This study examines whether social activities with parents, online and offline social self-efficacy, and attitudes toward gaming are associated with the degree of game addiction among adolescents. Using data from a survey of 600 middle- and high-school students in South Korea, we tested the relationships of personal characteristics (grade point average and time spent on gaming each day), social self-efficacy (both on- and offline), general social activities (with parents, friends, and teachers), gaming activities with parents, and attitudes toward gaming (those of self, parents, friends, and teachers) with the degree of game addiction. In addition, we conducted ANOVA tests to determine the differences among three groups: non-addicts (NA), possible (mild or moderate) addicts (PA), and Internet addicts (IA). The results show that social self-efficacy in the real world (offline) was negatively related with the degree of game addiction, whereas social self-efficacy in the virtual world (online) indicated a positive association. Social activities with parents are negatively associated with game addiction, although no relationship is found between gaming activities with parents and game addiction. Parental attitude toward gaming has a negative relationship with the addiction. Results and implications are discussed.

Since online digital game addiction became one of the serious social computing issues related to public health, there has been an unprecedented need to explore and understand online digital game addiction from a psychosocial perspective. Extant studies have empirically tested the effects of as well as the relationship among prominent psychological distresses such as depression, loneliness and aggression on game addiction. Likewise, previous studies have also empirically established that social interaction may take a different form and alter the social exchanges in ways that may be particularly attractive to those who are lonely. This way, online social interaction within the interfaces of digital games such as MMORPGs can become a substitute for real-life social interaction because of the online anonymity and lack of physical presence which allow users to control social interaction. However, a few studies have explored the relationships among individuals’ need for online social interaction, interpersonal incompetence and self-regulation (control) and their effects on game addiction. In addition, the mediating role of individuals’ need for online social interaction in online digital game addiction has neither been proposed nor empirically tested. The main purpose of this study is to examine digital game addiction from the perspectives of individuals’ need for online social interaction, interpersonal incompetence, self-regulation and loneliness. We believe that the findings of this study will offer new insights to policymakers in dealing with the issues of digital game addiction. More specifically, the purpose of this study is to understand the mediation effect of individuals’ need for online social interaction on game addiction.

Exploring digital game addiction from a psychosocial perspective has gained much attention because digital game addiction is a serious social computing issue related to public health. A number of studies have empirically tested the effects of depression and loneliness on aggression, but few studies have explored the relationships among the psychosocial constructs (i.e., depression, loneliness, and aggression) and their effects on game addiction. In addition, the mediating role of aggression in digital game addiction has neither been proposed nor empirically tested. Moreover, although the psychological constructs related to game addiction have been proposed as multidimensional concepts and digital game addiction itself has been suggested as a multidimensional construct, few studies have been proposed and conducted using multidimensional constructs. This study sought to fill these gaps by proposing an integrated model of digital game addiction from a psychosocial health perspective. In particular, this study had three objectives: (1) to propose a second-order game addiction model addressing the relationships among loneliness, depression, aggression, and game addiction as multidimensional constructs and presenting aggression as a mediator between other psychosocial constructs and game addiction; (2) to empirically validate the proposed model using survey data obtained from actual online game users; and (3) to provide new insights for game policymakers in dealing with the digital game addiction issues. Based on the empirical findings, the theoretical contributions and practical implications are discussed herein.

Networked interactivity is one of the essential factors that differentiate recent online educational games from traditional stand-alone CD-based games. Despite the growing popularity of online educational games, empirical studies about the effects of networked interactivity are relatively rare. The current study tests the effects of networked interactivity on game users' learning outcomes by comparing three groups (online educational quiz game vs. off-line educational quiz game vs. traditional classroom lecture). In addition, the study examines the mediating role of social presence in the context of educational games. Results indicate that networked interactivity in the online educational quiz game condition enhances game users' positive evaluation of learning, test performance, and feelings of social presence. However, there was no significant difference between the off-line educational quiz game and the lecture-based conditions in terms of learning outcomes. Further analyses indicate that feelings of social presence mediate the effect of networked interactivity on various learning outcomes. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.