Symptoms of internet gaming disorder among male college students in Nanchong, China

Fang Liu,Xiaobin Tian,Xin Wang,Boxi Liu,Quan Fang,Hongjie Deng,Qin Zhang,Dan Yang

doi:10.1186/s12888-022-03778-6

Abstract

BackgroundThis study aimed to evaluate the presence of symptoms of Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) and examined associations between IGD and depressive symptoms, family and peer support among male college students in Nanchong, China.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted among 2533 male students in three colleges. Background characteristics, depressive symptoms, family and peer support and IGD information were collected. Binary logistic regression was performed to access the relationship between variables and IGD. PROCESS macro was used to examine the mediation analysis of family and peer support on the relationship between depressive symptoms and IGD.ResultsThe estimated presence of symptoms of IGD was 11.6%. The most commonly endorsed items were escapism, continuation and preoccupation both among total participates and the IGD group. In the binary logistic regression, general expenditure per month, depressive symptoms, and family and peer support revealed their significance in associations with IGD. Adjusted for the significant background variable, depressive symptoms and family and peer support remained significance. Additionally, family and peer support would attenuate the relationship between depressive symptoms and IGD.ConclusionsThis study found that one in ten male college students reported clinically significant IGD symptoms, which indicate that IGD is an important public health problem in Nanchong, China.

Highlights

Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD), defined as an excessive activity involving the persistent and recurrent internet use to play videogames, resulting to considerable impairment or distress over a period of 1 year [1]
This study aimed at testing whether family and peer support would attenuate the relationship between depressive symptoms and IGD
Presence of symptoms of IGD and criteria endorsement Based on the cut-off point of 5, 294 out of 2533 participates were identified as having the presence of symptoms of IGD, which is estimated to be 11.6%

Summary

Introduction

Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD), defined as an excessive activity involving the persistent and recurrent internet use to play videogames, resulting to considerable impairment or distress over a period of 1 year [1]. Data from the Cyberspace Administration of China, the number of Internet users in China has reached 989 million as of December 2020, among which, students accounted the most (21%) [3]. With this soaring number of Internet users, the problem of IGD has attracted. Evaluating the presence of symptoms of IGD provide essential information for schools, health policy-makers and society to take effective measures to promote students’ mental health. This study aimed to evaluate the presence of symptoms of Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) and examined associations between IGD and depressive symptoms, family and peer support among male college students in Nanchong, China

Objectives

Methods

Results