Exposure to Community Violence, Affiliations With Risk-Taking Peer Groups, and Internet Gaming Disorder Among Chinese Adolescents: The Moderating Role of Parental Monitoring

Effectiveness of an integrated motivational cognitive-behavioral group intervention for adolescents with gaming disorder: a randomized controlled trial

AIMS, DESIGN AND SETTING

The aim of this study was to test the efficacy of the integrated cognitive-behavioral therapy with a strength-based motivational approach [integrated cognitive-behavioral therapy (ICBT)] intervention to change gaming disorder (GD) symptoms and other outcomes and to study the therapeutic mechanism. A two-arm parallel randomized waiting-list controlled trial with 3- and 6-month follow-ups were conducted in a secondary vocational school in mainland China.

PARTICIPANTS

Participants comprised 77 Chinese adolescents with GD symptoms with a mean age of 16.36 years [standard deviation (SD) = 0.93]; 88.3% were male INTERVENTIONS: Participants were randomized into an ICBT group (n = 38) and a waiting-list control (WLC, n = 39) group. ICBT intervention comprised eight weekly sessions to encourage participants to identify their interests and strengths and set goals for developing personally meaningful real-life activities.

MEASUREMENTS AND FINDINGS

The outcomes were measured at pre-treatment (t0 ), post-treatment (t1 ), 3-month (t2 ) and 6-month (t3 ) follow-ups. The primary outcome was GD symptoms at t3. Secondary outcomes included GD symptoms at t1 and t2 , and gaming motivation, maladaptive gaming cognition, depression and anxiety symptoms at t1 , t2 and t3 . With the intention-to-treat principle, the GD scores at t3 were significantly different between the CBT and WLC groups [mean difference 62.08 (SD = 10.48) versus 73.64 (SD = 11.70); Hedges' g = 1.15, 95% confidence interval = 0.67-1.62]. Linear mixed-effects modeling showed significant group × time interaction for the secondary outcomes (P < 0.01), with a moderate to strong between-group effect size in the reduction in depression symptoms (g = 0.67-0.84) and anxiety symptoms (g = 0.6-0.64). Path analysis shows ICBT leads to GD reduction through reducing gaming motivation and maladaptive gaming cognition.

CONCLUSIONS

An integrated cognitive-behavioral therapy with strength-based motivational approach intervention reduced gaming disorder symptoms and time spent gaming over a 6-month period by decreasing maladaptive gaming motivation and cognition.

Relationships of internet gaming engagement, history, and maladaptive cognitions and adolescent internet gaming disorder: A cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVE

This study tested the mediation effect of maladaptive cognition of internet gaming and moderation effect of internet gaming history in the relationship between internet gaming engagement and internet gaming disorder in adolescents.

METHOD

A total of 2,902 secondary school students were surveyed in Hong Kong from February 2021 to December 2021. The proposed moderated mediation model was tested by PROCESS.

RESULTS

Internet gaming engagement, internet gaming history and maladaptive cognition were positively associated with internet gaming disorder symptoms. Maladaptive cognition significantly mediated the association between internet gaming engagement and internet gaming disorder symptoms in both males and females. In addition, a significant interaction between internet gaming engagement and internet gaming history was detected among females but not for males, namely, the positive relationships of internet gaming engagement with maladaptive cognition and internet gaming disorder symptoms were weaker with the increased years of internet gaming.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study provides a better understanding of the underlying mechanism and boundary condition in the association between internet gaming engagement and internet gaming disorder among adolescents. Preventing interventions should aim to reduce maladaptive cognition and internet gaming engagement. Interventions targeting internet gaming engagement maybe more effective among female gamers who are beginners and all male gamers.

Consumers' Opinions towards Public Health Effects of Online Games: An Empirical Study Based on Social Media Comments in China

