"Diagnostic inflation" will not resolve taxonomical problems in the study of addictive online behaviours: Commentary on: How to overcome taxonomical problems in the study of Internet use disorders and what to do with "smartphone addiction"? (Montag et al., 2020)

Vladan Starcevic, Daniel L. King, Paul H. Delfabbro, Adriano Schimmenti, Jesús Castro-Calvo, Alessandro Giardina, Joël Billieux

Research output: Contribution to journalComment/debate

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Abstract

This article suggests that the type of Internet-enabled device should not be prioritised when conceptualizing diagnostic categories of addictive online behaviours. The diagnostic distinction between "predominantly mobile"and "predominantly non-mobile"forms of Internet use disorders (IUD) is not empirically based, may not be clinically useful and may lead to "diagnostic inflation."Problems with the concepts of smartphone use disorder and IUD on which the proposed distinction is largely based call for their re-examination. Future proposals for the taxonomy of addictive behaviours may not need to be based on online/offline and mobile/non-mobile dichotomies.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)915-919
Number of pages5
JournalJournal of Behavioral Addictions
Volume9
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Jan 2021

Keywords

  • Addictive behaviours
  • Internet use disorder
  • Problematic Internet use
  • Problematic smartphone use
  • Smartphone use disorder
  • Taxonomy

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