Insomnia, sleepiness, anxiety and depression among different types of gamers in African countries

摘要

Gaming has increasingly become a part of life in Africa. Currently, nodata on gaming disorders or their association with mental disorders exist forAfrican countries. This study for the first time investigated (1) the prevalence ofinsomnia, excessive daytime sleepiness, anxiety and depression among African gamers,(2) the association between these conditions and gamer types (i.e., non-problematic,engaged, problematic and addicted) and (3) the predictive power of socioeconomicmarkers (education, age, income, marital status, employment status) on theseconditions. 10,566 people from 2 low- (Rwanda, Gabon), 6 lower-middle (Cameroon,Nigeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal, Ivory Coast) and 1 upper-middle income countries(South Africa) completed online questionnaires containing validated measures oninsomnia, sleepiness, anxiety, depression and gaming addiction. Results showed oursample of gamers (24?±?2.8?yrs; 88.64% Male), 30% were addicted, 30% wereproblematic, 8% were engaged and 32% were non-problematic. Gaming significantlycontributed to 86.9% of the variance in insomnia, 82.7% of the variance in daytimesleepiness and 82.3% of the variance in anxiety [p??0.001]. This studyestablishes the prevalence of gaming, mood and sleep disorders, in a large Africansample. Our results corroborate previous studies, reporting problematic and addictedgamers show poorer health outcomes compared with non-problematic gamers.