Adolescence is associated with high levels of risk-taking (Ciranka & van den Bos, 2021) with a peak in risky behaviors, such as substance and behavioral addictions (Van Rooij et al., 2014). Substance and behavioral addictions are defined by functional impairment in daily life, increasing priority given to (and preoccupation with) substance use or specific behavior, and continuation or escalation of substance use or specific behavior despite the occurrence of negative consequences (Brand et al., 2020, Zou et al., 2017). To date, much of the research on substance and behavioral addictions among adolescents has focused on frequency and use behavior (see the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study [HBSC]; Walsh et al., 2020). However, few studies have provided a broader view of self-perceived substance and behavioral addictions among adolescents. In this research, we adopt a lay epidemiological approach that considers the self-perceived of adolescents from the general population in Israel. We also examine common warning signs and symptoms of problematic substance abuse and behavioral addiction.

Lay epidemiology proposes that “fields of symptomatology, nosology, aetiology, and epidemiology have identifiable counterparts in the thoughts and activities of people outside the formal medical community” (Davison, Smith, & Frankel, 1991, p. 6). From this perspective, the lay public’s conceptions of addiction can have important implications regarding whether or not an individual identifies themselves as an addict (Hodgins et al., 2022, Schluter et al., 2020). Adolescents who use the term “sense of self” perceive their addiction as an extension of themselves because it reflects their sense of self-identity, which is linked to how they want to present themselves to others (e.g., Jameel, Shahnawaz, & Griffiths, 2019). Wild et al. (2015) suggest that prevalence rates of self-attributed addiction problems exhibit a striking concordance with those obtained using expert-derived, formal diagnostic criteria. Moreover, epidemiological studies can lead or support the interventions for addictive behaviors (Rumpf et al., 2019). Therefore, the first aim of the current study was to examine adolescents’ self-perceived substance and behavioral addiction.

Addiction among adolescents can be discussed using two levels of language: “social language” and “mental health language.” Social language is commonly used in society and in online media; it is often guilty of overpathologizing everyday life experiences (Billieux et al., 2015). Using social language, young persons can explore the theme of self and identify themselves or others as being in trouble and in need of eliminating addictive behavior. The problem is that “social language” can be used by an individual to describe themselves as an addict when objective clinical measures contradict this. Conversely, an adolescent may not recognize that they have a clinically defined addiction, and this mistaken perception may lead to failure to take responsibility using an external rather than internal control focus. In addition, adolescence is a period of development, and it might be an appropriate time to detect disposition to addiction. “mental health language” is employed in discussions on “addiction” in research and in the setting of clinical criteria for the professional diagnosis and treatment of addiction. However, even if we speak of addiction in terms of “social” or “mental health language”, the present study sheds further light on the self-perceived subjective aspects of addiction in the framework of a lay epidemiological approach, which can have clinical implications.

In addition to this timely question, we also wanted to focus specifically on exploring substance and behavioral addictions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Recent studies have found increased rates of addiction since the outbreak of the coronavirus among adults and adolescents: drugs (Cisneros and Cunningham, 2021, Cisneros and Cunningham, 2021, Mallet et al., 2021, Mallet et al., 2021, Nguyen and Buxton, 2021, Slavova et al., 2020, Slavova et al., 2020); alcohol (Blithikioti et al., 2021, Blithikioti et al., 2021, Kar et al., 2021, Kar et al., 2021); tobacco/vaping (Yang and Ma, 2021, Yang and Ma, 2021); marijuana/cannabis (Levy et al., 2021, Levy et al., 2021); the internet (Islam et al., 2020, Király et al., 2020, Oka et al., 2021); gaming (López-Cabarcos et al., 2020, López-Cabarcos et al., 2020); gambling (Brodeur et al., 2021, Wardle et al., 2021); shopping (Koch et al., 2020, Moon et al., 2021); binge eating (Schulte et al., 2022, Trott et al., 2021); pornography (Grubbs et al., 2021, Sallie et al., 2021); sex-related behavior (Döring, 2020, Lehmiller et al., 2021), and social networks (Gómez-Galán et al., 2020, Gómez-Galán et al., 2020, Luo et al., 2021, Luo et al., 2021). A recent study involving Israeli adolescents indicates that 37% of young people aged 12–18 have had to self-isolate since the pandemic began and 28.9% have been confined to their homes in a lockdown context more than once (Gewirtz-Meydan et al., 2021). Social distancing measures implemented to curtail the spread of COVID-19 have had a negative impact on the mental health of young people, who have shown higher rates of behavioral addiction enabled by the internet (gaming, social media, etc.).

Research indicates that the average age of first substance use is 13–14, which applies mainly to alcohol and illicit substances (Nowak et al., 2018, Nowak et al., 2018). Moreover, previous studies have demonstrated that substance use before 16–18 is associated with later substance abuse (Scholes-Balog et al., 2016, Scholes-Balog et al., 2016, Jordan and Andersen, 2017, Jordan and Andersen, 2017, Rioux et al., 2018, Rioux et al., 2018, Brumback et al., 2021). Substance use and attitudes have changed over the decades, with reports indicating an increase in problematic consequences or a higher prevalence of addiction among young adults and adults (Deputy et al., 2021, Deputy et al., 2021). For example, in a U.S.-based review, Carliner, Brown, Sarvet, & Hasin (2017) found that since the early 2000 s, adult and adolescent perception of cannabis use as risky has decreased, while over the same period, the prevalence of cannabis use among adolescents has not changed significantly. However, adult cannabis use, disorders, and related consequences have increased. In the context of pornography use in adolescents, Farré and colleagues (2020) found that prevalence increases with older ages. Our hypothesis is that older adolescents will report a higher level of substance addiction and sex-related behavior, whereas there will not be any differences based on age for other types of behavioral addiction (gaming, social networks, etc.).

Gender plays a key role in substance and behavioral addictions. For example, substance use disorders are more prevalent in males than in females (McHugh et al., 2018, McHugh et al., 2018). In a survey conducted by the Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality (Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality, 2016), an estimated 47.4% of females aged 12 and older reported past-month alcohol use, compared to 56.2% of males in the same age group. Females also displayed lower rates of binge drinking, heavy drinking, and alcohol use disorder than males. Nicotine dependence was present in 52.3% of female habitual smokers and 9.7% of females overall. In the same report, 7.9% of females and 12.5% of males aged 12 and older reported past-month illicit drug use; corresponding rates of illicit drug use disorders stood at 2% and 3.8% (Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality, 2016). In Norway, cannabis use among university students met the criteria for cannabis use disorder in 6% of the population (3.8% females; 8.5% males) (Andreas et al., 2021). Gender differences are also common in behavioral addictions. For example, research indicates that male adolescents are exposed to pornography at an earlier age than females, watch more pornography, and more often tend to describe themselves as being addicted to pornography (Kowalewska et al., 2020, Peter and Valkenburg, 2016). In addition, males in this age group show greater attentional bias toward sexual cues and a higher prevalence of compulsive sexual behavior disorder (Efrati & Amichai-Hamburger, 2021). With regards to gambling, the prevalence of gambling disorder in young people aged between 11 and 16 years was estimated at 4.6% (Calado et al., 2017, Montiel et al., 2021), and more frequent in men than in women in the adult group (Ronzitti et al., 2016). Similarly, studies on gaming addiction have shown a higher prevalence in males than in females (Efrati, Kolubinski, Marino, & Spada, 2021). Conversely, some studies suggest that more females prefer to use the internet for communication, while males prefer game playing (Mihara & Higuchi, 2017), and social networking addiction has been shown to be more prevalent among adolescent females than males (Peris, de la Barrera, Schoeps, & Montoya-Castilla, 2020). In a similar vein, a meta-analysis of adult-representative studies, showed a pooled prevalence of shopping addiction in different populations of approximately 5%, with women exhibiting higher percentages compared to men, a prevalence that has been increasing over the years (Maraz et al., 2016). Finally, Rodrigue, Gearhardt, and Begin (2019) have shown that binge eating is nearly as prevalent in young people as in adults. In Turkey, a study of 612 high school students revealed that 12.4% had food addictions, with females found to have a higher food addiction score than males (Candan & Küçük, 2019). Accordingly, our second hypothesis is that the prevalence of self-perceived substance use, gambling, gaming, and sex-related addictions will be higher among male adolescents than among females of the same age. On the other hand, we predict that more females will report having addictions to shopping, binge–eating, and social networks than males.

