Abstract
Online Gaming Addiction (OGA) is characterized by excessive preoccupation, urge, and impaired control over internet gaming despite negative consequences. Literature has emphasized on male OGA, but studies on female OGA remain scarce. This research investigated risk factors of OGA among Singaporean female college students. 364 female college students (Range=17-20years, Mean age=19.2, SD=0.8) completed a survey assessing their online gaming habits, individual factors (impulsivity, self-efficacy), intra-family factors (family communication, parent-child conflict), school experience and mental health status. Based on the cut-off score of ≥32 on the Problematic Online Gaming Questionnaire short-form (Papay et al.,2013), the prevalence of OGA was 13.2%, N=48, which is lower compared to other studies on Singaporean college males (25.5%;Tang et al.,2017). However, given the negative consequences of OGA, this prevalence is considered high (Lopez-Fernandez et al.,2019). Among female gaming addicts, 66.7% reported experiencing immersion, 35.4% reported overuse, 8.3% reported preoccupation and withdrawal, 6.3% reported interpersonal conflict, and 4.2% reported social isolation. Correlational analysis showed that high OGA scores were related to low self-efficacy, poor family communication, negative school experience, poor mental health status, high parent-child conflict, and high impulsivity. Multiple regression analyses showed that all predictors for OGA account for 13.6% of variance. Controlling for age, education, and number of family members, high parent-child conflict and high impulsivity were found to be best predictors for OGA. Intervention such as family-based interpersonal psychotherapy that addresses the management of parent-child conflict and cognitive-behavioral therapy focusing on impulse-control training may be beneficial for females who were at risk of OGA.
Author Information
Jamaica Pei Ying Tan, National University of Singapore, Singapore
Catherine So-Kum Tang, National University of Singapore, Singapore
Yvaine Yee Woen Koh, National University of Singapore, Singapore
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