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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2011 Jul 12.
Published in final edited form as: Eval Health Prof. 2010 Sep 27;34(1):3–56. doi: 10.1177/0163278710380124

Table 2.

Prevalence and Co-Occurrence of 11 Addictions of Studies With Ns at Least 500

Name and Year Sample Size, Age Range/Mean Location Addictions Studied Results
Aboujaoude et al., 2006 2,513 general population adults; mean age = 48.5 years United States Internet addiction; current; DSM model; 5+ of 8 items 0.7% Internet addiction
Agrawal et al., 2004 1,191 male and 934 female twin pairs; age range = 21–62 years (mean age = 35.8 years) United States Marijuana and other illicit drug abuse; last 12 months; DSM model 7.5% and 18% cannabis abuse/dependence, females and males; 9% and 19.2% other illicit drug abuse/dependence, females and males
Anderson, 2001 1,302 college students from 7 colleges; age range = 18 to 22+ years United States Internet addiction; last 12 months; DSM model, 3+ of 7 items 9.8% Internet addiction among Internet users; 8.1% among full sample, including non-Internet users
Bakken et al., 2009 3,399 general population; age range = 16–74 years Norway Internet addiction; current; past year alcohol and substance abuse; DSM model; YDQ (5+ of 8 items) 1.0% Internet addiction; 13.6% of Internet addicts past year alcohol and substance abuse
Barnes et al., 2009 2,274 general population; age range = 14–21 years United States Gambling; last 12 months; DSM model; 3 gambling measures, SOGS-RA and two DSM types (3+ of 12 gambling problems; 3+ of 19 alcohol, marijuana symptoms) 10% gambling addiction; 4% tobacco dependence; 15% alcohol abuse, 7% marijuana abuse, approximately 36% of heavy gamblers also heavy drinkers and marijuana smokers
Becona, 1993 1,615 random population sample; age range = 18 to 65+ years Spain Gambling addiction; current; DSM model; 4+ of 8 items; daily smoking, very heavy drinking 1.7% gambling addiction; 75% gambling addicts daily cigarette smokers and 14.3% heavy alcohol use
Bondolfi et al., 2000 2,526 representative sample, telephone interviews; age range = 18 to 65+ years (80% < 29 years) Switzerland Gambling addiction, alcohol abuse; last 12 months; DSM model; SOGS (5+ of 20 items); CAGE screen for alcohol, 2+ of 4 items 0.8% gambling addiction; 36% of potential or probably gambling addicts also alcohol abusers
Burke, 1999 30 mostly White professional adults; age range = 35–50 years Canada Workaholism; current; high score on 15 items and low score on 10 items (involvement but not enjoy; “Workaholism Triad” measure) 15.9% of males and 16.8% of females work addiction
Cao & Su, 2006 2,620 junior and senior high school youth; age range = 12–18 years (mean age = 15.19 years) China Internet addiction; current; DSM model; YDQ (6+ of 8 items) 2.4% Internet addiction
Carnes et al., 2005 1,6042 residents of a sex addiction treatment program; age range = 18 to 65+ years United States Sex addiction co-occurrence with 8 other addictions; last 12 months; DSM model Among sex addicts: 37% nicotine, 46% alcohol, 40% other substances, 24% eating, 6% gambling, 12% exercise, 34% workaholism, 31% shopping/buying addiction
Chen et al., 2004 1,044 high school youth; age range = 14–18 years United States Cigarette, alcohol, marijuana, other illicit drugs abuse/dependence; last 12 months; DSM model 8.0% cigarette, 16.4% alcohol, 13.4% marijuana, and 3.9% other illicit drugs abuse/dependence
Chou & Hsiao, 2000 910 college students from 12 universities; mean age = 21.1 years Taiwan Internet addiction; current; DSM model; top 10% C-IRABI-II, YDQ (5+ of 8 items) 5.9% Internet addiction
Coffey et al., 2002 1,601 young adults; mean age = 20.7 years Australia Marijuana dependence; last 12 months; DSM model 7% marijuana dependence
