Problematic gaming behavior and the personality traits of video gamers: A cross-sectional survey.

Abstract

Current psychological models for the development of specific internet-use disorders consider predisposing core characteristics (e.g. biopsychological constitution, psychopathology, early childhood experiences, and personality traits) that are involved in the early behavioral addiction process. The cross-sectional study discussed in this paper examined several likely relevant psychological variables in a group of 820 video gamers (217 women, 597 men), who visited the world's largest trade fair for video games in 2018. Standardized questionnaires were used to assess the extent of pathological gaming, Big Five personality traits, self-efficacy, depression symptoms, and general life satisfaction. In comparison to individuals with unproblematic gaming behavior, gamers with problematic gaming behavior scored significantly higher for neuroticism, depression symptoms, and time spent playing; and lower for self-efficacy, extraversion, conscientiousness, and openness. No difference was found in terms of agreeableness. Gamers who preferred to play massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) or first-person shooter games (FPS) presented particularly high levels of time spent playing and increased problematic gaming behavior. When considering the entire group of 820 video gamers, high levels of depressive symptoms and neuroticism, extensive time spent playing, as well as low levels of conscientiousness were identified as significant predictor variables regarding problematic gaming. In total, 238 of the 820 video gamers (29.0%) demonstrated problematic gaming behaviors.