en ligne, en particulier son expérience de l’équilibre entre ses compétences et les défis en ligne qu’elle peut rencontrer. Fait intéressant, la présence de différentes typologies dépressives a été corroborée, tandis que le concept de flux en lign...

The Bergen–Yale Sexual Addiction Scale (BYSAS; [1]) is arguably the most popular questionnaire at present for assessing sex addiction. Employing Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and treating item scores as ordered categorical, we applied Weighted Least Square Mean and Variance Adjusted Chi-Square (WLSMV) extraction to investigate the longitudinal...

The Bergen Shopping Addiction Scale (BSAS; Andreassen et al., 2015) is a theory driven self-rating questionnaire for assessing shopping addiction. The current study employed Confirmatory Factor Analysis to examine its factor structure, and its longitudinal measurement invariance among adult participants (N = 276) aged 18 to 62 years (mean = 31.86 y...

An avatar is one’s figure of representation within the virtual world. The user-avatar bond is suggested to carry information about who/how the person is in their real life. Discrepancies between an individual’s self and avatar perceptions have been associated with disordered gaming and reduced well-being, requiring assessment. Although several inst...

Digital games are widely popular and integral to contemporary entertainment. Nevertheless, a proportion of users present with disordered/excessive gaming behaviours, provisionally classified as Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD). Previous literature suggests examining the contribution of an individual’s profile of immersive engagement with their gaming...

Despite the official inclusion of Gaming Disorder (GD) in the International Classification of Diseases, there is still an ongoing debate over its conceptualization and assessment. Several necessary steps have been recommended, including exploring the structure and the relationships of the GD symptoms, whilst considering how gaming may satisfy/meet...

The Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) is a recently proposed dimensional model of psychopathology that aims to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the organization of mental disorders. The Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R) is a widely used self-report questionnaire that assesses nine broad dimensions of psychopatholog...

Objective: This study aims to examine the longitudinal measurement invariance of the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS) over a two-year interval, addressing a gap in research on its consistency over time. Method: Confirmatory Factor Analysis with a robust maximum likelihood chi-square estimator was utilised to assess the BSMAS among 276 ad...

Research has supported that a gamer's attachment to their avatar can offer significant insights about their mental health, including anxiety. To assess this hypothesis, longitudinal data from 565 adult and adolescent participants (Mage = 29.3 years, SD = 10.6) was analyzed at two points, six months apart. Respondents were assessed using the User-Av...

Burnout among esports players is a serious issue affecting competitive and professional players. The present study investigated the relationship between resilience, coping, and burnout among esports players using network analysis. Esports players (N = 453; M age = 23.0 years, SD = 4.18; in the top 40% of in-game rank) who competed in one of seven p...

Athlete burnout is increasingly reported as impacting esports players' wellbeing and performance. This study investigated the psychometric properties of the Athlete Burnout Scale (ABO-S) within esports. Specifically focusing on item discrimination and difficulty parameters to establish optimal raw cut-off scores indicating levels of burnout risk am...

La présente étude a utilisé l’analyse de réseau pour examiner les propriétés des cinq domaines (affect négatif, détachement, antagonisme, désinhibition et psychoticisme) et les 25 items de l’Inventaire de personnalité pour le Manuel diagnostique et statistique des troubles mentaux, cinquième édition, forme brève (PID-5-BF). Des adultes (N = 502) is...

Background and aims Gaming disorder [GD] risk has been associated with the way gamers bond with their visual representation (i.e., avatar) in the game-world. More specifically, a gamer's relationship with their avatar has been shown to provide reliable mental health information about the user in their offline life, such as their current and prospec...

Pornography use has increased its popularity worldwide, raising concerns about potential disordered use. Considering the lack of recognition in diagnostic manuals, conceptual clarification and the validation of robust instruments assessing this problem are much needed. The current study is aimed at assessing the psychometric properties of the Probl...

Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) has been a popular yet limited approach to assessing latent factor structures. Despite items rarely loading exclusively on one latent factor in multifactorial scales, CFA assumes all indicators/items should load uniquely on their allocated latent dimensions. To address this weakness, Exploratory Structural Equatio...

Background Problematic social media use has been identified as negatively impacting psychological and everyday functioning and has been identified as a possible behavioural addiction (social media addiction; SMA). Whether SMA can be classified as a distinct behavioural addiction has been debated within the literature, with some regarding SMA as a p...

Contemporary literature and recent classification systems have expanded the field of addictions to include problematic behaviours such as gambling and sexual addiction. However, conceptualisation of behavioural addictions is poorly understood and gender-based differences have emerged in relation to how these behaviours are expressed. The current re...

