Abstract
Background and Aims: Social interaction in the online games has been found to predict gaming disorder, but little research has examined the mechanism of this association. Drawing on the social capital theory, the present study investigated the mediating role of online social capital on the relationship between in-game social interaction and gaming disorder and the moderating role of alienation on the relationship between online social capital and gaming disorder.Methods: A sample of 457 Chinese massively multiplayer online role-playing game gamers was recruited to complete the In-game Social Interaction Questionnaire, Online Social Capital Scale, Alienation Scale, and Pathological Gaming Scale.Results: The results showed that online social capital was a mediator in the relationship between in-game social interaction and gaming disorder. Moreover, for individuals with low alienation, the effect of online social capital on gaming disorder was weaker than for those with high alienation.Conclusions: The present study provides new insight into the complex processes involved in the effect of in-game social interaction on gaming disorder, and the results have important theoretical and practical implications.
Highlights
Playing online games has become a highly prevalent activity, which, in some cases, engenders negative consequences, and becomes addictive [1, 2]
We believe that online social capital generated from in-game social interactions is an important predictor of problematic gaming, and we propose hypothesis 1: Online social capital could mediate the relationship between in-game social interaction and gaming disorder
This study examined whether the indirect relationship between ingame social interaction and gaming disorder through online social capital would be moderated by alienation; we expected that the indirect association would be stronger for those with high alienation
Summary
Playing online games has become a highly prevalent activity, which, in some cases, engenders negative consequences, and becomes addictive [1, 2]. The present study proposes to use the name gaming disorder, which means that excessive online gaming led to gamers developing addiction-like symptoms (e.g., overuse) and negative consequences on physical/psychological health [8,9,10]. This term describes the quintessence of the phenomenon (i.e., the behavior is excessive but gaming-related problems) while avoiding the notion of dependency. Social interaction in the online games has been found to predict gaming disorder, but little research has examined the mechanism of this association. Drawing on the social capital theory, the present study investigated the mediating role of online social capital on the relationship between in-game social interaction and gaming disorder and the moderating role of alienation on the relationship between online social capital and gaming disorder
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