ReviewFrontiers in psychiatry2021
Problematic Use of Alcohol and Online Gaming as Coping Strategies During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Mini Review.
Review in Frontiers in psychiatry, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 30 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
30 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 64 citations in OpenAlex.
- Suicidality and self-harm in adolescents before and after the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Substance use amongst individuals with internet gaming disorder and gaming disorder: A scoping review.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2026Article
- Burdens and coping strategies among geriatric care nurses during COVID-19: A factorial survey.International journal of nursing studies advances · 2025Article
- Association of Game Use With Loneliness and Social Isolation: A Nationwide Korean Study.Psychiatry investigation · 2025Article
- "It's a good distraction from the mayhem of reality": a reflexive thematic analysis on the role of video games to support coping during a crisis.Frontiers in digital health · 2025Article
- Changes in self-reported alcohol consumption at high and low consumption in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic: a test of the polarization hypothesis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Rates and psychological stress predictors of problematic internet use (PIU) during the COVID-19 pandemic in a racially diverse sample of young adults.Anxiety, stress, and coping · 2024Article
- Prevalence and Correlates of Physical Inactivity Among Individuals with HIV During the First COVID-19 Wave: A Cross-sectional Survey.AIDS and behavior · 2024Article
- Patient activation and psychological coping strategies to manage challenging circumstances during the COVID-19 pandemic in people with kidney disease.Journal of nephrology · 2024Article
- Problematic Gaming during COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review, Meta-Analysis, and Meta-Regression.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- The Relationship Between Lockdowns and Video Game Playtime: Multilevel Time-Series Analysis Using Massive-Scale Data Telemetry.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Article
- Natural environments, psychosocial health, and health behaviors in a crisis - A scoping review of the literature in the COVID-19 context.Journal of environmental psychology · 2023Article
- Mental Health and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Observational Evidence from Malaysia.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Stronger together: Coping behaviours and mental health changes of Canadian adolescents in early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic.BMC public health · 2023Article
- COVID-19 Concerns, Perceived Stress, and Increased Alcohol Use Among Adult Women in the United States.Clinical nursing research · 2023Article
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Alcohol Use Disorder During the COVID-19 Outbreak: Do Dissociation and Emotional Metacognitive Beliefs Mediate the Role of Emotion Dysregulation?Psychiatry investigation · 2022Article
- The Impact of Pandemic-Related Life Stress on Internet Gaming: Social Cynicism and Gaming Motivation as Serial Mediators.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Binge drinking in Japan during the COVID-19 pandemic: Prevalence, correlates and association with preventive behaviors.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2022Article
- Gaming in China Before the COVID-19 Pandemic and After the Lifting of Lockdowns: a Nationwide Online Retrospective Survey.International journal of mental health and addiction · 2022Article
- The Nine-Item Internet Gaming Disorder Scale (IGDS9-SF): Its Psychometric Properties among Sri Lankan Students and Measurement Invariance across Sri Lanka, Turkey, Australia, and the USA.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
5 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic has dramatically changed our daily lives and activities, including those originally intended to serve for leisure and pleasure. Drinking and online gaming became coping behaviors used to rescue ourselves from the stress and restricted lifestyle during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, frequent drinking and gaming can result in the pathological consequences of addiction. Those affected use the stimuli not to obtain pleasure, but rather to avoid the displeasure induced by stress and previous use, often unsuccessfully. This review aims to provide an overview of recent longitudinal cohort studies on alcohol and gaming use during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as to analyze how the pandemic has affected alcohol and gaming use. There was a substantial risk of alcohol and online gaming overuse during the lockdown, which may depend on the pandemic's duration or overuse patterns. Previous studies have shown that increased alcohol consumption and online gaming are associated with heightened stress and anxiety levels caused by social isolation/quarantine. Over time, frequent or excessive alcohol consumption and gaming could lead to an increased risk of more serious mental health problems. Every effort should be made to mitigate mental health problems and ensure adequate adaptation to these exceptional circumstances. Therefore, it would be helpful to encourage physical activity, social interaction, and collaboration to facilitate psychological and physical health.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.