Videogame addiction and loneliness: non‑recursive model of mutual relationship

• Published in: Psychology and its Contexts
• Main Authors: Petr Květon, Martin Jelínek
• Format: Article
• Language: Czech
• Published: University of Ostrava 2018-11-01
• Subjects: videogame addiction; loneliness; non-recursive model
• Online Access: http://psychkont.osu.cz/fulltext/2018/18-2_Kveton-Jelinek.pdf

Problem. The popularity of video games is constantly rising and video games playing needs to be considered an essential part of the life of vast majority of adolescents. Excessive video game play may result in addiction, which is known to be linked to many negative phenomena. Relevant literature mentions the existence of a relationship between loneliness and video game addiction (e.g. Lemmens, Valkenburg, & Peter, 2009, 2011; Van Rooij, Schoenmakers, Vermulst, Van Den Eijnden, & Van De Mheen, 2011)we created 21 items to measure seven underlying criteria (i.e., salience, tolerance, mood modification, relapse, withdrawal, conflict, and problems. The aim of this study is to examine the nature of the relationship between the two constructs using a non-recursive model. Method. The research sample consisted of 479 participants (49.7 % girls) aged 12–18 (m = 14.76; sd = 1.68). The data was collected in the school environment using pencil-paper questionnaire. In the study, the following questionnaires were used: Game addiction scale (? = 0,962); Social identity as a player (? = 0,954); Game engagement questionnaire (? = 0,880); UCLA loneliness scale (? = 0.867), Index of family relations (? = 0,867), and Index of peer relations (? = 0.827). Within the non-recursive model, frequency of playing, identity as a player and game engagement were used as instrumental variables for videogame addiction. In case of loneliness, variables reflecting the quality of family and peer relationships were used. Results. Game addiction is most related to perceived game engagement (ß = 0.382) and loneliness to low quality of peer relationships (ß = -0.505). It was found that the postulated non-recursive model data fits the data well (?2 = 1.576; df = 3; p = 0.665) and its results indicate that loneliness can enhance video game addiction (ß = 0.271). Conclusion. The presented study contributes to a better understanding of the relationship between video game addiction and loneliness. The results of the study suggest that loneliness during adolescence may contribute to the development of addiction to video games.