Assessment of Criteria for Specific Internet-use Disorders (ACSID-11):Further development and validation of a new screening instrument capturing ICD-11 criteria for gaming disorder and other potential Internet-use disorders

With the inclusion of gaming disorder in the ICD-11, diagnostic criteria were introduced for this relatively new disorder. These criteria may also be applied to other potential specific Internet-use disorders. The 11-item Assessment of Criteria for Specific Internet-use Disorders (ACSID-11) was developed for consistent screening of gaming disorder, online buying-shopping disorder, online pornography-use disorder, social networks-use disorder, and online gambling disorder. This study further validated the ACSID-11. The ACSID-11 measures the five behavioral addictions with the same set of items by following the principles of WHO’s ASSIST. The ACSID-11 was administered to a convenience sample of active Internet users (N=1903) together with validated and established measures of each specific Internet-use disorder along with screeners for mental health. Included are Internet-use disorder measures that are based on DSM-V criteria and Griffiths' addiction components, namely: the Ten-Item Internet Gaming Disorder Test (IGDT-10), the Bergen Shopping Addiction Scale (BSAS), the Problematic Pornography Consumption Scale (PPCS), the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS) and the Berlin Inventory of Gambling behavior – Screening (BIG-S). The ACSID-11 was compared to the Internet-use disorder screeners and further validated. Each behavior assessed with the ACSID-11 shows a significant strong correlation with the sum score of the corresponding established measures as well as with measures of psychological distress (all r’s>.5, p’s<.001). The internal consistency of the ACSID-11 for the different behaviors is excellent with all Cronbach’s alphas >.9. The ACSID-11 was valided and can be considered a reliable instrument for the consistent assessment of the different (potential) Internet-use disorders: gaming disorder, online buying-shopping disorder, online pornography-use disorder, social networks-use disorder, and online gambling disorder. The ICD-11 diagnostic criteria for gaming disorder seem to be applicable to the other (potential) Internet-use disorders.