Substance Consumption, Personality, and Cognitive Functioning of Chess Players

Substance Consumption, Personality, and Cognitive Functioning of Chess Players and Non-chess Players - an Online Survey

The aim of this project is to find out if there is a difference in addictive behavior, personality traits, and cognitive abilities between chess players and non-chess players.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Depression; Anxiety; Addiction; Nicotine; Personality; Alcohol; Drugs

Detailed Description

In the present planned study, tournament chess players will be compared with non-tournament chess playing individuals by means of an online survey. Among other things, the investigators want to investigate whether these groups of persons differ in various characteristics such as their consumption behavior (alcohol, tobacco, and drug use), their personality, their depressiveness and mood, or their cognitive abilities. The background is the question whether playing chess could be protective against substance use disorders or could mitigate the manifestation.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 756

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Germany
  • Mannheim, Germany
    • Klinik für Abhängiges Verhalten, Zentralinstitut für Seelische Gesundheit

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

The survey is aimed at people who are at least 18 years old. There is no upper age limit. There is a division into two groups. Firstly, people who play chess in a club and have a DWZ (German rating). Secondly, there is a comparison group of people who do not play chess or only play chess as a hobby and therefore do not have a DWZ.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• all persons from the age of 18 years
• Inclusion in the group of chess players is based on the existence of a DWZ.
• Sufficient ability to answer the questionnaires

Exclusion Criteria:

• None

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

2

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Chess players; Chess players who play tournament chess and have a DWZ (deutsche Wertungszahl) and/or ELO rating
Non-chess players; Non-chess players or hobby chess players who do not have a DWZ or ELO rating

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Substance Craving	Mannheimer Craving Scale (MACS), Nakovics, Diehl, Geiselhart, & Mann, 2009	baseline
Alcohol Use	Alcohol Use Disorders Indentification Scale (AUDIT-C), Bohn, Babor, & Kranzler, 1995	baseline
Automatic Alcohol Craving	Craving Automated Scale - Alcohol (CAS-A), Vollstädt-Klein, Leménager, Jorde, Kiefer, & Nakovics, 2015	baseline
Severity of Nicotine Dependence	Fagerstrom Test of Nicotine Dependence (FTND), Heatherton, Kozlowski, Frecker, & Fagerström, 1991	baseline
Automatic Cigarette Craving	Craving Automated Scale - Cigarette Smoking (CAS-CS), Tan et al., 2022	baseline
Smoking Consequences	Smoking Consequences Questionnaire (SCQ), Lewis-Esquerre, Rodrigue, & Kahler, 2005	baseline
Drug Abuse	Drug Abuse Screening Test (DAST-10), Lam et al., 2015	baseline
Personality	NEO five factor inventory (NEO-FFI), Körner et al., 2008	baseline
Depression	Beck Depressions Inventar - II (BDI-II) Kühner, Bürger, Keller, & Hautzinger, 2007	baseline
Anxiety	State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI - trait Version), Spielberger, 1983	baseline
self-efficacy	Self-efficacy expectancy (SWE) Jerusalem & Schwarzer, 1999	baseline
coping with stress	Brief COPE, Carver, Scheier, & Weintraub, 1989	baseline
Inhibition capacity	Stop Signal Task (Sebastian et al., 2013)	baseline
Working Memory capacity	N-back Task (Charlet et al., 2014)	baseline

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Sabine Vollstädt-Klein, Prof. Dr., Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): January 31, 2024
• Primary Completion (Actual): May 31, 2024
• Study Completion (Actual): May 31, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: February 2, 2023
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 28, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): April 4, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 1, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 28, 2025
• Last Verified: April 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Personality Disorders
• Other Study ID Numbers: Chess Cognition SUD

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No