This special issue addresses the underpinning mechanisms, assessment protocols, and intervention programs that are currently proposed in the scientific community for addictive behaviors such as substance abuse, binge eating, gambling, Internet addiction, and other forms of problematic conducts in pediatric populations, adolescence, and adulthood. The fifth version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) recently included gambling disorder and alcohol and substance abuse disorders as formal diagnoses and listed Internet gaming disorder as requiring additional research for future consideration for inclusion in the DSM. Recent neurobiological and biophysiological discoveries (also in pediatric populations) concurred with the design of new human and animal models for the onset and the treatment of addictive behaviors, proposing the first attempts to unify theories for the mechanisms at their basis. Yet, there is still an urgent need for a comprehensive theory to orientate assessment and treatment of such disorders.

This special issue accepts original research articles as well as review articles, which focus on predictive and risk factors for the onset of addictive behaviors (e.g., biopsychosocial risk factors in children in their first years of life). Theoretical and empirical studies are needed in this field to unveil the mechanisms of addiction. This can be achieved through novel methodologies and approaches (e.g., systems science, predictive models based on Big Data), which are also encouraged and welcomed for this special issue.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

• Substance abuse in children and adolescents: biological, physiological, and psychological correlates
• Binge eating and food addiction in pediatric populations
• Internet addiction and problematic use in children: prevention and treatment proposals
• Video game and gambling disorder in the first ten years of life and its associations with sleep loss, obesity, and other negative outcomes
• Effects of parental addiction on children and families