Cohen et al., 1993 776 youths, convenience sample; age range = 10–20 years (examined data of older youth) United States Alcohol, marijuana, other drug abuse; last 12 months; DSM model 3.5% alcohol, 1.4% marijuana, 0.6 other drug abuse among 14- to 16-year-olds; 14.6% alcohol, 2.9% marijuana, 1.1 other drug abuse among 17- to 20-year-olds
Compton et al., 2004 86,000 general population; age range = 18–65 years United States Marijuana abuse/dependence; last 12 months; DSM model 1.5% marijuana abuse or dependence (varied from 4.2% to 4.9% if 18–29 years old)
Compton et al., 2007 43,093 general population; age range = 18–65 years United States Marijuana/other illicit drugs abuse/dependence; last 12 months and lifetime; DSM model 2.0% and 10.3% 12-month and lifetime drug abuse/dependence
Cook, 1987 604 university students; mean age = 22.6 and 21.3 years, for males and females United States Ten addictive behaviors; current; single-item measures of addiction 9.6% cigarettes, 10.5% alcohol, 4.3% illicit drugs, 6.4% obesity (16.6% considering obesity, anorexia, or bulimia), 25.9% relationship, 16.8% sex, 2.4% gambling, 4.6% running, 17.5% workaholic, and 10.7% shopping addiction; see text for some co-occurrence information
Cooper et al., 2002 7,037 online survey, convenience sample; age range = 18–80 years (mean age = 32 years) 80% from United States and 20% from elsewhere (not specified) Internet and sex addiction; current; single item (addicted to Internet, sex, both, neither) 9.6% Internet addiction; 9.6% sex addiction; co-occurrence not reported
Cunningham-Williams et al., 2000 990 drug abusers either from treatment settings (n = 512) or from the community (n = 478); mean age = 32.2 years United States Gambling addiction and substance dependence; lifetime use (SAM); DSM model; DIS III-R (4+ of 9 items pathological gambling, 1+ of 9 problem gambling items) 11% drug abusers (alcohol and other drugs) gambling addicts and 22% problem gambling; of problem gamblers, 79% nicotine, 69% alcohol, 46% marijuana, 26% sedative, 48% opiate, 82% stimulant dependence
Desai et al., 2007 17,280 (from among 43,093) general population; age range = 40–64 years United States Gambling addiction; among them nicotine dependence, alcohol abuse/dependence; last 12 months; DSM model; 3+ of 10 symptoms for gambling 0.5% gambling addiction; of them, 41% nicotine dependent, 25% alcohol abuse/dependent; also 33% obese, though no indication of a formal eating disorder
Dierker et al., 2007 859 first year college students; mean age = 18 years United States Tobacco use and dependence; last 12 months; DSM model 20.5% smoked in last 7 days, 4.9% daily smokers, 4.4% nicotine dependence
Downs et al., 2004 855 university students from fitness classes; mean age = 21.4 years United States Exercise; last 12 months; DSM model; modified EDS (3+ of 7 symptoms strongly endorsed) 5% exercise addiction
Falk et al., 2006 43,093 general population; age range = 18–65 years United States Nicotine dependence, alcohol abuse/dependence; last 12 months; DSM model 12.8% nicotine dependence, 8.4% alcohol abuse/dependence; 34% alcohol abuse/dependence also nicotine dependence
Farrell et al., 2003 10,108 general population; age range = 16–64 years Great Britain Tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, other drug addiction; last 12 months; ICD model (dependence) 24% smoked greater than 10 cigarettes per day, 5% alcohol dependence, 1.8% marijuana dependence, 1.2% other drug dependence (2.1% marijuana or other drug dependence),
Feigelman et al., 1998 6,308 random sample; age range = 8 to 35+ years United States Gambling addiction; lifetime for gambling, last 12 months for substance abuse; DSM model; SOGS (3+ of 20 items) 4.2% gambling addiction; 26% of gambling addicts had substance abuse problem
Fortson et al., 2007 411 university students (full sample close to 500); mean age = 20.1 years United States Internet; last 12 months; DSM model; 3 items for abuse; 6 items for dependence, high point on each rating scale 21.9% Internet abuse and 1.2% Internet dependence
