A Comparative Study of Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Among Adolescents With Gaming Addiction and Substance Use Disorders

Gaming disorder is now formally recognized alongside substance use disorders, yet few studies compare the emotional distress associated with the two conditions directly. This study compared depression, anxiety, and stress severity in 400 adolescents, 200 with gaming addiction (GA) and 200 with a substance use disorder (SUD). Participants completed the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales–21 (DASS-21); subscale scores were doubled according to Lovibond and Lovibond (1995) and classified into the five standard severity bands. Pearson chi-square tests showed that the severity distributions differed significantly between groups for depression, χ²(4, N = 400) = 10.12, p = .039, Cramér’s V = .16; anxiety, χ²(4, N = 400) = 24.55, p < .001, V = .25; and stress, χ²(4, N = 400) = 12.71, p = .013, V = .18. In every domain the GA group had a larger share of severe or extremely severe scores (depression 40.5% vs. 27.5%; anxiety 63.0% vs. 41.0%; stress 31.5% vs. 17.0%). Differences were largest for anxiety. Because the design is cross-sectional, causal direction cannot be inferred, but the findings suggest that emotional screening is warranted in gaming addiction.