Table 1.
Description of the included studies.
| Author, Year, Country | Title | Type | Objecitive | Methodology | Scale | Poulation and age | Conclusion | Certainty in evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chen et al. (2021) China (42) | Internet-related behaviors and psychological distress among schoolchildren during the COVID-19 school hiatus | Original research | To evaluate levels of problematic gaming, problematic social media use, and problematic smartphone use; distress; and time spent on different activities; and test the mediating roles of problematic gaming, problematic social media use, and problematic smartphone use in the associations between psychological distress and screen time use | Quantitative (school-based survey) | IGDS-SF91) |
N = 2,026 Mean age = 10.71 |
From the aspect of practice, parents and caregivers need to monitor the use of Internet-related activities of their children while finding ways to facilitate the time spent on exercise and studying, which may contribute to better mental health among their children | High |
| Chen et al. (2021), China (42) | Problematic internet-related behaviors mediate the associations between levels of internet engagement and distress among schoolchildren during COVID-19 lockdown: A longitudinal structural equation modeling study | Original research | To assess changes in the level of engagement in internet-related activities before and during the COVID-19 outbreak; to investigate the differences of psychological distress before and after COVID-19 outbreak; and to investigate the mediating roles of problematic internet-related behaviors in the causal relationships of psychological distress and time spent on internet-related activities | Quantitative (school-based survey) | IGDS-SF91) |
N = 535 Mean age = 10.32 |
Increased problematic use of internet-related activities among schoolchildren was associated with greater psychological distress. Parents should therefore monitor internet-related activities and psychological distress of their children to support their mental health | Moderate |
| Cuong et al. (2021), Vietnam (43) | Associations between gaming disorder, parent-child relationship, parental supervision, and discipline styles: Findings from a school-based survey during the COVID-19 pandemic in Vietnam | Original research | To assess the prevalence of GD among Vietnamese adolescents in Hanoi, and; to assess the associations between parent-child relationship, parental discipline styles, and GD | Quantitative (school-based survey) | IGD-202) |
N = 2,084 Mean age = 14.5 |
“We found associations between gaming disorder and parent-child relationship, parental supervision, and parental discipline. Future interventional studies should consider assessing the effect of fostering healthy | Moderate |
| parent-child relationships and appropriate discipline on the occurrence or prognosis of gaming disorders | ||||||||
| De Pasquale et al. (2021), Italy (44) | Online videogames use and anxiety in children during the COVID-19 pandemic | Original research | To assess the prevalence of videogames use and addiction in a sample of Italian children during the COVID-19 pandemic and their association with anxiety symptoms | Quantitative (school-based survey) | VASC3) |
N = 162 Mean age = 9.4 |
Recently, a possible use of active video games for improving mental health and physical fitness during isolation periods was reported; however, more studies are needed to define the most adequate interventions to be activated by caregivers to prevent the negative consequences and maximize the developmentally positive effects of videogames | Moderate |
| Donati et al. (2021), Italy (45) | Gaming among children and adolescents during the COVID-19 lockdown: the role of parents in time spent on video games and gaming disorder symptoms | Original research | To analyze video gaming habits in children and adolescents during the lockdown, starting in March 2020 in Italy, the first European country affected by the pandemic. Specifically, we aim to understand how variables related to parents are related to their offspring's time spent on video games and GD symptoms | Quantitative (web survey) | VGS-P, VGS-A, VGS-C4) | Children (N = 206, Mean age = 8.62) Adolescents (N = 248, Mean age = 14.17) |
Especially in this pandemic period, parents must provide alternative avenues for social interaction between adolescents in order to maintain their learning motivation and to monitor and regulate their gaming time, thus minimizing addiction risks | Moderate |
| Elsayed (2021), United Arab emirates (46) | Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on increasing the risks of children's addiction to electronic games from a social work perspective | Original research | To determine the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on increasing the social, psychological, behavioral, and health risks of children's addiction to electronic games from a social work perspective | Quantitative (online survey) | Questionnaire designed by researcher on the risks of child addiction to electronic games |
N = 289 Mean age = unknown (range = 6–17 years) |
It was clearly noticed that after the Covid-19 pandemic and children staying at home for long periods of time, The rates of risks (social - psychological - health - behavioral) of children's addiction to electronic | Low |
| games in its various forms have increased, especially violent games | ||||||||
