Featured publication

Charzyńska, E., Buźniak, A., Czerwiński, S. K., Woropay-Hordziejewicz, N., Schneider, Z., Aavik, T., Adamowic, M., Adams, B. G., Al-Mahjoob, S. M., Almoshawah, S. A. S., Arrowsmith, J., Asatsa, S., Austin, S., Aziz, S., Bakker, A. B., Balducci, C., Barros, E., Bălțătescu, S., Bdier, D., … Atroszko, P. A. (2025). The International Work Addiction Scale (IWAS): A screening tool for clinical and organizational applications validated in 85 cultures from six continents. Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 14(1), 220–245. https://doi.org/10.1556/2006.2025.00005 

This study developed and cross-culturally validated the International Work Addiction Scale among 31,352 employees from 85 cultures. The IWAS-7 demonstrated partial scalar invariance across 81 cultures and the IWAS-5 across all 85 cultures. Cut-off scores were established, and higher scores were associated with greater job stress and lower job satisfaction and self-esteem. The findings support the cross-cultural comparability and broad relevance of work addiction and provide a brief, multilingual screening instrument that is freely available for non-commercial use.

Other publications

Woropay-Hordziejewicz, N. A., Charzyńska, E., Buźniak, A., Czerwiński, S. K., Schneider, Z., & Atroszko, P. A. (2026). Low-burden data-driven work addiction screening: Comparing demographic and psychosocial predictors using machine learning. Journal of Behavioral Addictions. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1556/2006.2026.00060

This study compared two machine-learning approaches to identifying employees at risk of work addiction: a demographic-only model using readily available sociodemographic and occupational data, and a psychosocial model additionally incorporating job stress and job satisfaction. The psychosocial model performed better, whereas the demographic-only model showed more modest but potentially useful screening performance without requiring additional data collection. The findings support the feasibility of low-burden, data-driven preliminary screening. 

Atroszko, P. A., Kun, B., Buźniak, A., Czerwiński, S. K., Schneider, Z., Woropay-Hordziejewicz, N., Bakker, A. B., Balducci, C., Demetrovics, Z., Griffiths, M. D., Innstrand, S. T., Morkevičiūtė, M., Pallesen, S., Pontes, H. M., Sussman, S., & Charzyńska, E. (2025). Perceived coworkers’ work addiction: Scale development and associations with one’s own workaholism, job stress, and job satisfaction in 85 cultures. Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 14(1), 246–262. https://doi.org/10.1556/2006.2025.00011

This study developed and validated the Perceived Coworkers’ Work Addiction Scale, the first instrument assessing perceived work addiction in direct supervisors and coworkers, in a sample of 33,222 employees from 85 cultures. In most cultures, perceived work addiction among both groups was associated with higher levels of employees’ own work addiction and job stress and with lower job satisfaction. Perceived work addiction among colleagues generally showed stronger and more consistent associations, highlighting the social and organizational dimensions of work addiction. 

Atroszko, P. A. (2025). Work addiction and workaholism are synonymous: An analysis of the sources of confusion (a commentary on Morkevičiūtė and Endriulaitienė). International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 23(4), 2536–2543. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-024-01243-x

This conceptual analysis argues that “work addiction” and “workaholism” refer to the same phenomenon and should be treated as synonymous. It attributes much of the terminological confusion to limited exchange between clinical and organizational research traditions. It further argues that excessive and compulsive working represent indicators or symptoms of a single addictive disorder rather than distinct conceptualizations of workaholism.

de Zoysa, P., Charzyńska, E., Bochniarz, K. T., & Atroszko, P. A. (2025). Work addiction in a Buddhist population from a Buddhist-majority country: A report from Sri Lanka. Religions, 16(8), Article 944. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16080944

This was the first study of work addiction in a Buddhist-majority country, involving 176 full-time employed Buddhists in Sri Lanka, approximately 10% of whom met the screening criterion for work addiction. Religiosity was not directly associated with work addiction, but this relationship was moderated by age: higher religiosity was associated with lower work addiction among younger participants and higher work addiction among older participants. The findings extend research on work addiction beyond Western settings and indicate that age may shape the relationship between religiosity and work addiction.