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File, D., File, B., Bőthe, B., Griffiths, M.D. 
ORCID: 0000-0001-8880-6524 and Demetrovics, Z.,
2023.
Investigating mental representations of psychoactive substance use and other potentially addictive behaviors using a data driven network-based clustering method.
PLOS ONE, 18 (10): e0287564.
ISSN 1932-6203
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1825615_Griffiths.pdf - Published version Download (1MB) | Preview |
Abstract
Background and aims: The aim of the present study was to examine the mental representations of the use of different substances and other potentially addictive behaviors in order to explore meaningful similarities and differences that may contribute to a better understanding of behavioral addictions’ representations and diagnostic criteria.
Methods: The authors mapped the mental and emotional representations of 661 participants (70.5% women; Mage = 35.2 years, SD = 11.7) to the concept "your most disturbing excessive activity" using free-word associations combined with a network-based clustering method.
Results: The network analyses identified four distinct mental representations, three implicating dominantly negative (Guilt/Shame/Relief, Addiction/Health, and Procrastination/Boredom) and one dominantly positive emotion (Stress/Relaxation). The distribution of Addiction/Health and Procrastination/Boredom representations were different across substance use and problem behaviors, indicating meaningful differences in the underlying cognitive evaluation processes. The Addiction/Health representation was more frequent for substances, while for other addictive behaviors, the Procrastination/Boredom representation was more frequent, and its frequency increased with the self-reported intensity of the behavior. Guilt/Shame/Relief was equally common for both substances and behaviors, but importantly, for substances its’ likelihood increased with the intensity of use.
Conclusion: The common part of representations for substance use and other potentially addictive behaviors supports the scientific viewpoint, that real addictions can exist even in the absence of psychoactive drugs. Based on the results, a novel proposition is posited, that a more appropriate indicator of tolerance for problem behaviors might be the perceived amount of time wasted on the activity rather than the actual time spent.
| Item Type: | Journal article | ||||||
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| Publication Title: | PLOS ONE | ||||||
| Creators: | File, D., File, B., Bőthe, B., Griffiths, M.D. and Demetrovics, Z. | ||||||
| Publisher: | Public Library of Science (PLoS) | ||||||
| Date: | 19 October 2023 | ||||||
| Volume: | 18 | ||||||
| Number: | 10 | ||||||
| ISSN: | 1932-6203 | ||||||
| Identifiers: |
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| Rights: | © 2023 File et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. | ||||||
| Divisions: | Schools > School of Social Sciences | ||||||
| Record created by: | Laura Ward | ||||||
| Date Added: | 27 Oct 2023 15:42 | ||||||
| Last Modified: | 27 Oct 2023 15:42 | ||||||
| URI: | https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/50162 |
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