Fong Ted C T, Cheng Qijin, Pai C Y, Kwan Isabelle, Wong Clifford, Cheung Sing-Hang, Yip Paul S F
Centre on Behavioral Health, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
Department of Social Work, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
Soc Sci Med. 2023 Mar;321:115774. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.115774. Epub 2023 Feb 11.
The current study aimed to examine the latent heterogeneity of gaming and social withdrawal behaviors in internet gamers and their associations with help-seeking behaviors.
The present study recruited 3430 young people (1874 adolescents and 1556 young adults) in Hong Kong in 2019. The participants completed the Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) Scale, Hikikomori Questionnaire, and measures on gaming characteristics, depression, help-seeking, and suicidality. Factor mixture analysis was used to classify the participants into latent classes based on their latent factors of IGD and hikikomori in separate age groups. Latent class regressions examined the associations between help-seeking and suicidality.
Both adolescents and young adults supported a 4-class, 2-factor model on gaming and social withdrawal behaviors. Over two-third of the sample were classified as healthy or low-risk gamers with low IGD factor means and low prevalence of hikikomori. Around one-fourth was moderate-risk gamers with elevated prevalence of hikikomori, higher IGD symptoms and psychological distress. A minority of the sample (3.8%-5.8%) belonged to high-risk gamers with the highest IGD symptoms and prevalence of hikikomori and heightened suicidal risks. Help-seeking in low-risk and moderate-risk gamers was positively associated with depressive symptoms and negatively associated with suicidal ideation. Perceived usefulness of help-seeking was significantly linked with lower likelihoods of suicidal ideation in the moderate-risk gamers and suicide attempt in the high-risk gamers.
The present findings explicate the latent heterogeneity of gaming and social withdrawal behaviors and associated factors on help-seeking and suicidality among internet gamers in Hong Kong.
本研究旨在探讨网络游戏玩家游戏行为与社交退缩行为的潜在异质性，以及它们与寻求帮助行为之间的关联。
本研究于2019年在香港招募了3430名年轻人（1874名青少年和1556名青年）。参与者完成了网络游戏障碍（IGD）量表、隐蔽青年问卷，以及关于游戏特征、抑郁、寻求帮助和自杀倾向的测量。因子混合分析用于根据不同年龄组中IGD和隐蔽青年的潜在因子将参与者分为潜在类别。潜在类别回归分析了寻求帮助与自杀倾向之间的关联。
青少年和青年在游戏行为与社交退缩行为方面均支持一个4类、2因子模型。超过三分之二的样本被归类为健康或低风险玩家，其IGD因子均值较低，隐蔽青年患病率也较低。约四分之一为中度风险玩家，隐蔽青年患病率较高，IGD症状和心理困扰程度较高。少数样本（3.8%-5.8%）属于高风险玩家，其IGD症状和隐蔽青年患病率最高，自杀风险也更高。低风险和中度风险玩家寻求帮助与抑郁症状呈正相关，与自杀意念呈负相关。在中度风险玩家中，寻求帮助的感知有用性与较低的自杀意念可能性显著相关，在高风险玩家中与较低的自杀未遂可能性显著相关。
本研究结果揭示了香港网络游戏玩家游戏行为与社交退缩行为的潜在异质性，以及寻求帮助和自杀倾向的相关因素。
