Online Videogames Use and Anxiety in Children during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Pasquale, Concetta De; Chiappedi, Matteo; Sciacca, Federica; Martinelli, Valentina; Hichy, Zira

doi:10.3390/children8030205

Cited by 35 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…Following these premises, the general goal of this study is to exploit the lockdown period in Italy (the first European country to be affected by the virus in March 2020 and the first to adopt restrictive measures of social distancing) to more deeply understand video gaming behavior in children and adolescents in order to gain information regarding gaming prevention. To the best of our knowledge, only one previous study has been conducted on video gaming in juveniles in Italy during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing only on children aged from 8 to 10 years old [ 49 ]. This study showed that 96% of children played video games; however, it was conducted between September and November 2020, thus during the second wave of the pandemic, when there was only a partial lockdown, without school closures, and the sample size was relatively small.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…All the variables described above were analyzed separately for children and adolescents in order to obtain better evidence on age-related specificities. We also took gender into account in each group given the significant role of gender in video gaming behavior in both children and adolescents [ 20 , 21 , 22 , 41 , 42 ], also in the specific time of the COVID-19 pandemic [ 47 , 48 , 49 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Gaming among Children and Adolescents during the COVID-19 Lockdown: The Role of Parents in Time Spent on Video Games and Gaming Disorder Symptoms

Donati

Guido

Meo

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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It is mainly children and adolescents who are involved in video gaming. The lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic may have further increased their use of video games and, consequently, the risk of gaming disorder (GD) symptoms. However, currently, we do not have exhaustive knowledge of this issue. To fill this gap, the current study aims to analyze video gaming habits in children and adolescents during the lockdown, starting in March 2020 in Italy, the first European country affected by the pandemic. Specifically, we aim to understand how variables related to parents—for instance, knowledge of their offspring’s life, the monitoring of their video gaming habits, and parental use of video games—are related to their offspring’s time spent on video games and GD symptoms. A web-based survey involving parents (n = 554, 79% mothers, mean age = 45.39) of 554 children and adolescents (73% males, mean age = 11.11) was utilized. The results showed that they were involved in video games, particularly boys and adolescents, with high rates of GD symptoms. The parents also spent a considerable amount of time playing video games. A path model that explained the mechanisms through which parental variables were related to their offspring’s time spent on video games and GD symptoms, controlling for gender and age, was verified. Overall, the findings indicate the importance of educating parents to behave effectively with respect to video games and monitor their offspring’s video gaming habits.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gaming among Children and Adolescents during the COVID-19 Lockdown: The Role of Parents in Time Spent on Video Games and Gaming Disorder Symptoms

Donati

Guido

Meo

et al. 2021

IJERPH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…One study conducted in Iran suggested that IGD significantly affected depression and anxiety among adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic [ 17 ], and a recent study conducted in China reported an increased prevalence of IGD among adolescents after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic [ 18 ]. In Italy, anxiety was found to be a predictor for online videogame and addiction [ 19 ], and a study from Japan indicated an increased prevalence of IGD, especially in the younger population [ 20 ]. In addition, one study from Hong Kong indicated that female children and adolescents felt more loneliness during the pandemic, while showing a significant relationship between loneliness and gaming addiction [ 21 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Addictive Internet Gaming Usage among Korean Adolescents before and after the Outbreak of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Comparison of the Latent Profiles in 2018 and 2020

Kim

Lee

2021

IJERPH

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Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the heightened risk of school closures and mental disorders has made adolescents particularly vulnerable to developing internet gaming disorder (IGD). There have been reports of increased time spent playing games on the internet among adolescents during the pandemic, and the risk of developing IGD may be higher for adolescents in South Korea as the majority of them play games on the internet. However, to the best of our knowledge, no studies have examined the impact of the pandemic on adolescents’ internet gaming behavior in South Korea. This study aimed to explore the different profiles of addictive internet gaming behavior among adolescents before and after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and examine how the pandemic influenced addictive internet gaming usage and time spent playing games on the internet. Nationally representative survey data from the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family with 3040 and 2906 responses from 2018 and 2020, respectively, were analyzed. Using seven factors of a maladaptive gaming usage scale (tolerance, withdrawal, excessive usage, control impairment, compulsive usage, neglecting daily activity, and gaming despite negative consequence), a four-profile model was selected in both 2018 and 2020 for latent profile analysis: ‘casual’ gamer, ‘moderate’ gamer, ‘potential-risk’ gamer and ‘addictive’ gamer. The results from the two-way ANCOVA showed significant interaction between the cohorts (2018 cohort vs. 2020 cohort) and the four profiles on addictive internet gaming usage (F = 119.747, p < 0.001, η2 = 0.05), including time spent playing internet games on a PC (F = 22.893, p < 0.001, η2 = 0.013), and time spent playing games on a mobile phone (F = 3.245, p < 0.05, η2 = 0.02). The results indicated that the increase of addictive internet gaming usage and gameplay time differed by profile. The results imply that the increase in gameplay time was higher for profiles with higher scores in addictive internet gaming usage for internet games played on a PC while the relationship was not obvious for games played on a mobile phone. Despite the statistical significance, there was only 1.2% to 4.9% of mean difference in addictive internet gaming usage between the 2018 and 2020 cohorts, which implies little clinical significance. While adolescents of the four profiles showed no significant signs of increased addictive internet gaming usage, the addictive gamer profile demonstrated a significant increase in game time after COVID-19.

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“…The university population increased its consumption of social networks and video games (Gómez-Galán, Ángel Martínez-López, Lázaro-Pérez, & García-Cabrero, 2021). The pandemic, therefore, may have contributed to the increase in the factors risk in video game addiction among students (Pasquale, Chiappedi, Sciacca, Martinelli, & Hichy, 2021). This makes it essential to determine and describe this situation to get information from those months and subsequent comparative studies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploratory Study on Video Game Addiction of College Students in a Pandemic Scenario

Galán

Lázaro-Pérez

Martínez-López

2021

J. New Approaches Educ. Res.

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The use of video games has increased significantly in the last decade. The young population has always been more inclined to use them. However, the risks of addiction to them are growing with the access to the Internet and new digital devices, the lower cost of them, and the lack of parental control. On the other hand, a weird circumstance as the COVID-19 pandemic involves weeks-long confinements, which may significantly influence increased consumption. This study aims to know university students' situation in Spain regarding the problem described in this pandemic scenario. It analyzes the use of video games and whether addiction risks appearance, examining which factors are determinants of this behavior. The method is based on various statistical techniques: descriptive analysis, the association between variables, and logistic regression to check the phenomenon studied, which are predictive variables. As a result, high video game consumption during confinement was got, finding addiction patterns in 16.6%. The excessive use of social networks and being male show significant relevance. These results also show the existence of comorbidity, meaning that university students may suffer from psychological and psychiatric disorders linked to other consumptions. Health and academic authorities should consider this individual, social, and health problem and implement prevention, detection, and treatment programs. INTRODUCTION

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Online Videogames Use and Anxiety in Children during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Cited by 35 publications

References 45 publications

Gaming among Children and Adolescents during the COVID-19 Lockdown: The Role of Parents in Time Spent on Video Games and Gaming Disorder Symptoms

Gaming among Children and Adolescents during the COVID-19 Lockdown: The Role of Parents in Time Spent on Video Games and Gaming Disorder Symptoms

Addictive Internet Gaming Usage among Korean Adolescents before and after the Outbreak of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Comparison of the Latent Profiles in 2018 and 2020

Exploratory Study on Video Game Addiction of College Students in a Pandemic Scenario

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