Background and aims: Previous research investigated the prevalence and risk factors of problematic sexual behaviour (PSB) using the Bergen-Yale Sex Addiction Scale (BYSAS), among other instruments. However, a dearth of literature employed item response theory (IRT) to assess the BYSAS psychometric properties. The present study adopts an IRT framewo...

Introduction: Social media use has become increasingly prevalent worldwide. Simultaneously, concerns surrounding social media abuse/problematic use, which resembles behavioural and substance addictions, have proliferated. This has prompted the introduction of 'Social Media Addiction' [SMA], as a condition requiring clarifications regarding its def...

Online activity has become increasingly prevalent worldwide, raising concerns about potential online behavioral addictions (e.g., problematic social media use, disordered online gambling, internet gaming disorder, and problematic internet use in general). The aim of this study was to conduct a longitudinal network analysis of symptoms associated wi...

Background Social media use has become an everyday behavior in contemporary life resulting in increased participation. A minority of individuals, especially younger adults, may engage excessively with the medium, resulting in the emergence of problematic social media use (PSMU). One way of assessing PSMU is by administering the Bergen Social Media...

The present study used network analysis to examine the network properties (network graph, centrality, and edge weights) comprising ten different types of common addictions (alcohol, cigarette smoking, drug, sex, social media, shopping, exercise, gambling, internet gaming, and internet use) controlling for age and gender effects. Participants (N = 9...

Background: Evidence suggests that gamers can have varying experiences of disordered gaming behaviours due to coping mechanisms and how they can act as risk or protective factor in the development and/or maintenance of disordered behaviours. A particular area of interest is how this may manifest across different countries. Understanding the interpl...

Objective Workers of the Australian entertainment industry exhibit disproportionately high rates of impaired psychological wellbeing and suicidal behaviors, with such rates being exacerbated by the negative impact of working long and odd hours (Work Scheduling Impact; WSI). Nonetheless, stable and secure social support networks may buffer the risks...

Online flow refers to the rate of an individual's absorbance in an Internet activity in which they are engaged. It has been implicated with both the effectiveness of cyberhealth and online education applications, as well as excessive Internet use. One way of assessing it is the Online Flow Questionnaire (OFQ). Consequently, this study investigated...

Background The trait-impulsivity hypothesis posits impulsivity as the underlying substrate of Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) symptom expressions. The current study applied network analysis to evaluate the inter-relationships of dimensions within ADHD (inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity...

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

Gambling disorder behaviours, such as one’s preoccupation with gambling and/or mood modification due to gambling, have been proposed to differ in their diagnostic weight/importance, especially when informing diagnostic scales. Such potential differences are imperative to be considered to improve assessment accuracy. The latter is particularly impor...

“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 This PRISMA systematic literature review examined the use of digital data collection methods (including ecological momentary assessment [EMA], experience sampling method [ESM], digital biomarkers, passive sensing, mobile sensing, ambulatory assessment, and time-series analysis), emphasizing on digital phenotyping (DP) to study depression...

There has been an increasing amount of research examining problematic shopping behavior (PSB), often referred to in the psychological literature as "compulsive buying" or "shopping addiction." A popular scale for assessing the risk of PSB is the seven-item Bergen Shopping Addiction Scale (BSAS). To expand our knowledge of the psychometric propertie...

Background: This PRISMA systematic literature review examined the use of digital data collection methods (including ecological momentary assessment [EMA], experience sampling method [ESM], digital biomarkers, passive sensing, mobile sensing, ambulatory assessment, and time-series analysis), emphasizing on digital phenotyping (DP) to study depressio...

This study evaluated whether the metacognitive model of desire thinking, with the addition of the Proteus Effect (i.e. the behavioural transformation of a gamer based on their avatar characteristics), contributes to problematic gaming behaviour. The research project was conducted using an online survey and quantitative research methodology. Inclusi...

Rates of online (or internet) gambling are growing faster than any other gambling form, which has research and clinical implications. Currently, the lack of a questionnaire for measuring online gambling in adults is hampering our ability to understand this phenomenon. The current study examined whether the Online Gambling Disorder Questionnaire (OG...

Le trouble du jeu sur Internet (TJI) se caractérise par un engagement persistant et récurrent dans les jeux vidéo, à l’exclusion de toute autre activité, qui ne peut être contrôlé et qui entraîne des troubles importants du fonctionnement quotidien. Des recherches antérieures suggèrent que le trouble du jeu sur Internet est vécu différemment selon l...

Over the past two decades, many problematic/excessive behaviours have increasingly been conceptualized as addictions due to their similarity with more traditional psychoactive substance addictions. The primary aim of the present study was to simultaneously examine the factor structure of three psychoactive substance addictions (alcohol use, cigaret...

