Compulsive behaviors like gambling and exercise addiction spiked among children during the pandemic, driven not by the activities themselves, but by underlying anxiety and depression.
Behavioral addictions in children surged during the pandemic years, with exercise addiction symptoms more than doubling as kids used "virtuous" habits to cope with mental distress.
Parents often view sports, exercise, and social circles as the ultimate safety nets for a child's well-being. This research turns that assumption on its head: when a child is struggling with anxiety, even "healthy" behaviors can become maladaptive compulsions. If you only look for "bad" addictions like drugs or screens, you may miss the child who is over-exercising or "socially" gambling as a way to numb emotional pain.
Understanding that mental health is the primary engine for these behaviors changes the intervention. Instead of just taking away the phone or the gym membership, the priority must be addressing the child’s sense of hope and their ability to manage negative emotions.
Researchers tracked the long-term impact of the pandemic's social disruptions on adolescent habits. They were specifically looking for the "gateway" that leads a child from a hobby to a behavioral addiction. By following more than 1,600 students over 30 months, they aimed to see if positive personality traits like "grit" could stop addiction directly, or if they only worked by keeping a child’s general mental health stable.
The data shows a clear and troubling upward trend in how children spend their energy when under pressure.
- Exercise addiction symptoms skyrocketed. Mean scores more than doubled over the study period, rising from 1.74 to 4.65. What looks like "dedication" in a teen athlete may actually be a compulsive need to regain control.
- Gambling and shopping rose, eating stayed flat. While symptoms of gambling and compulsive shopping increased significantly between 2019 and 2022, emotional eating scores remained relatively stable across the same period.
- Mental health is the filter. Protective traits like hope, grit, and life satisfaction do not stop addiction on their own. They only reduce risk by lowering a child’s overall levels of anxiety and depression. If a child is depressed, even a "gritty" kid is at risk for developing a compulsion.
- The social support paradox. In a surprising twist, high levels of social support were linked to more symptoms of gambling and exercise addiction. This suggests that for many kids, these addictions aren't solitary—they are reinforced and encouraged by their peer groups.
- Gender divides start early. Boys were more likely to fall into gambling and exercise compulsions, while girls reported higher rates of compulsive shopping and emotional eating.
The "social support" finding is the most critical takeaway for families. We often assume that if our kids are "out with friends," they are safe. However, peer groups can normalize and even reward addictive behaviors. A "fitness" group chat can quickly turn into a venue for body dysmorphia and exercise addiction; a group of friends watching sports can easily morph into a gambling circle. Socializing isn't always a buffer—it can be an accelerant.
Furthermore, the research suggests that "virtuous" addictions are the most dangerous because they are socially acceptable. A parent is likely to intervene if they see a child drinking, but they are likely to praise a child who spends three hours a day at the gym, even if that child is using the gym to escape severe internal anxiety.
The study relied on self-reported questionnaires from children, which can sometimes be less accurate than clinical observations. The students may have under-reported "shameful" behaviors or over-reported "positive" ones like exercise.
The population was also 95% Jewish and excluded certain groups like ultra-orthodox and special education students. This means the specific cultural pressures and social structures found in this group might not perfectly translate to every community. Finally, while the trends were significant, most children remained in the "subclinical" range—meaning they showed symptoms of addiction without necessarily meeting the full medical criteria for a disorder.
- If your child is becoming obsessive about "the grind" or athletic performance, ask them why they feel they need to work out. If the answer is about relieving stress rather than having fun or reaching a specific health goal, look for signs of underlying anxiety.
- If you notice your child’s friend group is hyper-focused on one activity (like sports betting or fitness), broaden their social circle. Counterintuitively, "strong social support" in a group that prizes compulsive behavior makes the addiction harder to break.
- If you want to protect your child from addictive tendencies, focus on building their "future orientation." Kids who have clear, hopeful goals for their future are statistically less likely to seek the temporary "highs" of behavioral addictions.
- If your child is showing signs of a shopping or gambling habit, treat the depression first. Banning the app or the behavior is a temporary fix; the research shows the behavior will likely persist until the child’s baseline mental health improves.
Behavioral addictions are often just "anxiety in disguise," and even healthy habits can become harmful when used as a shield. Focus on your child's emotional regulation and sense of hope, rather than just policing the activities themselves.
Farbstein-Yavin S, Shoshani A, Gvion Y et al. (2026). Longitudinal analysis of behavioral addictions among children and adolescents in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Frontiers in psychology. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1791527 — pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov