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Background and Aims: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of a prevention intervention on French adolescents' Internet and video games use and on their beliefs concerning gaming and Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD), in order to adjust prevention programs further., Methods: The study comprised a prevention intervention group (PIG) and a control group assessed at three times - baseline, post-test, and 4-month follow-up. At baseline, a total of 434 junior high adolescents from five secondary schools were assessed ( M age  = 13.2 years; SD  = 0.5). The main outcome measures were adolescents' gaming and Internet use (amount of time spent during the week and the weekend), the number of adolescents with IGD, and beliefs about gaming and IGD., Results: The results showed significant effects of the prevention intervention on Internet and gaming use (at T2, time spent was significantly lower in the PIG), an important increase of IGD prevalence between baseline and follow-up in the control group, and decreased rates of IGD among adolescents in the PIG between post-intervention and follow-up. Between baseline and follow-up, the control group showed a more significant increase of minutes per day during the week and the weekend on Internet versus during the week on video games. The impact of the prevention intervention on adolescents' beliefs varied according to gender. Girls had a better understanding generally of the potential dangers of and reasons for IGD., Discussion: Implications for future research and prevention approaches are discussed in this study.

Given the growing use of video games and the growing number of adolescents with Internet gaming disorder (IGD), prevention in this area is necessary. The objective of this study was to investigate the use and most particularly the representations of the risks associated with the use of video games in young adolescents by comparing problematic (PGs) and nonproblematic gamers (NPGs). Gender differences were also explored. Five Parisian middle schools participated in this study and 434 adolescents (231 boys, m age =13.2 years; 203 girls, m age =13.1 years) answered several questions concerning videogames (including the Game Addiction Scale). Among all participants (n=434), 37 students (n=8.8%) could be considered PGs. Of these, 29 (n=78.4%) were boys. Generally, sample students' surf and play a great deal during the week: they spend an average of 2h per day playing video games and 4h per day on the Internet. The number of screens at home is significantly higher in PGs compared to NPGs, the remaining set at a high level (n>10). Most middle school students believe that time spent on video games can have an impact on physical and mental health but they have no impact on academic performance. The two types of video games responsible for problematic use were role-play games and first-person shooter games. Most negative consequences are reported more by girls than boys: eating problems (P=.037), sleep problems (P=.040), vision problems (P=.002), conflicts with parents (P<001), loss of time (P=.003), and lack of school investment (P<.001). For all participants, the main reasons for IGD were poor academic performance, lack of friends, lack of self-confidence and family problems. In NPGs, girls reported more than boys that family problems (P=.003), lack of self-confidence (P=.005) and negative self-image (P=.007) led to IGD. The three main features of the individual with IGD reported by PGs and NPGs is the failure to stop playing, playing instead of fulfilling one's obligations and doing nothing but play. Most of the respondents believed that one can be addicted to video games and that they can have an impact on physical and mental health. Adolescents are more aware of the impact gaming generates on themselves than on their relationship with the environment (school and family). These preliminary exploratory findings indicate that preventive action could be promoted for adolescents. To promote life skills, and given that girls often report more negative consequences than boys, it seems important to include these skills in prevention programs., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Objective: In recent decades, alexithymia has been considered a risk factor for multiple somatic and psychiatric conditions. Yet, whereas alexithymia has been extensively studied in adults with a substance misuse, only one study has reported data on cannabis abusers from the general population. Hence, our main objective was to explore alexithymia in a clinical sample of treatment-seeking young outpatients with a DSM-IV cannabis dependence or abuse diagnosis compared to controls., Methods: 120 young patients (95 males - mean age 17.9years (SD=2.8; 14 to 25)) with a cannabis dependence or abuse (DSM-IV-TR criteria evaluated with the MINI), seeking treatment in an addiction unit, and 110 healthy control subjects (77 males - mean age 18.2years (SD=3.4; 14 to 25)) participated in the study. They completed a battery of self-reports measuring alexithymia (TAS-20; BVAQ-B), depression (BDI-13) and state and trait anxiety (STAI)., Results: 35.3% of cannabis users were alexithymic, and logistic regression analysis showed that the alexithymic components of difficulties identifying and describing feelings combined with trait anxiety predicted group membership., Conclusion: This first study on young cannabis abusers and dependent subjects further emphasizes the importance of considering the affective style, and particularly the anxious temperament and alexithymia features, as factors associated with substance misuse during late adolescence., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: MDFT (Multidimensional Family Therapy) is a family based outpatient treatment programme for adolescent problem behaviour. MDFT has been found effective in the USA in adolescent samples differing in severity and treatment delivery settings. On request of five governments (Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland), MDFT has now been tested in the joint INCANT trial (International Cannabis Need of Treatment) for applicability in Western Europe. In each of the five countries, study participants were recruited from the local population of youth seeking or guided to treatment for, among other things, cannabis use disorder. There is little information in the literature if these populations are comparable between sites/countries or not. Therefore, we examined if the study samples enrolled in the five countries differed in baseline characteristics regarding demographics, clinical profile, and treatment delivery setting., Methods: INCANT was a multicentre phase III(b) randomized controlled trial with an open-label, parallel group design. It compared MDFT with treatment as usual (TAU) at and across sites in Berlin, Brussels, Geneva, The Hague and Paris.Participants of INCANT were adolescents of either sex, from 13 through 18 years of age, with a cannabis use disorder (dependence or abuse), and at least one parent willing to take part in the treatment. In total, 450 cases/families were randomized (concealed) into INCANT., Results: We collected data about adolescent and family demographics (age, gender, family composition, school, work, friends, and leisure time). In addition, we gathered data about problem behaviour (substance use, alcohol and cannabis use disorders, delinquency, psychiatric co-morbidity).There were no major differences on any of these measures between the treatment conditions (MDFT and TAU) for any of the sites. However, there were cross-site differences on many variables. Most of these could be explained by variations in treatment culture, as reflected by referral policy, i.e., participants' referral source. We distinguished 'self-determined' referral (common in Brussels and Paris) and referral with some authority-related 'external' coercion (common in Geneva and The Hague). The two referral types were more equally divided in Berlin. Many cross-site baseline differences disappeared when we took referral source into account, but not all., Conclusions: A multisite trial has the advantage of being efficient, but it also carries risks, the most important one being lack of equivalence between local study populations. Our site populations differed in many respects. This is not a problem for analyses and interpretations if the differences somehow can be accounted for. To a major extent, this appeared possible in INCANT. The most important factor underlying the cross-site variations in baseline characteristics was referral source. Correcting for referral source made most differences disappear. Therefore, we will use referral source as a covariate accounting for site differences in future INCANT outcome analyses., Trial Registration Number: ISRCTN: ISRCTN51014277., (© 2011 Phan et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.)

We analyzed the behavior of teenagers who use cannabis in order to identify the drive leading to cannabis abuse and the perceived benefit which apparently sustains dependency. This analysis pointed out the following issues: identification, alterity modulation, modification of thinking activity, pursual of a psychopathological state of deterioration. This short clinical dissertation should be completed by further more deeply oriented clinical research.