Proﬁling gamers: The role of mental health, attachment and social factors in gaming behaviors C´ atia Martins Castro a,b,*,1 , David Dias Neto a,b,2 a ISPA – Instituto Universit´ ario, Portugal b APPsyCI Applied Psychology Research Center Capabilities & Inclusion, Lisbon, Portugal A R T I C L E INFO Keywords: Gaming disorder Attachment Mental health Online Proﬁles Social ABSTRACT Background and Aims: This study examines the association of mental health, social and relational contexts, and gaming-related characteristics on the psychological proﬁles of video game players based on emotional regulation and motivations for gaming. Methods: A multinomial logistic regression analysis was conducted on an international sample of 5.255 gamers aged 16 to 69 (M = 25.6 years, SD = 6.46). Participants included 49.87 % men (M = 26.4, SD = 7.06), 43.24 % women (M = 25.1, SD = 5.77), and 9.29 % non-binary individuals (M = 23.3, SD = 5.24) from 112 countries. Mental health, attachment styles, social interactions, and gaming behaviors were analyzed into four proﬁles: avoidant, engaged, relational, and dysregulated. Results: The avoidant proﬁle, linked to older gamers, exhibited low distress, secure attachment, and ofﬂine social preferences, reﬂecting healthier habits. The engaged proﬁle, the largest group, showed secure attachment and active integration of gaming into social contexts. The relational proﬁle presented insecure attachment and emotional regulation difﬁculties. The dysregulated proﬁle, associated with younger gamers, was characterized by high distress, emotional dysregulation, substance use, and a preference for online interactions. Conclusions: The proﬁles dysregulated and relational are associated with insecure attachment and mental health difﬁculties, whereas the proﬁles engaged and avoidant are associated with secure attachment and low levels of psychological distress. These ﬁndings underscore the complex interplay of psychological, social, and gaming- related factors associated with gaming proﬁles, offering insights for further study on harm prevention and promoting non-problematic gaming behaviors. 1. Introduction The increasing prevalence of gaming worldwide, along with its po- tential detrimental consequences for individuals (Alimoradi et al., 2022; Billieux, Schimmenti, et al., 2015; Billieux et al., 2021; Stevens et al., 2021), underscores the importance of understanding the psychological proﬁles of video game players (Castro & Neto, 2025). As this phenom- enon continues to grow, concerns about its clinical relevance have led to important developments in diagnostic frameworks. Reﬂecting the clin- ical signiﬁcance of these conditions, the World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes gaming disorder (GD) as a diagnosis of behavioral addiction within the International Classiﬁcation of Diseases (ICD-11) (World Health Organization, 2019). The adverse effects of gaming have further continued to be investigated and discussed (Ko et al., 2020; Kuss, Grifﬁths, et al., 2017; Montag et al., 2019; World Health Organization, 2019). Research has focused on its psychosocial impacts, uncovering a complex interplay of multi-interacting factors that inﬂuence the risk of GD, such as personal vulnerabilities, social inﬂuence and gaming char- acteristics (Grifﬁths, 2005; D. King et al., 2010; D. L. King et al., 2019). 1.1. Psychological and behavioral predictors of problematic gaming Like other forms of behavioral addictions (Brand et al., 2020), GD develops from the interaction and co-occurrence of three primary fac- tors. These include gaming-related elements such as structural charac- teristics of the games, individual factors like personal traits and * Corresponding author at: Rua do Jardim do Tabaco, N ◦ 34, 1149-041 Lisboa, Portugal. E-mail addresses: ccastro@ispa.pt (C.M. Castro), dneto@ispa.pt (D.D. Neto). 1 ORCID 0000-0002-4891-3154. 2 ORCID 0000-0002-3129-262X. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Addictive Behaviors journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/addictbeh https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2025.108390 Received 4 February 2025; Received in revised form 9 April 2025; Accepted 19 May 2025 Addictive Behaviors 169 (2025) 108390 Available online 22 May 2025 0306-4603/© 2025 Elsevier Ltd. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.