French et al., 2008 41,270 general population; age range = 18–65 years United States Gambling problems and alcohol abuse/dependence; last 12 months; DSM model; 1+ of 15 gambling problems 2.8% with 1+ gambling problem, 8.5% alcohol abuse/dependence; among weekly or greater drinkers, 4.1% with a gambling problem
Gadalla & Piran, 2007 36,984 general population; age range = 15–65 years Canada Eating, alcohol, and other drug abuse (CIDI); last 12 months; DSM model; EAT-26 (21+ of 78 on eating disorder measure) 0.5% and 2.8% “;risk”; for eating disorders among males and females; 3.9% and 1.3% alcohol, 1.1% and 0.5% illicit drug abuse
Gentile, 2009 1,178 general population; age range = 8–18 years United States Internet; last 12 months; DSM model; 6+ of 11 symptoms 8.5% Internet-based video game addiction
Goodwin et al., 2009 43,093 general population; age range = 18–65 years United States Cigarette dependence; last 12 months; DSM model 21.6% and 17.8% tobacco addiction among males and females
Goossens et al., 2009 708 community sample of teens; age range = 12–16 years (mean age = 14 years) Belgium Binge eating; last 28 days; DSM model; 41 item measure of loss of control (EDE-Q, EDI-2) 16.7% loss of control over eating in last month, and 7.4% objective report of binge eating
Gotestam & Johansson, 2003 2,014 representative sample; age range = 18 to 50+ years Norway Gambling addiction; last 12 months; DSM model; 5+ of 10 symptoms 0.15% gambling addiction
Grant et al., 2004a 43,093 general population; age range = 18–65 years United States Nicotine dependence; last 12 months; DSM model 12.8% nicotine dependence
Grant et al., 2004b 43,093 general population; age range = 18–65 years United States Substance abuse/dependence disorder; last 12 months; DSM model 9.35% any substance abuse/dependence (8.46% alcohol 2.0% any drug, 1.45% cannabis)
Greenfield, 1999 17,251 general population Internet users; age range = 8–85 years (mean age = 33 years) Mostly United States and Canada, online Internet addiction; current; DSM model; VAS (5+ of 10 symptoms) 6% Internet addiction
Griffiths et al., 2010 9,003 general population; age range = 16 to 65+ years Great Britain Gambling, alcohol, and smoking abuse/addiction; last 12 months; DSM model; 3+ of 10 symptoms (DSM and PGSI) 0.9% past year problem gambling, 1.1% problem gambling among “;smokers in past year”; (0.4% among nonsmokers), and 2.3% among very heavy drinkers (0.2% among moderate drinkers)
Grusser et al., 2007 7,069 gamers (94% male), mean age = 21.1 years Germany and United Kingdom Online/Internet gaming last 12 months; DSM model; 3+ of 10 symptoms (ICD model) 11.9% online gaming addiction
Harford et al., 2005 55,561 general population; age range = 12–50 years United States Alcohol abuse and dependence; last 12 months; DSM model 5.8% alcohol abuse/dependence (3.8% abuse, 2.0% dependence); 15.2% among 18- to 23-year-olds and 10.0% among 24- to 29-year-olds
Hasin et al., 2007 43,093 general population; age range = 18 to 65+ years United States Alcohol abuse and dependence; last 12 months; DSM model 8.5% alcohol abuse/dependence (4.7% abuse, 3.8% dependence)
Hay, 1998 3,001 community based sample; age range = 15–65 years Australia Binge eating disorder; last 3 months; DSM model; 2 interview questions 1% eating addiction (binge eating disorder)
Hill et al., 1998 929 general medical practice patients; age range = 14–75 years Germany Alcohol abuse and dependence; last 12 months; DSM model 3.5% alcohol abuse and 7.2% alcohol dependence
Kaltiala-Heino et al., 2004 7,292 general population youth reached through a postal survey; age range=12–18 years (12-, 14-, 16-, and 18-year-olds) Finland Internet addiction; last 12 months; DSM model; 4+ of 7 symptoms 1.7% and 1.4% of boys and girls, respectively, Internet addicts
