**1. Introduction**

In the last decade, a growing amount of literature has been proposed on the new phenomenon of excessive use of video games (VG), and one of the focal points of scientific debate is to clarify if videogaming can have the potential to modify users' thoughts, feelings and behaviour. Looking at the results of previous investigations, conflicting opinions about the effects of exposure to VG did emerge: Some studies show the positive effects on some specific skills, as for example visual performance [1], visual acuity [2], probabilistic learning [3], stimulus-response mapping [4], encoding speed [5], and cognitive functioning [6]. On the other side, also some negative effects have been documented; as increasing aggression [7]; emergence of attention problems [8] or hyperactivity and mood troubles as depression and anxiety [9]; reduction of empathy [10]; impairment of social behaviour [11]; reduction of sleep time, quality and efficiency [12]; and possible addiction [13].

With respect to the issue of "addiction" to VG, researchers and clinicians have found considerable difficulties to assess, identify and define this phenomenon probably because VG does not involve a

chemical substance and because problems induced by heavy use of these technological devices tend to be seen as "benign" since videogaming is less likely to pose social threats through illegal activities, as compared to drug addiction conditions [14]. However, research indicated that those who report excessive videogaming tend to show some addiction-like symptoms, including impairment in normal, social and occupational or educational functioning, tolerance, withdrawal and relapse [15], which may be considered "pathological" enough to require clinical attention and intervention. Only recently, the American Psychological Association included Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) in the appendices of the DSM-5 [16], without specifically mentioning addiction to videogaming. Moreover, more recently, World Health Organization included the Gaming Disorder in the ICD-11 [17]. All these observations highlight the grea<sup>t</sup> relevance of these issues under both a scientific and health point of view.

Noteworthy, most studies payed attention only to the adult population, while this phenomenon is ever more relevant in adolescence. Converging evidences from different sources, in fact, indicate that adolescents' use of VG is sharply increasing in recent times and that gambling is becoming a common activity among young people, particularly among boys [18], which is usually associated also to behavioral problems as for example, substance abuse [19]. It needs, in fact, to take into consideration that adolescence is a period of grea<sup>t</sup> risk for developing addictive behaviors: Following Johnston and colleagues [20], we know that before the age of 18 years, 60% of individuals start to use drugs and 80% to drink alcohol. A similar trend has also reported for cigarettes smoking (e.g., Reference [14]). Therefore, we cannot exclude the possibility that a long and continuous exposure to VG can become a real and structured addiction.

In the last decade, also in Italy, an increasing amount of young people has been found excessively involved in videogaming, an activity that might increase the possibility to develop addiction and/or gambling. To date, in Italy there are only a few instruments able to measure adolescent motivation to gaming, and a rapid and easy screening scale would be very useful. Such a kind of instrument could help in assessing motivation and involvement in videogaming in order to identify individuals "at risk", and this could, in turn, help to prevent addiction and gambling [14].

In line with Self-Determination Theory (STD; [21]) it has recently developed the Gaming Motivation Scale (GAMS; [22]), designed to assess different aspects of gaming motivation: intrinsic motivation, integrated regulation, identified regulation, introjected regulation, external regulation, and amotivation. Motivation is one of principal components related to addiction e.g., Reference [23] and STD offers a multidimensional conceptualization of motivation that allows the assessment of level and type of motivation that can be applied to several domains including videogaming. Generally speaking, gaming motivation is a complex issue that includes different components: To the ones listed before and identified in the GAMS adaptation study [22] such as intrinsic and extrinsic motives for acting, we could include some others. For example, a sub-theory of SDT, called cognitive evaluation theory (CET [21]), is specifically focused on contextual factors that play a key role in intrinsic motivation. Such a theory hypothesizes that events and conditions able to boost an individual's sense of autonomy and competence can sustain intrinsic motivation, whereas other factors that reduce these aspects tend to weaken this specific type of motivation; see Reference [24]. However, also other factors are associated with intrinsic motivation, such as presence (intended as the sense to be within the game world), intuitive control abilities (crucial to assess need satisfaction in game play), enhancement of individual well-being, and relatedness (when one feels connected with others). On the other hand, an increase of extrinsic motivation with its pivotal aspects of rewards, pressures and evaluations usually diminishes the weight of an intrinsic motive [25]. This complex interplay between different motivations and the several factors affecting them, can reasonably explain different aspects of gaming such as the need for satisfaction in games and short-term well-being; the appeal of violent game content; as well as motivational sources of post-play aggression; the antecedents and consequences of disturbed patterns of game engagement; or the causes and effects of games' aspects as immersion, flow and presence, for a comprehensive review see Reference [25].

A companion issue to gaming is the psychological profile of gamers. As mentioned before, a relationship does exist between gaming abuse and some psychopathological traits such as anxiety and depression [9]. Some recent studies highlighted a reciprocal relationship between pathological gaming and indices of mental health troubles [26], indicating a kind of comorbidity of these traits with maladaptive gaming attitudes. Also, IGD was found to be strongly correlated with such psychopathological traits [27] while other authors hypothesized gaming as a possible maladaptive coping strategy to deal with negative affective disturbances [28].

The aim of the present study is to (a) adapt the Gaming Motivation Scale (GAMS; [22]) to the Italian adolescents' context, (b) examine its psychometric properties in a sample of young Italian students, and (c) verify if GAMS-it factors might predict level of depression and trait anxiety. With respect to the last aim, we hypothesize that high gaming motivation positively correlates with gaming behavior and with psychopathological factors of anxiety and depression.