| Fazeli et al. (2020), Iran (29) | Depression, anxiety, and stress mediate the associations between internet gaming disorder, insomnia, and quality of life during the COVID-19 outbreak | Original research | To examine the mediating role of psychological distress in the association between internet gaming disorder and two health outcomes among adolescents during this COVID-19 pandemic | Quantitative (web survey) | IGDS9-SF1) |
N = 1,512 Mean age = 15.51 |
IGD is associated with different psychosocial outcomes comprising multiple pathways. Parents need to pay special attention to how much time and how frequently their children play videogames. Parents may need to assist their children in coping with psychological distress during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic period | Moderate |
| Kim and Lee (2021), Korea (47) | Addictive internet gaming usage among Korean Adolescents before and after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic: a comparison of the latent profiles in 2018 and 2020 | Original research | To explore the different profiles of addictive internet gaming behavior among adolescents before and after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and examine how the pandemic influenced addictive internet gaming usage and time spent playing games on the internet | Quantitative (nationally representative survey data) | MGUS6), average gameplay time |
N = 3,040 Mean age = 13.46 in 2018 N = 2,906 Mean age = 13.62 in 2020 |
Although the results of the present study indicate that profiles with higher addictive internet gaming usage exhibit longer gameplay time, caution should be exercised when interpreting higher gameplay time as problematic. [...] Most significantly, playing games online should not be stigmatized as gaming is not pathologic and it does have positive effects. In addition, games can be utilized in educational purposes | Moderate |
| Kim et al. (2021), Korea (48) | Latent profile of internet and internet game usage among South Korean adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic | Original research | To investigate the latent profiles of the Internet and Internet game usage among adolescents in South Korea | Quantitative (secondary data obtained from a national survey) | MGUS5) |
N = 2,984 Mean age = 13.6 |
Profiles with higher game usage time scored higher in problematic game use compared to other profiles. Males were more likely to be in the profiles with high gaming time, and females were more likely to be in Internet and Smartphone | Moderate |
| User profiles. The results indicate that Internet and Internet gaming usage patterns could be classified by the type of device used and the content of the Internet | ||||||||
| Ko and Yen (2020), Taipei (49) | Impact of COVID-19 on gaming disorder: Monitoring and prevention | Commentary | To assert that mental health professionals should be aware of how increased gaming during the pandemic may contribute to risk of gaming disorder | N/A | N/A | N/A | Parents and educators must provide alternative avenues for social interaction among adolescents in addition to maintaining their learning motivation and monitoring and regulating their gaming time, all of which could be essential to minimizing GD-related risks during this pandemic. Furthermore, mental health professionals must provide emotional support and advice on coping strategies to relieve pandemic-related stress in individuals | – |
| Li et al. (2021), Canada (3) | Screen use and mental health symptoms in Canadian children and youth during the COViD-19 pandemic | Original research | To determine whether specific forms of screen use were associated with symptoms of depression, anxiety, conduct problems, irritability, hyperactivity, and inattention in children and youth during COVID-19 | Quantitative (longitudinal cohort study) | Video game time | Group 1 N = 532 Mean age = 5.9 Group 2 N = 1,494 Mean age = 11.3 |
In this cohort study, higher levels of screen use were associated poor mental health of children and youth during the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings suggest that policy intervention as well as evidence-informed social supports are needed to promote healthful screen use and mental health in children and youth during the pandemic and beyond | Moderate |
| Oliveira et al. (2021), Brazil (50) | Children's behavioral problems, screen time, and sleep problems' association with negative and positive parenting strategies during the COVID-19 outbreak in Brazil | Original research | To investigate the group differences among children raised by negative and positive parenting families during COVID-19 pandemic. | Quantitative (online survey) | GAS6) |
N = 329 Mean age = 10.24 |
Children and adolescents might have an amplified impact during pandemic depending on the parenting strategies mostly used. Considering parental management training is an effective strategy to improve parenting strategies and it is available even online, it might consist of ground to have a potential improvement in developmental competencies and in children and adolescent's mental health even during pandemic times | Moderate |
| She et al. (2021), China (51) | How COVID-19 stress related to schooling and online learning affects adolescent depression and Internet gaming disorder: Testing Conservation of Resources theory with sex difference | Original research | To test the roles of stress related to schooling and online learning during COVID-19 in depression and IGD among adolescents and the potential mediators of social support, academic stress, and maladaptive emotion regulation based on the framework of Conservation of Resources theory | Quantitative (school-based survey ) | DSM-5 IGD Symptoms checklist |
N = 3,136 Mean age = 13.6 |
Although stress and disruptions to daily life are inevitable during the pandemic, psychosocial interventions and preventive measures targeting these modifiable mediators have the potential to help reduce the risk of depression and IGD and facilitate students to adapt to the COVID-19 era | Moderate |
| Shuai et al. (2021), China (52) | Influences of digital media use on children and adolescents with ADHD during COVID-19 pandemic | Original research | To explore the influences of digital media use on the core symptoms, emotional state, life events, learning motivation, executive function and family environment of children and adolescents diagnosed with ADHD during the (COVID-19) pandemic | Quantitative | Average hours on games | ADHD patient N = 192, Mean age = 11.02 |
The ADHD children with problematic mobile phone use (PDMU) suffered from more severe core symptoms, negative emotions, executive function (EF) deficits, damage on family environment, pressure from life events, and a lower motivation to learn. | Low |
| Supervision of digital media usage, especially video game and social media, along with increased physical exercise, is essential to the management of core symptoms and associated problems encountered with ADHD | ||||||||
| Teng et al. (2021), China (53) | Depression and anxiety symptoms associated with internet gaming disorder before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal study | Original research | To examine gaming in the context of the pandemic and its association with depressive and anxiety symptoms | Quantitative (longitudinal study) | IGDS9-SF1) |
N = 1,778 Mean age = unknown(children and adolescents) |
Children and adolescents both increased videogame use during the COVID-19 pandemic, but only adolescents significantly increased IGD severity during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings supported the compensatory hypothesis, and are consistent with the Interaction of Person-Affect-Cognition-Execution model as individual responses to COVID-19 may function as a mediator between personal predisposing variables and IGD | Moderate |
| Wang et al. (2022), China (54) | Anxiety, depression and stress are associated with internet gaming disorder during COVID-19: fear of missing out as a mediator | Original research | To explore whether the difference exists in the relationship between depression, anxiety, or stress and Internet gaming disorder, and to explore how fear of missing out influences depression, anxiety, or stress | Quantitative (school-based survey) | IGDS7) |
N = 324 Mean age = 13.07 |
The results indicated that fear of missing out as a mediator regulates the relationship among depression, anxiety, and stress and Internet game disorder. | Moderate |
| Specifically, under the mediation of fear of missing out, teenagers with anxiety are more likely to develop Internet gaming disorder, while teenagers with depression or stress might be prone to other types of Internet use disorders | ||||||||
| Wu et al. (2022), China (55) | Changes of internet behavior of adolescents across the period of COVID-19 pandemic in China | Original research | To describe the internet behavior changes of adolescents and to understand the impact of clinical features on internet addiction after the adolescents back to school in COVID-19 period | Quantitative (cross-sectional cohort study through online survey) | Internet gaming behaviors |
N = 625 Mean age = 14.90 |
There are differences in the clinical characteristics between the adolescents with and without Internet addiction. When intervening in adolescents' problematic Internet behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic, the heterogeneity in characteristics between subgroups should be considered | Low |
| Zhu et al. (2021), China (28) | Leisure and problem gaming behaviors among children and adolescents during school closures caused by COVID-19 in Hong Kong: quantitative cross-sectional survey study | Original research | To examine the associations between loneliness and gaming addiction behaviors among young people in Hong Kong and to investigate how familial factors, psychological distress, and gender differences moderate these relationships | Quantitative (cross-sectional study) | GAS6), Gaming Time |
N = 2,863 Mean age = 12.6 |
Loneliness was associated with gaming addiction behaviors; the findings from this study suggested that this association was similar across gender and age groups among young people. Familial support and supervision during school closures can protect young people from developing problematic gaming behaviors. Results of this study have implications for prevention and early intervention on behalf of policy makers and game developers | Moderate |
1) Internet Gaming Disorder Scale-Short Form (IGDS-SF9), 2) Internet gaming disorder Test (IGD-20), 3) Videogame Addiction Scale for Children (VASC), 4) Video Gaming Scale for Parents, Adolescents and Children (VGS-P, VGS-A, VGS-C) 5) Maladaptive Game Use Scale (MGUS), 6) Game Addiction Scale (GAS) 7) Internet Gaming Disorder Scale (IGDS).