Kandel et al., 1997 87, 915 general population; age range = 12–65 years United States Nicotine, alcohol, marijuana, cocaine dependence proxy measure; last 12 months; DSM model; 3+ of 7 symptoms 28% nicotine, 5.2% alcohol (8.1% 12–25 years old), 8.2% marijuana, 11.6% cocaine dependence among baseline users; 8.7% nicotine, 3.6% alcohol, 0.1% marijuana, 0.3% cocaine dependence on full sample
Kilpatrick et al., 2000 4,023 household probability sample of youth; age range = 12–17 years (32% were 16 or 17 years old) United States Alcohol, marijuana, hard drug abuse/dependence; last 12 months; DSM model 4%, 1%, 1% alcohol, marijuana, hard drug abuse/dependence overall (9%, 7%, and 2% among 16- to 17-year-olds)
Kim et al., 2006 1,573 high school students from 6 schools; age range = 15–16 years Korea Internet addiction; current; DSM model; IAS (70+ of 100 score) 1.6% Internet addiction
Koran et al., 2006 2,513 random sample telephone survey of adults; age range = 18–85 years United States Buying/shopping addiction; current; 2 standard deviations < mean, 7-item scale (CBS) 5.8% shopping addiction (6.0% females, 5.5% males)
Kubey et al., 2001 572 college students; mean age = 20.25 years United States Internet addiction; current; single item 9.3% Internet addiction
Ladouceur et al., 1999a 3,426 junior and senior high school youth; age range = 12–18 years (mean age = 14.8 years) Canada Gambling addiction; last 12 months; DSM model; SOGS (5+ of 19 items) 2.6% gambling addiction
Ladouceur et al., 1999b 1,002 (in 1989) and 1,257 (in 1996); age range = 18 to 65+ years Canada Gambling addiction last 12 months; DSM model; SOGS (5+ of 19 items) 1.2% in 1989, 2.1% in 1996 gambling addiction
Lesieur et al., 1991 1,771 college youth; mean age = 22.3 years United States Gambling addiction last 12 months; DSM model; SOGS (5+ of 19 items) 4–8% gambling addiction
Leung, 2004 699 telephone probability sample; age range 16–24 years (mean age = 19.8 years) Hong Kong Internet addiction; current; DSM model; YDQ (5+ of 8 items) 37.9% Internet addiction
Lewinsohn et al., 2002 941 young adults originally from 9 senior high schools; mean age = 24 years United States Binge eating disorder; last 3 months; DSM model; 3 items (1 of them open-ended coded) 2.6% and 4.0% eating addiction men and women; binge eating men engaged in excessive exercise though % not reported; 24% eating addicts reported alcohol abuse/dependence, and 17% reported illicit drug abuse/dependence
MacLaren & Best, 2010 948 college students from 2 universities; mean age = 19.6 years Canada Tobacco, alcohol, illicit drugs, eating, gambling, love, sex, exercise, work, shopping addictions; current; DSM model; 10 item scales for each, 90th %ile considered addicted 1.7% tobacco, 10.2% alcohol, 8.5% illicit drugs, 14.9% food bingeing, 9% gambling, 11.9% love (submissive relationship), 10.3% sex, 25.6% exercise, 12.4% work, and 21.8% shopping addiction; see text for co-occurrence information
Nelson & Wittchen, 1998 3,021 stratified random sample of youths; age range = 14–24 years Germany Alcohol abuse/dependence; last 12 months; DSM model 9.9% for alcohol abuse/dependence; 8.0% for men, and 2.5% for women
Neuner, Raab, & Reisch, 2005 974 (in 2001), 1,444 (in 1991) representatively selected adults; mean age = 42.1 years Germany Shopping addiction; current; G-CBS (2 standard deviations < mean on 16-item scale, score of 45 of the 64) 7.6% shopping addiction in 2001 (8% West Germany, 6.5% East Germany), much higher than in 1991 (5.1% in West Germany and 1% in East Germany)
Park, Kim, & Cho, 2008 903 youth from randomly selected schools; age range = 14–18 years Korea Internet addiction; current; DSM model; IAS (twenty 5-point items, 70+ of 100) 10.7% Internet addiction
Philippe & Vallerand, 2007 810 community-dwelling older person sample; mean age = 66.1 years Canada Gambling addiction; last 12 months; DSM model; SOGS-R (5+ of 21 items) 1.2% gambling addiction
Pirkola et al., 2006 6,005 general population survey; age range = 30 to 65+ years Finland Alcohol dependence; last 12 months; DSM model, 1+ symptom 3.9% alcohol dependence (4.1% remitted)
