Red Box, Green Box - Psychometric evaluation of a self-report behavioral frequency measurement approach for behavioral addictions research: Data and research objects.

This dataset contains psychometric validation data for the novel "Red Box, Green Box" method of measuring gaming behavior, specifically designed to improve identification of gaming disorder (GD) risk compared to conventional total gaming time measures. Our research hypothesis was that Red Box hours (gaming instead of fulfilling responsibilities) would demonstrate superior diagnostic accuracy for identifying GD compared to traditional weekly gaming hours and Green Box hours (gaming during free/leisure time).
The data shows that gamers with GD reported significantly higher Red Box hours (M=21.1, SD=11.3) than those without GD (M=8.7, SD=8.4; p<.001), with a greater Red Box proportion (41.9% vs. 26.8%). Most notably, Red Box hours demonstrated excellent diagnostic accuracy for ICD-11 GD (AUC=0.86, sensitivity=0.94, specificity=0.63) and good accuracy for DSM-5-TR IGD (AUC=0.76, sensitivity=0.88, specificity=0.56), substantially outperforming conventional total weekly gaming hours (AUC<0.70).
Key findings include: (1) A Red Box threshold of ≥9.5 hours yielded 94% likelihood of indicating ICD-11 GD; (2) Total gaming time measures closely approximated Green Box values, suggesting conventional approaches primarily capture leisure gaming; (3) The method effectively distinguishes problematic displacement gaming from recreational gaming; (4) Red Box hours showed stronger correlations with GD status (r=.19) than other gaming time measures when controlling for demographics, impulsivity, and psychological distress.
The dataset includes responses from 1,149 male gamers aged 18-35 years reporting ≥12 hours weekly gaming, recruited via Prolific from Australia, Canada, USA, UK, and Asia. Variables include demographic data, gaming time measures (conventional weekly hours, Red/Green Box hours, proportions), gaming disorder assessments (IGDT-10 with both ICD-11 and DSM-5-TR scoring), psychological distress (DASS-21), and impulsivity (BIS-15).
This data enables researchers to: validate the Red Box, Green Box method in other populations; develop gaming disorder screening protocols; investigate behavioral patterns in problematic gaming; and advance understanding of functional impairment in behavioral addictions. The method's focus on contextual gaming behavior (displacement vs. recreational) provides a more nuanced approach to assessing gaming-related harm than traditional frequency-only measures.