An Emerging Mental Health Concern: Risk Factors, Symptoms, and Impact of Internet Gaming Disorder

Internet gaming disorder (IGD) is an emerging mental health condition in increasing number of countries as it leads to a variety of negative consequences and poor psychological well-being among adolescents. The awareness and understanding of the risk factors, symptoms, and impact of IGD are relevant to its proper diagnosis and treatment. The purpose of this study is to highlight these risk factors based on existing literature that contribute to IGD including its symptoms and impact on the life of the adolescents. Relevant findings were drawn through a scoping review on IGD pertaining to its risk factors, symptoms including neurological dimension, and impact among adolescents. A synthesis of results on studies pertaining to IGD shed light on the priority afforded to IGD and aims to raise awareness on this serious current health issue affecting a vulnerable group of young people. © 2019, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.