Thakur Pranjali Chakraborty, Sharma Manoj Kumar, Mohan Vineeth, Kommu John Vijay Sagar, Anand Nitin, Marimuthu Palaniappan
Service for Healthy Use of Technology (SHUT) Clinic, Department of Clinical Psychology, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-sciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
Department of Clinical Psychology, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-sciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
Front Psychiatry. 2023 May 5;14:1081764. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1081764. eCollection 2023.
Gaming is a predominant leisure time activity among adolescents, and the literature suggests that unrestrained gaming behavior might lead to gaming disorder. ICD-11 and DSM-5 have recognized gaming disorder as a psychiatric condition and grouped it under the behavioral addiction category. Research on gaming behavior and addiction is largely based on data from the male population, and problematic gaming has largely been understood from the male perspective. In this study, we are attempting to bridge the existing lacuna in the literature by exploring gaming behavior, gaming disorder, and its related psychopathological characteristics among female adolescents in India.
The study was conducted on a sample of 707 female adolescent participants who were contacted through schools and academic institutes in a city in Southern India. The study adopted a cross-sectional survey design, and data were administered using the mixed modality of online and offline data collection. The participants filled out the following set of questionnaires: socio-demographic sheet, Internet Gaming Disorder Scale-Short-Form (IGDS9-SF), Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), Rosenberg self-esteem scale, and Brief sensation-seeking scale (BSSS-8). The data gathered from the participants were then statistically analyzed using SPSS software version 26.
The descriptive statistics revealed that 0.8% of the sample (i.e., five participants out of 707) obtained scores meeting gaming addiction criteria. Correlation analysis demonstrated a significant relationship between all the psychological variables with total IGD scale scores ( < 0.05). Total SDQ, total BSSS-8, and domain scores of SDQ, such as emotional symptoms, conduct, hyperactivity, and peer problems, were positively correlated, whereas total Rosenberg scores and domain scores of prosocial behaviors of SDQ were negatively correlated. The Mann-Whitney -test was employed to compare "with gaming disorder" and "without gaming disorder" categories of female participants. Comparing these two groups revealed significant differences in emotional symptoms, conduct, hyperactivity/inattention, peer problem, and self-esteem scale scores. Furthermore, quantile regression was computed, showing that conduct, peer problem, and self-esteem displayed trend-level prediction for gaming disorder.
Female adolescents prone to gaming addiction can be identified through psychopathological characteristics of conduct, peer problem, and low self-esteem. This understanding can be useful in developing a theoretical model focusing on early screening and preventive strategies for at-risk female adolescents.
游戏是青少年主要的休闲活动，文献表明无节制的游戏行为可能导致游戏障碍。《国际疾病分类第11版》（ICD - 11）和《精神疾病诊断与统计手册第5版》（DSM - 5）已将游戏障碍认定为一种精神疾病，并将其归入行为成瘾类别。关于游戏行为和成瘾的研究主要基于男性群体的数据，问题游戏在很大程度上是从男性视角来理解的。在本研究中，我们试图通过探索印度女性青少年的游戏行为、游戏障碍及其相关的心理病理特征来填补文献中现有的空白。
本研究以707名女性青少年参与者为样本，通过印度南部一个城市的学校和学术机构联系到这些参与者。该研究采用横断面调查设计，数据通过线上和线下混合的数据收集方式进行管理。参与者填写了以下一系列问卷：社会人口学信息表、互联网游戏障碍量表简版（IGDS9 - SF）、长处与困难问卷（SDQ）、罗森伯格自尊量表以及简版感觉寻求量表（BSSS - 8）。然后使用SPSS 26版软件对从参与者收集到的数据进行统计分析。
描述性统计显示，样本中有0.8%（即707名参与者中的5名）的得分符合游戏成瘾标准。相关性分析表明，所有心理变量与IGD总量表得分之间均存在显著关系（<0.05）。SDQ总分、BSSS - 8总分以及SDQ的情绪症状、品行、多动和同伴问题等领域得分呈正相关，而罗森伯格总分以及SDQ亲社会行为领域得分呈负相关。采用曼 - 惠特尼U检验来比较女性参与者的“有游戏障碍”和“无游戏障碍”类别。比较这两组发现，情绪症状、品行、多动/注意力不集中、同伴问题和自尊量表得分存在显著差异。此外，计算了分位数回归，结果显示品行、同伴问题和自尊对游戏障碍具有趋势水平的预测作用。
可以通过品行、同伴问题和低自尊等心理病理特征来识别容易出现游戏成瘾的女性青少年。这种认识有助于建立一个侧重于对高危女性青少年进行早期筛查和预防策略的理论模型。