Online game products have fueled the boom in China's digital economy. Meanwhile, its public health concerns have sparked discussion among consumers on social media. However, past research has seldom studied the public health topics caused by online games from the perspective of consumer opinions. This paper attempts to identify consumers' opinions on the health impact of online game products through non-structured text and large-size social media comments. Thus, we designed a natural language processing (NLP) framework based on machine learning, which consists of topic mining, multi-label classification, and sentimental analysis. The hierarchical clustering method-based topic mining procedure determines the compatibility of this study and previous research. Every three topics are identified in "Personal Health Effects" and "Social Health Effects", respectively. Then, the multi-label classification model's results show that 61.62% of 327,505 comments have opinions about the health effects of online games. Topics "Adolescent Education" and "Commercial Morality" occupy the top two places of consumer attention. More than 31% of comments support two or more topics, and the "Adolescent Education" and "Commercial Morality" combination also have the highest co-occurrence. Finally, consumers expressed different emotional preferences for different topics, with an average of 63% of comments expressing negative emotions related to the health attributes of online games. In general, Chinese consumers are most concerned with adolescent education issues and hold the strongest negative emotion towards the commercial morality problems of enterprises. The significance of research results is that it reminds online game-related enterprises to pay attention to the potential harm to public health while bringing about additional profits through online game products. Furthermore, negative consumer emotions may cause damage to brand image, business reputation, and the sustainable development of the enterprises themselves. It also provides the government supervision departments with an advanced analysis method reference for more effective administration to protect public health and promote the development of the digital economy.

The Bounded Ending Effect in the Domain of Football Gambling: High Risks Are Not Always Preferred at the End

Previous research has demonstrated that individuals present increased risk taking at the end of a series of gambles, a phenomenon called the ending effect. By using a large online football gambling data, we attempted to replicate the ending effect and tested the existence of a different pattern of increased risk taking at the ending. The results showed that at the end of a series of football gambles, bettors would take more risks, and options with lower risk would be preferred. In games without the interference of local bettors, the ending effect was found to be stronger than that of games with local bettors. Overall, the results provide evidence for the bounded ending effect. Possible underlying mechanisms of the bounded ending effect are explored.

Community Violence Exposure and Externalizing Problem Behavior Among Chinese High School Students: The Moderating Role of Parental Knowledge

Adolescents' community violence exposure (CVE) has been demonstrated with a range of behavioral and psychological problems, but the processes that explain these correlations are not clear. In our 2017 study, the mediating role of deviant peer affiliation in the relationship between CVE and externalizing problem behaviors has been confirmed. However, the moderating effect of parental factors is still unclear. Therefore, a new group (high school group) was adopted in this study to further explore the moderating effect of parental knowledge based on also confirming the mediating effect of deviant peer affiliation. Stratified-cluster sampling was used to recruit 1,797 volunteers who completed questionnaires on CVE, deviant peer affiliation, parental knowledge, and externalizing problem behaviors. The results of the structural equation modeling were: on the basis of our previous research, we further analyzed the mediating role of deviant peer affiliation, and the mediated association was moderated by parental knowledge. Especially when the school climate is added as a covariate, the moderating effect of parental knowledge has changed, that is, the positive association between CVE and externalizing problem behaviors was much stronger for adolescents who reported lower levels of parental knowledge than for those who reported higher levels of parental knowledge. The results support the assumptions of social learning theory and have implications for interventions of community violence.

The Influence of Parental Knowledge and Basic Psychological Needs Satisfaction on Peer Victimization and Internet Gaming Disorder among Chinese Adolescents: A Mediated Moderation Model

Ample evidence indicates that peer victimization is a crucial risk factor for adolescent internet gaming disorder (IGD); however, little is known about the mechanisms underlying this association. Based on the risk-buffering model and self-determination theory, this study tested whether parental knowledge moderated the relationship between peer victimization and adolescent IGD and whether this moderating effect was mediated by basic psychological needs satisfaction (BPNS). A sample of 3080 adolescents (Mean_age = 14.51; SD = 1.97) anonymously responded to a set of questionnaires. The results revealed that the positive association between peer victimization and adolescent IGD was stronger among adolescents with parents who had low-level parental knowledge than for those with high-level parental knowledge. Moreover, this moderating effect was mediated by BPNS. These findings highlight that parental knowledge is an important protective factor against IGD for adolescents who experience peer victimization and BPNS is one mechanism that explains how this effect works.

The influence of depressive symptoms and fear of missing out on severity of problematic smartphone use and Internet gaming disorder among Chinese young adults: A three-wave mediation model

Internet gaming disorder (IGD) and problematic smartphone use (PSU) symptoms are associated with increased depression symptom severity across studies. The current study aimed to examine the fear of missing out (FoMO) as a possible mediator in this relationship. We employed a three-wave longitudinal design among 341 Chinese university students. Results indicated that depression severity was significantly related to increased symptoms of PSU and IGD symptoms. FoMO significantly mediated the linkage between depression and PSU severity. IGD symptoms also partially mediated the relation between FoMO and PSU severity. This longitudinal study demonstrates the key role of FoMO in the linkage between psychopathology symptoms and Internet-related overuse.