Gaming disorder among Russian and Kazakh university students

Background: During COVID-19, interest in video games increased and it continues to escalate. Excessive video gaming, common throughout the world, attracts concern among mental health professionals. Most internet gamers are youth and young adults. Persistent and recurrent gaming can lead to disorder, which may be associated with significant impairments of daily work and/or education activities. This comparative study examined gaming disorders among Russian and Kazakh university students and its association with gender, religiosity, loneliness, substance use, and eating behavior. Methods: Data were collected from a cross-sectional sample of 1464 university students from Russia and Kazakhstan, 33.3% male, 66.7% female, 29.2% secular, and 70.8% non-secular during 2022–2023. The Qualtrics software platform was used for responses to the nine-item Internet Gaming Disorder Scale-Short-Form, and the six-item De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale. Also, survey participants were asked about their substance use and eating behavior during gaming. All statistical analyses were conducted using SPSS, version 25. Results: The average amount of gaming disorder (GD) is higher among Russian than Kazakh students (14.2 vs. 12.9, p < 0.001), males more than females (15.4 vs. 12.8, p < 0.001). Religious respondents tend to spend less time gaming (p < 0.001) and have lower GD rates (p < 0.001). However, regression analysis shows religiosity and religious affiliation are not significant predictors of GD. Significant GD predictors are eating behavior, weekly hours spent on gaming, loneliness, gender (male), country (Russia) and age (Adjusted R² = 0.473). Conclusion: Despite significant cross-cultural and religious differences between Russia and Kazakhstan students, study results show GD tends to be similar and at a low level in both countries; and religiosity is not a significant predictor of GD. This is consistent with other studies showing that in secular post-Soviet countries, including Russia and Kazakhstan, the religiosity of young people is predominantly declarative in nature, and tends not to impact behavior. Additional research should be considered to verify present study findings for policy, prevention, and treatment purposes.