The Association between Online Game Addiction and Social Skills among High School Students

Abstract

ABSTRACT 
 Introduction: Online game addiction is an uncontrollable dependence on online gaming. The social skills of adolescents with online game addiction tend to be difficult to develop and will hinder social development. The purpose of this research is to determine the association between online game addition and social skills among students in Tunas Bangsa Junior High School Greenville.
 Methods: This is a cross-sectional study of students in Tunas Bangsa Junior High School Greenville. Social skills was measured with Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters and online game addiction was measured with Indonesian Online Game Addiction Questionnaire. Data analysis was performed by using chi-square test.
 Results: There were 73 respondents in this study, most were 14 years old, female, and 9th graders. There are 82.2% of respondents with normal social skills and 60.3% of respondents with online game addiction. There are 56.2% of respondents playing online games ≥4 days/week, 65.8% of respondents playing ≤ 4 hours/day on weekdays, 57.5% of respondents playing ≤ 4 hours/day on weekends, and 27.4% respondents play shooting games. Chi-square analysis shows that there is a significant relationship between gender (p=0.048), frequency of playing online games (p=0.011), duration of playing online games on weekends (p=0.037), and types of online games(p=0.036) with online game addiction.
 Conclusion: There is no significant relationship between online game addiction and social skills among students in Tunas Bangsa Junior High School Greenville.
 Key Words: Addiction, Online Game, Social Skills, Adolescent.