اضطرابات التحكم في الاندفاع : عرض نظري و معدلات الانتشار لدى الطلاب الكويتيين

Abstract EN

The present study sought to (a) introduce the theoretical aspects of impulse control disorders (ICD), (b) explore its prevalence rates in a sample of Kuwaiti students, (c) investigate the sex and academic stage differences, and (d) estimate the correlations between these disorders.

The sample consisted of 927 male and female high school and university students.

Their ages ranged from 15 – 34 years.

They responded to the Impulse Control Disorders Questionnaire derived from the Minnesota interview, Skin Picking Impact Scale, and the Compulsive Internet Use Scale.

It was found that most of the scales have from adequate to high internal consistency and high factorial validity.

Prevalence rates ranged between 16.9% for compulsive buying and 0% for pathological gambling and kleptomania.

There were also significant sex differences in some disorders.

High school students obtained the highest prevalence rates of ICD comparing to undergraduates.

The highest correlation coefficients were between trichotillomania and skin picking among high school students, whereas it was between pyromania and intermittent explosive disorders among male undergraduates, and between kleptomania and pyromania in female undergraduates.

By and large, the results indicated that ICD had specific prevalence rates among high school and university students.

It increased particularly in the former sample.

Therefore, it is important to further study these disorders in terms of their causes, effects, relations to other disorders, and treatment methods