Based on parent and teacher ratings of their children, this study used regularized partial correlation network analysis (EBIC glasso) to examine the structure of DSM-5 Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) symptoms. Parent and teachers (N = 934) from the general community in Malaysia completed questionnaires covering DSM-5 ODD symptoms. The most cent...

The study examined the measurement invariance (configural, metric, scalar, and residual) of the Personality Inventory for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) Brief Form (PID-5-BF; Krueger et al., 2013) across gender for the theorized Five-Factor oblique model. A large group of adults (N = 502), with ages ran...

The dearth of evidence related to cultural and gender variations of established associations between Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) and other psychopathologies has been highlighted. Accordingly, the present study examined the association between depression and disordered gaming behaviors, while considering cultural perspectives of vertical individu...

Alcohol use, gaming, and gambling addictions are recognized in some form by the major clinical classification symptoms. The current study applied confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) models to compare four different models comprising the symptoms of these addictions. The four models were one-factor (all different types of addiction symptoms loading o...

Purpose This study aims to examine in which circumstances consumer’s self-congruity moderates the indirect influence of consumer-based brand equity (mediating role) in the relationship between firm-created and user-generated social media content and intention to purchase fashion products. Design/methodology/approach In this study, the authors carr...

Impulsive urgency describes the tendency to act rashly when experiencing extreme emotions. This Australian study aimed to investigate the predictive utility of impulsivity, including impulsive urgency (positive and negative), across a range of problem behaviours. Data from two community samples, one retrospective (n = 281) and one current (n = 604)...

Background The Warwick Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (WEMWBS) is a measure of subjective well-being and assesses eudemonic and hedonic aspects of well-being. However, differential scoring of the WEMWBS across gender and its precision of measurement has not been examined. The present study assesses the psychometric properties of the WEMWBS using...

The Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy (QCAE) is a multiple dimensional measure of cognitive empathy [comprising primary factors for perspective taking (PT), online simulation (OS)], and affective empathy [comprising primary factors for emotion contagion (EC), proximal responsivity (PRO), and peripheral responsivity (PER)]. This study...

Internet gaming disorder (IGD) is a rapidly expanding psychopathological manifestation necessitating further research and clinical attention. Although recent research has investigated relationships between user-avatar and excessive gaming, little is known about the interplay between IGD and avatar self-presence and its dimensions (i.e., the physica...

The study used regularized partial correlation network analysis (EBICglasso) to examine the structure of DSM-5 internet gaming disorder (IGD) symptoms (network 1); and the associations of the IGD symptoms in the network with different types of motivation as defined in the self-determination theory i.e., intrinsic motivation (engaging in an activity...

Background Using Kimbrel’s (2008) mediation model of social anxiety as a theoretical framework, the primary aim of the current study was to use path analysis to examine how biased cognitions for negative and threatening social information mediated the relationships for the personality constructs of the reinforcement sensitivity theory (RST) with ge...

Background Common elements across different forms of addiction suggest the possibility of comorbid addictions, as well as the transition/replacement of one form of addiction with another. This study aimed to conduct a Network analysis of symptoms of 10 forms of addictive behaviors to examine their behavioral commonalities/ interrelations. Methods:...

BACKGROUND The unprecedented changes and isolation measures to contain the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) have had multiple psychological and social impacts, with implications for professional and personal functioning. Evidence-informed interventions that can be rapidly implemented under pandemic conditions to support mental health during such time...

Background: The unprecedented changes and isolation measures to contain the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) have had multiple psychological and social impacts, with implications for professional and personal functioning. Evidence-informed interventions that can be rapidly implemented under pandemic conditions to support mental health during such ti...

The reliable longitudinal assessment of Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) behaviors is viewed by many as a pivotal clinical and research priority. The present study is the first to examine the test-retest measurement invariance of IGD ratings, as assessed using the short-form nine-item Internet Gaming Disorder Scale (IGDS9-SF) over an approximate peri...

In August of 2021, China imposed severe restrictions on children’s online gaming time. We argue that such a policy may seem useful on the surface but does not reflect the current evidence concerning prevention of disordered gaming. Videogame play is normal for children worldwide, and like other leisure activities can lead to benefits for the majori...

Background The Covid-19 Pandemic and subsequent actions taken by national/international organizations has generated a large amount of anxiety which may roam into the realm of pathology – COVID Anxiety. In order to measure this phenomenon, measures such as the CAS have been developed. The CAS being a self-report measure of anxiety-related physiologi...

The present study investigated the prevalence, the potential different profiles, and the associated psychological factors of disordered gaming using data from a large-scale epidemiological study (TURBAHAR [Turkey's Addiction and Mental Health Risk Profile Map Project]) carried out in Turkey in 2018 with 24,494 participants aged 18-81 years. Partici...

