ORIGINAL ARTICLE Internet Gaming Addiction in Adolescence: Risk Factors and Maladjustment Correlates Luca Milani 1 & Giuseppe La Torre 2 & Maria Fiore 3 & Serena Grumi 1 & Douglas A. Gentile 4 & Margherita Ferrante 3 & Silvia Miccoli 2 & Paola Di Blasio 1 # Springer Science+Business Media New York 2017 Abstract Several studies have documented the existence of a behavioral addiction related to Video Games, which appears to be similar to other forms of addiction (gambling and substance-related) in terms of characteristics and consequences. Literature about this topic has suffered from the lack of a standard definition of this disorder before the publication of DSM-5. Thus, the prevalence of the disorder and its characteristics at the moment are unclear. The present research aimed to investigate the differences between sub-clinical problematic Video Game (VG) use and Internet use and clear Internet gaming disorder (IGD) and Internet addiction in terms of gender, amount of time spent gaming, preferential coping strategies, adjustment problems, interpersonal relations, and to identify risk factors that predict a prob- lematic engagement in video gaming. We administered a survey containing measures about coping strategies, interpersonal relations, internalizing/externalizing problems, and Internet and Video Game addiction to 612 Italian students recruited in the four main regions of the country (age range 9–19; M = 13.94). Results show that 15.2% of participants showed a sub- clinical problematic use of Video Games, while those with a clear IGD were 2.1% (n = 13); 16.3% of them showed a sub-clinical problematic Internet use, while full-criteria Internet addiction was found in 5.9% of the sample. IGD appears to be linked to various dysfunctional outcomes including a wide range of psychological symptoms and behavioral and social problems. Also, problematic video gamers tend to preferentially adopt dysfunctional coping Int J Ment Health Addiction DOI 10.1007/s11469-017-9750-2 * Luca Milani luca.milani@unicatt.it 1 C.R.i.d.e.e., Department of Psychology, Catholic University of Milan, Milan, Italy 2 Department of Public Health and Infectious Diseases, Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza, Rome, Italy 3 Department BGF Ingrassia^ Hygiene and Public Health, University of Catania, Catania, Italy 4 Department of Psychology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA