If you're having trouble parting your child from his portable gaming device, or if he's spending too many hours in front of the computer screen playing online games, it might be time to ask yourself this question: "Is my child a video game addict?"
Vanessa Cainghug, MD, psychiatrist at St. Luke’s Medical Center, says addiction symptoms vary and manifest in different forms. Check out the gallery below to learn about five common signs of game addiction.


For more on kids and video games, try these:

• Playing Video Games Can Boost Your Kids’ Creativity
• For the Win: 5 Video Game Guidelines for Parents and Kids

(First published in Good Housekeeping Magazine as a sidebar to "The Lure of a Different World" in August 2009; photo by The AGIs via Flickr Creative Commons; adapted for use in Female Network)