Internet gaming disorder linked to later first suicide attempts in Chinese teenagers

Each one-point increase in the Internet Gaming Disorder Scale-Short Form score raised the odds of a first suicidal attempt by 2%.

• 7.6% of adolescents reported an incident suicidal attempt during the follow-up period.
• The study followed 87,390 Chinese adolescents, with an average baseline age of 14.2 years.
• The relationship between IGD severity and suicidal attempts was independent of demographics, mental health symptoms, and baseline suicidal ideation.
• Findings indicate a linear trend, suggesting that higher IGD severity is associated with increased odds of suicidal attempts.
• Sensitivity analyses confirmed the robustness of the association across various testing conditions.

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