The study examined the factor structure and longitudinal measurement invariance over three time points (1-year apart) of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire-Self Report (SDQ-SR) for ratings provided by adolescents in Greece. It used exploratory structural equation modelling (ESEM) to achieve these two goals. At time point one, a total of 9...

Background: Addiction is an increasingly prevalent issue and one with dark consequences for both physical and mental health. As the number of addictions increases with new technological innovations and changing social environments make certain addictions more dangerous, it is important to investigate ways to influence the development and growth of...

This study examined the structure of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms in an adult community sample using first-order confirmatory factor analysis, exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM), and bifactor confirmatory factor analysis and ESEM models, with two group factors (inattention [IA] and hyperactivity/impulsivity...

Background: The Warwick Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (WEMWBS) is a measure of subjective well-being and assesses eudemonic and hedonic aspects of well-being. However, differential scoring of the WEMWBS across gender and its precision of measurement has not been examined. The present study assesses the psychometric properties of the WEMWBS usin...

Due to continued groundbreaking digital advancements, Internet use has increased significantly. This has led to a heated debate in relation to weighing the many advantages of the technology against its potentially deleterious effects. To address such questions, experts converge on the need for greater knowledge around the way individual differences...

Recent literature has speculated that some individuals spend lots of time watching mukbang (i.e., combination of the South Korean words ‘eating’ [‘meokneun’] and ‘broadcast’ [‘bangsong’] that refers to eating broadcasts where a person eats a large portion of food on camera whilst interacting with viewers) and compensate different needs using this a...

Background The present study considers a measure of positive body image, the Body Appreciation Scale-2, which assesses acceptance and/or favourable opinions towards the body (BAS-2). Potential variations of the psychometric properties of the scale across males and females, as well as across its different items invite for further investigation. The...

Revised reinforcement sensitivity theory (r-RST) of personality is a major neuropsychological theory of motivation, emotion, and personality. To measure the specific components of r-RST, the Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory of Personality Questionnaire (RST-PQ; Corr & Cooper, 2016) has been developed. The current study examined the measurement (con...

Based on parent and teacher ratings of their children, this study used regularized partial correlation network analysis (EBIC glasso) to examine the structure of DSM-5 Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) symptoms. Parent and teachers (N = 934) from the general community in Malaysia completed questionnaires covering DSM-5 ODD symptoms. The most cent...

Background: Massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) evolve online, whilst engaging large numbers of participants who play concurrently. Their online socialization component is a primary reason for their high popularity. Interestingly, the adverse effects of MMOs have attracted significant attention compared to their potential benefits. Methods: T...

Revised reinforcement sensitivity theory (r-RST) is a major neuropsychological theory of motivation, emotion, and personality. We report the results of a study that examined the unique relationships of the r-RST constructs with two forms of anxiety: social interaction and social performance. Five hundred and seventy-two adults completed the Reinfor...

The diagnosis of Gaming Disorder (GD) has been recently proposed in the beta draft of the 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) by the World Health Organization (WHO). This follows the inclusion of Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD), as a condition requiring additional research in the Diagnostic Statistical Manual for M...

Peer popularity constitutes a pivotal developmental task to adolescents’ current and future adaptation. This study identified distinct adolescent popularity profiles and explored their links with excessive Internet usage and interpersonal sensitivity. The sample included 2090 students attending Greek high schools (Mage = 16.16, SD = 0.91). Their po...

Background Disordered Internet gaming is thought to be perpetuated by one's need to escape their real-life distress or mental health symptoms, which may in turn generate depressive feelings. Nevertheless, moderate engagement with Internet games has also been suggested to provide relief, thus improving one's mood. This study aspires to clarify the c...

Background Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) behaviours involve excessive use of Internet games to the extent that one’s everyday life is compromised. It has been suggested that IGD symptoms are dependent on whether one is more individualistic or collectivistic. However, the range of potential individualism-collectivismeffects on IGD presentations rem...

Attention Deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is conceptualized differently in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5), the International Classification of Diseases-10 (ICD-10), and the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) frameworks. This study applied independent cluster confirmatory factor analysis (ICM-CFA), exploratory stru...

Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD), describes the abuse of Internet games with detrimental impact to the real-life social engagement of some gamers. Indeed, evidence suggests that gamers differ on the severity and way in which they express IGD symptoms, as well as their social engagement behaviours. The present study aimed to: a) profile gamers regardi...

The aim of the study was to use exploratory structural equation modelling (ESEM) to investigate support for an ADHD factor model with group factors for inattention (IA), hyperactivity (HY), and impulsivity (IM), as proposed in in ICD-10. A total of 202 adults (121 females and 81 males), aged between 18 and 35 years, from the general community, comp...