The Effects of Escape from Self and Interpersonal Relationship on the Pathological Use of Internet Games

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to examine whether Baumeister's escape from self theory may account for the pathological use of Internet games among Korean adolescents. A sample of 1,136 junior high school students completed measures assessing Internet game addiction (IGA), real-ideal self discrepancy, escape from self, current mood, peer relationships, perceived parent-child relationship, and parental supervision. IGA was significantly correlated with all of these variables. Multiple regression analysis showed that escape from self best explained the adolescents' IGA. A path model yielded significant paths from self-discrepancy to negative mood, from negative mood to escape from self, and from escape from self to IGA. These results support the validity of using the escape from self theory to explain the adolescents' IGA, thereby suggesting that adolescents become addicted to Internet games in an attempt to escape from self and reality.

Online gaming addiction in children and adolescents: A review of empirical research

“…In addition, another study of Taiwanese adolescent and young adults reported online game addicts exhibited higher intrinsic motivation to play games rather than an extrinsic motivation compared to non-addicted adolescents (Wan & Chiou, 2007). Finally, escapism appeared as the most important factor predicting Internet gaming addiction (Kwon et al, 2011) and pathological gaming (Dongdong et al, 2011), followed by perceived parent hostility, real-ideal self-discrepancy, and parental supervision (Kwon et al, 2011), and actual-ideal self-discrepancy and depression (Dongdong et al, 2011).…”

“…Based on the database literature search, 18 studies were identified that assessed online gaming addiction by means of using adapted diagnostic criteria for pathological gambling and impulse control disorders not otherwise specified (Chan & Rabinowitz, 2006;Dongdong, Liau & Khoo, 2011;Gentile, 2009;Gentile et al, 2011;Han et al, 2007Han et al, , 2009Kwon, Chung & Lee, 2011;Lemmens, Valkenburg & Peter, 2009, 2011a, 2011bRau, Peng & Yang, 2006;Thomas & Martin, 2010;van Rooij, Schoenmakers, van de Eijnden & van de Mheen, 2010;van Rooij, Schoenmakers, Vermulst, van de Eijnden & van de Mheen, 2011;Wan & Chiou, 2006a, 2006b, 2007.…”

“…In order to assess online gaming addiction, six studies (Chan & Rabinowitz, 2006;Han et al, 2007Han et al, , 2009Kwon et al, 2011;Rau et al, 2006;Thomas & Martin, 2010) used an adapted version of Young's (1998) Internet Addiction Scale (Widyanto & McMurran, 2004;Young, 1996aYoung, , 1996b (1) tolerance, as defined by either of the following: (a) a need for markedly increased amounts of the substance to achieve intoxication or desired effect (b) markedly diminished effect with continued use of the same amount of the substance (2) withdrawal, as manifested by either of the following:…”

“…It was found to have good internal consistency, construct and discriminatory validity (Lin & Tsai, 1999). The samples used in these 18 studies included 72 adolescents in grades eight and nine (mean age = 15 years, SD = 1 year) as well as their parents (Chan & Rabinowitz, 2006), 62 children (mean age = 9 years, SD = 2 years) with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) (Han et al, 2009), 154 male adolescents (mean age = 16 years, SD = 1 year), half of which were excessive Internet game players (Han et al, 2007), 161 secondary school students in Singapore with MMO experience (mean age = 14 years, SD = 0.7 years) (Dongdong et al, 2011), large samples (the respective sample sizes ranged from more than 800 to less than 5,000 participants) of Dutch adolescents (mean age = 14 years, SD = 1 year) (Lemmens et al, 2011a(Lemmens et al, , 2011bvan Rooij et al, 2010) and adolescent Dutch online game players (Ns = 721 and 3,048; age range = 13-17 years) (Lemmens et al, 2009;van Rooij et al, 2011), American youths (N = 1,178, age range = 8-18 years with equal gender and age distribution) (Gentile, 2009), Korean adolescents (N = 1,136, mean age = 14 years, SD = 0.5 years; 61% male) (Kwon et al, 2011), and Singaporean youth (N = 2,998, mean age = 11 years, SD = 2 years, 73% male), 64 children and adolescents (age range = 9-20 years) (Rau et al, 2006), 3,034 secondary school children (mean age = 11 years, SD = 2 years) (Gentile et al, 2011), 1,326 secondary school and college students (mean age = 22 years, SD = 7 years) (Thomas & Martin, 2010), 177 Taiwanese adolescents and young adults (age range = 16-24 years) (Wan & Chiou, 2006a, 2007, and 182 Taiwanese adolescent and young adult MMORPG players (age range = 16-22 years) (Wan & Chiou, 2006a), and ten Taiwanese adolescents with no explicit age specification with online game addiction (Wan & Chiou, 2006b).…”

Internet Addiction or Excessive Internet Use

“…They used the Internet for many hours per week, mostly utilized dysfunctional coping strategies and showed worse interpersonal relations than peers who do not show signs of problematic Internet use (2). Others have suggested that Internet addiction can be explained by a need to escape from oneself and that may account for the excessive playing of Internet games (3).…”