2. Gaming, gambling and social media use among Egyptian adolescents

The first Egyptian MedSPAD project was carried out in 2016., it covered 3 governorates and the sample included 10,648 of secondary school students. The 2nd MedSPAD survey was conducted in on an extended sample covering the 27 Egyptian governorates and included all school types schools using a nationally representative sample.

The target population included students aged 12-17. The target population was 10,005,902 and the sample size included 30,000 students. Multi-stage stratified random sampling was used where a class was considered the last sampling unit. Mixed mode of the questionnaire administration was used (paper-and-pencil and computer-based). Data collection was performed over 4 weeks from November 22nd to December 24th 2020. 29,175 questionnaires were collected in 981 schools

The main results based on a sample of 4,519 16 years-old students will be presented with special focus on gaming, gambling and social media use with gender differences. 53.4% of students reported using the social networks during school days, 12% for ≥ 6 hours. 45% reported playing video games during school days, 6% for ≥6 hours, 12% daily last week. 14% reported past-year gambling. About one in two students reported self-perceived problems with social media and/or gaming. 3% of students are at high risk of problem gambling behaviour.

The results show that prevention programmes and initiatives in the country should not be targeted only at substance use. The new data unveil that addictive behaviours like gambling, social media use and gaming are an emerging phenomenon among Egyptian adolescent students that needs a special attention.