Risk factors connected with online gaming addiction

Risk factors connected with online gaming addiction

Online gaming addiction can be a serious problem and there are a lot of risk factors involved with online gaming addiction. By risk factor I mean any characteristic or an attribute that adds to the possibility of online gaming addiction in a person. We would take a look at some of the risk factors connected with online gaming addiction shortly.

According to Conrad, the following are some risk factors connected with online gaming addiction:

1. Personality attributes such as neuroticism, trait anxiety aggressiveness, and a strong urge for totally new and different experiences are risk factors for video game addiction. Mehroof, et al. (2010).

2. Being older, not being happy with how one’s life is, and low self-esteem are online gaming addiction risk factors in male gamers. Ko et al. (2005).

3. Mood management with the use of online gaming puts people at a high risk of online gaming addiction. Chappell et al. (2006).

4. Just being a male on its own is part of the risk factors for online gaming addiction. Griffiths (2008).

5. It has been observed that online gaming addicts have higher rates of depression and anxiety and lower grades in school. This leaves this open to interpretation meaning that anxiety and depression are online gaming addiction risk factors or maybe that online gaming addiction is a risk factor for anxiety and depression. Peukert et al. (2010).

6. In interpersonal situations having a negative view of one's competence and a positive view of one's intelligence are potential online gaming addiction risk factors. Zheng et al. (2006).

7. Parenting styles which are authoritarian might be included as one of the risk factors for online gaming addiction. Wang et al. (2006).

8. Playing multiplayer online role playing games is one of the big risk factors for online gaming addiction. Van Tooik et al. (2010).

9. Risk factors for online gaming addiction also include lack of social skills, impulsiveness, restricted capability to keep emotions in check, and less empathy. Gentile et al. (2011).

10. There is proof that the brain regions which people believe contributes to substance dependence (e.g., the right caudate nucleus and the right orbitofrontal cortex) are also excessively initiated in video game players in response to video game related images and videos. As a result of this, the responsiveness of certain neurobiological mechanisms may be added as one of the risk factors for online gaming addiction. Ko et al., (2009).

These are just some of the various risk factors connected with online gaming addiction. A survey of the risk factors for online gaming addiction was conducted and of the four risk categories which include cognitive functions, individual factors, social interactions, and psychopathologies, psychopathologies were seen as the strongest risk factors for online gaming addiction in all patients. To be specific, self-esteem, sex, family environment, perseverative errors, attention, and depressive moods were considerably related with online gaming addiction. In the patients with pure online gaming addiction, connections were found with social interactions, individual factors, and psychological factors. Of the four categories, Psychopathologies were seen as the strongest risk factors among the four categories for online gaming addiction in patients with pure online gaming addiction. To be specific, depressive moods, sex, self-esteem, age, family environment, and attention were significantly associated with online gaming addiction in these patients. (Hyun et al., 2015)

Sources:

Hyun, G. J., Han, D. H., Lee, Y. S., Kang, K. D., Yoo, S. K., Chung, U., & Renshaw, P. F. (2015). Risk factors associated with online game addiction: A hierarchical model. Computers In Human Behavior, 48706-713. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2015.02.008

Conrad, D. B. (n.d.). What are the risk factors for video game addiction? - TechAddiction. Retrieved October07, 2016, from http://www.techaddiction.ca/video-game-addiction-risk-factors.html