Authors: Husten Carvalho, Fernanda Gonçalves, Vanda Brito,Erik Souza.
It was in the 1990s that researchers became more interested in identifying possible problems related to the excessive use of the games and addiction. The major discussion about video game playing focuses on whether or not potentially capable of causing addiction. It was due to the lack of well-validated criteria for the diagnosis of addiction. It was according to this that Tejero and Moran presented a scale for the measurement of problem video game playing (PVP) adapted from DSM-IV. Considering that in Brazil there is little information about problematic use video games and addiction we proposed develop a valid and reliable PVP scale. Furthermore, considering the speculations that associate the low performance of cognitive abilities with videogame playing, we decided to propose the combination of two instruments, the PVP scale and the Battery of reasoning test-5 (BPR-5). This study included the participation of 253 adolescents, aged 16 to 17 years old, all males. For validation of PVP scale the exploratory factor analyses was performed via oblimin with Kaiser normalization. Cronbach´s alpha coefficient was computed to examine the internal consistency of the PVP scale. Was applied the form B from BPR-5. The first factor or item observed in our PVP scale validation study presented 49,1% of the variance. In this way the nine items on the scale allow to measure a single dimension. We obteined good psychometric properties, considering that the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test. The value of 0,9 indicate an adequate factor analysis. The low performance of the mechanical reasoning test in PVP adolescents it may be related to the reduced pratical knowledge of mechanics and physics. The complexity of the figures in the spatial reasoning test and the amount of information that must be manager to get correct answer seem to be more difficult for PVP adolescents for the same reasons cited above that are important for cognitive development. This study should contribute to predict future behavioral problems and extend comparative research the factors that best related to the problematic games or addiction.
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