Video game addiction in children with and without attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder

The aim of this study is to compare the video game addiction levels and the habit of playing computer games among children with Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and healthy children.The study group consisted of 100 children aged between 10-13 years who were diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder who applied to psychiatry clinic in Istanbul province. The control group consisted of 100 healthy children with no psychiatric diagnosis between the ages of 10 and 13 and matched with the study group in terms of sociodemographic characteristics. Personal Information Questionnaire and Video Game Addiction Scale for Children were applied to participants. Children with Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder had significantly higher levels of video game addiction than healthy children.Video game addiction levels were found to be higher for children who play action, shooter and racing games than those who were not playing. At the same time, online gaming has been found to have a significant effect on the level of video game addiction. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is a risk factor for video game addiction.