Han Ellie Seunga, Park YeJi, Yurgelun-Todd Deborah, Renshaw Perry F, Han Doug Hyun
Department of Political Science, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States.
IT and Human Research and Clinic Center, Chung Ang University Medical School, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Front Psychiatry. 2024 Mar 22;15:1377231. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1377231. eCollection 2024.
Problematic internet gaming by adolescents has been thought to be associated with low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, and attention problems. We hypothesized that both game literacy and coding education would effectively improve problematic internet use. However, game coding education would be more effective in enhancing self-esteem and social anxiety in adolescents than game literacy education.
A total of 733 adolescent volunteers were included and randomly assigned to either the game coding education or game literacy education programs. Both programs consisted of eight sessions, each lasting 45 minutes, over four weeks. The coding education sessions included game planning and development lessons and allowed students to create the game's characters, stages, and tutorials directly using Scratch, a free coding program. Game literacy education sessions included lessons on enjoying gaming with a healthy rationale and etiquette. Data on demographics, gaming patterns, and psychological status, including positive/negative perceptions of online games, depression, social anxiety, and self-esteem, were collected.
Both game coding and game literacy education significantly improved YIAS scores compared to baseline, and there was no significant difference in the YIAS scores between the two groups after the interventions. In the hierarchical logistic regression analysis of all participants, higher YIAS scores, stronger negative perceptions of gaming, and lower attention problem scores at baseline predicted lower levels of internet gaming addiction after interventions. In the hierarchical logistic regression analysis among individuals with game coding education, higher YIAS scores, stronger negative perceptions of gaming, lower attention problem scores, and higher self-esteem scores at baseline predicted lower levels of internet gaming addiction after intervention. In addition, game coding education greatly improved negative perceptions of games, self-esteem, and social anxiety compared to game literacy education.
Both game literacy and game coding education effectively mitigate internet game addiction. However, game coding education effectively mitigated problematic internet gaming by improving negative perceptions of games, self-esteem, and social anxiety in adolescents. We found that the application of knowledge by students in creating their own games was more effective than simply developing a conceptual understanding of the games.
青少年网络游戏问题被认为与自卑、抑郁、焦虑和注意力问题有关。我们假设游戏素养和编码教育都能有效改善网络使用问题。然而，游戏编码教育在提高青少年自尊和社交焦虑方面比游戏素养教育更有效。
共纳入733名青少年志愿者，随机分为游戏编码教育组或游戏素养教育组。两个项目均包括八节课程，每节45分钟，为期四周。编码教育课程包括游戏策划和开发课程，允许学生直接使用免费编码程序Scratch创建游戏角色、关卡和教程。游戏素养教育课程包括关于以健康的理由和礼仪享受游戏的课程。收集了人口统计学、游戏模式和心理状态的数据，包括对网络游戏的积极/消极看法、抑郁、社交焦虑和自尊。
与基线相比，游戏编码教育和游戏素养教育均显著提高了青少年互联网游戏障碍量表（YIAS）得分，干预后两组YIAS得分无显著差异。在所有参与者的分层逻辑回归分析中，基线时较高的YIAS得分、对游戏较强的负面看法和较低的注意力问题得分预测干预后网络游戏成瘾水平较低。在接受游戏编码教育的个体的分层逻辑回归分析中，基线时较高的YIAS得分、对游戏较强的负面看法、较低的注意力问题得分和较高的自尊得分预测干预后网络游戏成瘾水平较低。此外，与游戏素养教育相比，游戏编码教育极大地改善了对游戏的负面看法、自尊和社交焦虑。
游戏素养和游戏编码教育均能有效减轻网络游戏成瘾。然而，游戏编码教育通过改善青少年对游戏的负面看法、自尊和社交焦虑，有效减轻了有问题的网络游戏行为。我们发现，学生在创建自己的游戏中应用知识比仅仅培养对游戏的概念理解更有效。