Religious affiliation belief seems to be another factor that influences addictive behavioral patterns. Research indicates that religion is often seen as a buffer or barrier against risk behavior and substance and behavioral addictions (see Connery and Devido, 2020, Grubbs and Grant, 2020). Religious adolescents and adults are less likely to experience substance addictions (Acheampong et al., 2016, Grim and Grim, 2019, Miller et al., 2000). In some aspects of life, however, religious belief may cause an inner struggle that might sustain an addictive behavior (Faigin, Pargament, & Abu-Raiya, 2014). According to the moral incongruence model (Grubbs et al., 2020, Grubbs et al., 2020, Lewczuk et al., 2020, Grubbs et al., 2019) emotional and physical distress arises from the contradiction between a person’s moral beliefs and the behavior in which they engage. For example, there is incongruence between the natural sexual urges of a religious adolescent and the conservative principles endorsed by their religious leaders (e.g., a rabbi) and foundational literature, such as the Bible or the Talmud, in which sexual thoughts and behaviors are discouraged or even condemned. Consistent with this incongruence, a recent study on Polish adults with self-perceived behavioral addiction to pornography, internet use, social networking, or online gaming found that religiosity was uniquely, although weakly, connected to pornography addiction, but not to other types of addictive behaviors (Lewczuk et al., 2021). Therefore, our third hypothesis is that secular adolescents will report more self-perceived substance and behavioral addiction.

Regarding socioeconomic status (SES), research indicates that there are associations between socioeconomic factors and substance abuse outcomes (Collins, 2016, Diala et al., 2004, Melchior et al., 2007). For example, previous research on tobacco found that low SES was associated with a higher prevalence and co-occurrence of risk factors (Wellman et al., 2018). Moreover, Petruzelka et al. (2020) found an association between socioeconomic status and substance and behavioral addiction (risky internet use, gambling) in adolescents. In their research on sex-related behavior, Efrati & Amichai-Hamburger (2021) found that adolescents who engage in both offline and online sexual activities have a lower economic status, on average, than those without sexual experience. Therefore, we hypothesize that adolescents with a low SES will report more self-perceived substance and behavioral addiction.

Finally, with regard to immigration, research has indicated that young people from families with a more vulnerable immigrant status are at risk of immigration-related adversities and behavioral withdrawal, which in turn lead to difficulties of adjustment among adolescents and high substance use (Roche et al., 2021). In addition, among immigrant adolescents, there are more severe levels of problem gambling and a higher distribution of at-risk and problem gamblers with respect to non-immigrant adolescents (Donati, Primi, Mazzarese, Sanson, & Leone, 2020). Therefore, our final hypothesis is that having an immigrant background is likely to increase the likelihood of self-perceived substance and behavioral addiction among adolescents.

In the current study, we administered a survey to investigate self-perceived substance addiction (alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, and cocaine) and behavioral addiction (shopping, gaming, gambling, binge eating, sexual activity, and social networks) among Jewish adolescents in Israel, the largest population group in the country (74%) (Central Bureau of Statistics, Jerusalem, Israel, 2020). This is the first time that large-scale research in this specific area has been conducted in Israel. We hypothesized that there would be noticeable differences based on the sociodemographic variables of age, gender, religiosity, SES, and immigration status focusing in particular on religiosity due to the largely discrete levels of Jewish practice and identification in Israel that allow for easy categorization and comparison (Pew Research Center, 2016).