Poelen et al., 2005 4,090 twin registry; age range examined = 16–30 years Netherlands Alcohol abuse; lifetime; 2+ of 4 CAGE items 10.3% alcohol abuse (15% males and 5% females)
Potenza et al., 2006 943 persons that called a gambling helpline; age range = 18–78 years (mean age = 43 years) United States Co-occurrence of gambling problems with tobacco, alcohol, and drug use; current; callers to a gambling helpline; single-item drug reports Among gambling addicts (those who called the helpline), 53% daily tobacco use, 18% alcohol problem, and 11% drug use problem
Regier et al., 1990 20,291 general population; age range = 18 to 65+ years United States Alcohol and drug abuse/dependence; DSM model; last 6 months for prevalence; lifetime for co-occurrence 4.8% alcohol (2% abuse, 2.8% dependence); 2.0% any other drug (0.8% abuse, 1.2% dependence); if alcohol—21.5% drug, abuse/dependence, if drug—46% alcohol abuse/dependence
Scherer, 1997 531 undergraduate and graduate college students; age range 18–30 years (mean age = 24 years) United States Internet addiction; last 12 months; DSM model; 3+ of 10 symptoms 9% Internet addiction (13% of weekly users)
Schofield et al., 2004 1,029 randomly selected telephone adult sample; age range = 18 to 65+ years Norway Gambling addiction; lifetime; DSM model; SOGS (5+ of 20 items) 0.8% gambling addiction
Shaffer et al., 1999; Shaffer & Hall, 2001 122,286 aggregate subjects from a meta-analysis; age range = 13–65 years United States and Canada Gambling addiction; last 12 months; DSM model; estimates of pathological gambling from 134 studies 1.14% adults, 5.77%adolescents (in their 2001 meta-analysis, they find 1.46% for adults and 4.80% for adolescents) gambling addiction
Smith et al., 1998 3,948 biracial sample, age range = 28–40 years United States Binge eating disorder; last 6 months; DSM model; 5 criteria (QEWP-R) 1.5% binge eating disorder
Sommers, 1988 534 telephone population survey; age range = 17 to 65+ years United States Gambling addiction; current; DSM model; 3+ of 8 criteria 3.4% gambling addiction
Spitzer et al., 1992 1,984 community subjects; age range = 17–80 years (mean age = approximately 38 years) United States Binge eating disorder; last 6 months; DSM model; 5 criteria 2% binge eating disorder prevalence in general population; 30.1% among participants of hospital affiliated weight control programs
Stinson et al., 2006 43,093 general population; age range = 18–65 years United States Marijuana abuse/dependence, nicotine dependence, and alcohol abuse/dependence; last 12 months; DSM model 1.4% 12-month marijuana abuse/dependence; among them, 53.1% and 57.6% nicotine dependence and alcohol abuse/dependence
Stucki & Rihs-Middel, 2007 412,100 total from a metaanalysis of 33 studies (28 were reports); mostly adults (age = 18 years old in 24 of the studies) 9 studies in United States, 11 studies in Canada, 13 in Europe or Austro-Asia Gambling addiction; last 12 months mostly; DSM model; 3 types of measures (SOGS, PGSI, and DSM) 1.6% gambling addiction (weighted mean)
Teesson et al., 2006 7,570 and 7,423 representative general population Australian and U.S., respectively; age range = 18–54 years United States and Australia Alcohol, and any drug dependence (marijuana included in any drug category); last 12 months; DSM model 3.1% and 5.3% alcohol dependence in the United States and Australia, respectively, and 1.1% and 2.7% any drug dependence
Timmerman et al., 1990 1,391 high school students; mean age = 16.5 years United States Bulimia and alcohol abuse; current; DSM model; 5 symptoms for bulimia (21 items); AAIS score > 42 (14 items) for alcohol abuse 2% girls, 0.1% boys bulimia; 12.5% girls, 9% boys alcohol abuse; of bulimics 0% males, 4.65% females alcohol abuse; if “;almost”; bulimic (4 instead of 5 criteria), 6.15% of males and 23.26 of females alcohol abuse
