Peer-Reviewed Study

Prospective Association Between Online Game Use and Risk of Internet Gaming Disorder in Korea: 12-Month Follow-up Results From the iCURE Study

Mar 2022 🇰🇷 Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health PEER-REVIEWED PAYWALLED — LINKED, NOT HOSTED

This Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health paper, co-authored by Hae Kook Lee, followed 1,318 Korean adolescent gamers from the iCURE cohort for a year to see how changes in their gaming behavior related to risk of internet gaming disorder. The authors defined heavier use as gaming more than 1.5 hours a day or on 4 or more days a week, and report that adolescents whose gaming time increased over the study period were about 2.5 times as likely to move into gaming-disorder-associated risk as those who stayed below that threshold, while adolescents whose gaming frequency increased were nearly 4 times as likely. The authors frame these thresholds as a practical reference point for parents and clinicians rather than a hard clinical cutoff. TechKids Foundation cites this as association-level evidence linking specific increases in gaming time and frequency to elevated gaming-disorder risk in Korean adolescents.

Increased gaming time: 2.54x higher odds of gaming-disorder risk

Adolescents whose daily gaming time increased over 12 months were about 2.54 times as likely to move into internet-gaming-disorder-associated risk as those who kept gaming under 1.5 hours/day, per the iCURE 12-month follow-up.

Increased gaming frequency: 3.76x higher odds of gaming-disorder risk

Adolescents whose weekly gaming frequency increased were about 3.76 times as likely to move into gaming-disorder-associated risk as those who kept gaming under 4 days/week.

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CITATION

Jo, Sun-Jin, Hyeon Woo Yim, Hyunsuk Jeong, Hye Jung Son, and Hae Kook Lee. "Prospective Association Between Online Game Use and Risk of Internet Gaming Disorder in Korea: 12-Month Follow-up Results From the iCURE Study." Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health 34, no. 4 (2022): 370–376. https://doi.org/10.1177/10105395221084929

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