Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior of Ministry of Education, Key Laboratory of Human Development and Mental Health of Hubei Province, School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China.
J Youth Adolesc. 2024 Oct;53(10):2393-2406. doi: 10.1007/s10964-024-02032-4. Epub 2024 Jun 12.
Adolescents who befriend online game using peers may be at risk for initiated and continued excessive game use (online gaming use homophily). The present article examined how adolescents' severity of online gaming use related to their friends' online gaming behavior bi-directionally across a semester (peer selection or peer influence effect). Students from two universities completed three waves of online surveys within four and a half months (N = 3079; 33.6% female; M = 19.16; SD = 0.97). Random-intercepts, Cross-Lagged Panel Model (RI-CLPM) analyses revealed that peer selection and peer influence both promote online gaming use homophily in adolescents' friendship groups. Furthermore, participants were more likely to form new friendships with peers exhibiting similar online gaming behavior as their behavior, subsequently reinforcing their online gaming use behaviors within these relationships. These social processes may exhibit a time lag among girls, which needs to be confirmed through longer-term follow-up. In general, findings suggest that effective prevention programs targeting excessive online gaming should not only focus on promoting social influence skills but also consider the structure of peer environments.
青少年与使用同龄人的在线游戏成为朋友，可能会面临开始和持续过度使用游戏（在线游戏使用同好现象）的风险。本文研究了青少年在线游戏使用的严重程度如何在一个学期内双向与朋友的在线游戏行为相关（同伴选择或同伴影响效应）。两所大学的学生在四个半月内完成了三轮在线调查（N=3079；33.6%为女性；M=19.16；SD=0.97）。随机截距交叉滞后面板模型（RI-CLPM）分析显示，同伴选择和同伴影响都促进了青少年友谊群体中在线游戏使用的同好现象。此外，参与者更有可能与表现出与其行为相似的在线游戏行为的同伴建立新的友谊，从而在这些关系中加强他们的在线游戏使用行为。这些社会过程在女孩中可能存在时间滞后，需要通过长期随访来证实。总的来说，研究结果表明，针对过度在线游戏的有效预防计划不仅应注重促进社交影响技能，还应考虑同伴环境的结构。