Toneatto & Brennan, 2002 580 addiction program residents; age range = 18 to 65+ years United States Gambling and substance abuse; last 12 months; DSM model; SOGS (5+ of 20 items) 10.5% gambling addiction; of primary marijuana, cocaine, opiate, and alcohol abusers, 24%, 11.5%, 4.8%, and 4.0% gambling addicts
Ulrich et al., 2003 1,567 general population subsample of daily smokers for last 6 months; age range = 18–64 years Germany Alcohol hazard (20–40 g males, 30–60 g females pure alcohol)/abuse/dependence among daily smokers; last 12 months; DSM model; CIDI, SCAN 38.6% of general population daily smokers; of daily smokers, 18.4% alcohol hazardous use/abuse/dependence
Volberg, 1994 4,500 general adult population; median age range = 33–38 years United States (5 states: MA, MD, NJ, CA, and IA) Gambling addiction; lifetime; DSM model; SOGS (5+ of 20 items) 0–2.3% (average about 1.2) gambling addiction
Volberg & Steadman, 1988 1,000 representative sampling; age range = 18–65 years United States Gambling addiction; lifetime; DSM model; SOGS (5+ of 20 items) 1.4% gambling addiction
Warner et al., 1995 65,244 general population; age range = 15- to 54-year-old (median age = 35 years) United States Drug dependence; last 12 months; DSM model; CIDI (3+ of 9) 1.8% last year illicit drug addiction
Welte et al., 2001 2,638 general population; age range = 18 to 65+ years United States Gambling and alcohol addiction; current; DSM model; SOGS (5+ of 20 items) and DIS (5+ of 10 items) for gambling 1.9% gambling addiction, 1.8% alcohol dependence (2.5% alcohol abuse or dependence); 33% of gambling addicts also alcohol dependent; and 24% of alcohol dependent also gambling addicts
Welte et al., 2008 2,271 representative sample; age range = 14–21 years United States Gambling addiction SOGS-RA (4+ of 12 items) and DIS (5+ of 13 items) 2.1% gambling addiction
Westphal et al., 2000 11,736 random sample; age range = 12–18 years United States Gambling addiction; last 12 months; DSM model; SOGS-RA (4+ of 12 items) 5.8% gambling addiction; 59% of gambling addicts also used alcohol or illegal drugs at least weekly
Whang et al., 2003 13,588 Internet users; age range = 13–60 years (mean age = 26.74 years) Korea Internet addiction; current; DSM model; IAS, score of 60 or higher (across 20 items) 3.5% Internet addiction
Winters et al., 1993 702 general population youth; age range = 15–18 years (mean age = 16.2 years) United States Gambling addiction; last 12 months; SOGS-RA (2+ of 12 items) 8.7% gambling addiction
Wong & So, 2003 2,004 representative sample; age range = 15–64 years, (84% 18–55 years) Hong Kong Gambling addiction; last 12 months; DSM model; 5+ of 10 symptoms 1.8% gambling addiction
Young et al., 2002 3,072 community-based; age range = 12–18 years (mean age = 15.85 years) United States Tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, and other drug dependence; last 12 months; DSM model (DSM-SAM) 6.0% tobacco, 15.7% alcohol, 7.8% marijuana, 2.8% other drug dependence, among 17- to 18-year-olds

Notes. AAIS = Adolescent Alcohol Involvement Scale; CAGE = alcohol abuse screener; CIDI = Composite International Diagnostic Interview; CBS = Compulsive Buying Scale; DIS = Diagnostic Interview Schedule; DSM = Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association (questionnaire or interview directly mapped onto criteria); EAT = Eating Attitude Test; EDE = Modified Eating Disorder Examination Interview; EDI = Eating Disorder Inventory; EDS = Exercise Dependence Scale; IAS = Internet Addiction Scale; ICD = International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems; IRABI = Internet-Related Addictive Behavior Inventory; PGSI = Problem Gambling Severity Index (Canadian Problem Gambling Index); QEWP = Questionnaire on Eating and Weight Patterns; SAM = Substance Abuse Module; SCAN = Schedules of Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry; SOGS = South Oaks Gambling Survey; VAS = Virtual Addiction Survey; YDQ = Young Diagnostic Questionnaire.