engleski

Correlates of Video Game Addiction

Video game-related research has grown rapidly during the last few decades. Although many positive aspects of playing were reported, a big emphasis is being put on negative effects of playing video games, focusing on understanding the causes and development of video-game addiction on one's everyday life. The aim of this research was to test the predictive value of traits of dark triad, self- esteem, and flow towards video-game addiction. The research, conducted anonymously via e- questionnaires in December 2018, was open to all video game players. We surveyed 426 Croatian video game players (males = 73%), aged 17–63, with the mean age 24.7 (sd=6.11). All participants engaged in gaming at least one hour a week. The following instruments were included in the questionnaire: Short Dark Triad Scale was used as a measure of dark triad traits – Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy. The scale consisted of 27 statements, in which participants had to evaluate their own agreement on a 5-point Likert scale. We used a 10-item Rosenberg Self- Esteem Scale to measure the positive and negative feelings about their own self. Flow experience while playing video games was assessed by Flow Short Scale, which contained 13 items in which participants evaluated the extent to which each item related to them, on a 7-point Likert scale. Game Addiction Scale for Adolescents was used to assess video-game addiction. The Croatian validation resulted in a four-factor structure of 19 items, measuring feelings while playing video games in the past six months. Male participants mostly engaged in playing strategy and action games, up to 4.5 hours a week, while female participants mostly played action and simulation video games, with both averaging 1.5 hours a week. The male players mostly preferred playing video games online, with other players, while the female players usually played video games alone. We explained 27% of the variance of video-game addiction using sex, self-esteem, flow, and psychopathy as a dark triad trait. Flow emerged to be the strongest predictor of video game- addictive behavior. While psychopathy turned out to be a positive predictor of video-game addiction, narcissism and Machiavellianism, as the other two dark triad traits did not contribute to the explanation of the variance in video game addictive behavior. The conducted research contributes to the understanding of video game- related addictive behavior, especially in Croatia, which lacks research on this topic.

Video Game Addiction ; Dark Triad ; Self-esteem ; Flow

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