Eui Jun Jeong

Introduction: With the inclusion of “Gaming Disorder (GD)” in the official disorder manual by the World Health Organization (WHO), the concept of “Moral Panic (MP)”—referring to preemptive regulation driven by the spread of socio-cultural concerns—has attracted significant attention in related debates. However, empirical evidence regarding the MP phenomenon remains scarce. This study examined how socio-cultural concerns (responsibility to media threats and negative attitudes toward youth) and negative attitudes toward games are associated with the degree of socio-cultural agreement on the policy of pathologizing GD. Methods: A structural equation model was tested using survey data from 2,000 participants recruited in South Korea. Results: Negative attitudes toward youth and responsibility to media threats were positively associated with negative attitudes toward games and support for regulation. Notably, negative attitudes toward games mediated the relationships between these socio-cultural concerns and agreement with pathologizing GD. In addition, being female, older, and spending less time gaming were associated with more negative attitudes toward games. Discussion: These findings suggest that socio-cultural concerns play a critical role in shaping public support for regulatory policies by fostering negative attitudes toward new media. They also highlight the importance of considering MP-related processes when interpreting public responses to GD.

사회통합연구(Social Integration Research)

Introduction: Long-term exposure to negative emotions (e. g., anxiety, depression, loneliness) in adolescents has been reported to inhibit psychological growth and contribute to academic stress, aggression, and problem behaviors, including pathological gaming. However, there is a lack of longitudinal studies that examine the pathways through which academic stress and aggression, induced by negative emotions, lead to pathological gaming. This study aims to explore whether negative emotions significantly influence academic stress, self-control, and aggression, and whether self-control can mediate these pathways.Method: This study analyzed 3 years of longitudinal data from Korean adolescent gamers (N = 968) using structural equation modeling. It aimed to explain how self-control mediates the pathways between negative emotions, academic stress, aggression, and pathological gaming, and to investigate the associations among these factors.Results: Negative emotions were found to have a significant positive association with academic stress and aggression, but did not significantly associate with self-control. Furthermore, self-control was found to fully mediate the relationship between academic stress and pathological gaming, and partially mediate the relationship between aggression and pathological gaming. Therefore, while negative emotions did not directly influence self-control, they may affect other variables that, in turn, influence self-control, ultimately leading to pathological gaming. This finding is a key result of our study.Discussion: Preventing long-term exposure to negative emotions in adolescents and managing factors that influence self-control could be useful strategies for preventing pathological gaming. The results of this study suggest that continuous care for adolescents' psychological wellbeing and providing support to strengthen self-control could be effective interventions to suppress problem behaviors and foster healthy development in adolescents.

Introduction: As adolescent pathological gaming is increasingly recognized as a societal issue, previous research has aimed to identify the effects of family-related factors (e.g., parenting attitudes, parent–child relationship, etc.) and adolescents’ psychosocial factors (e.g., social skills, aggression, etc.). However, few studies have examined the associations among family-related factors, psychosocial factors, and pathological gaming simultaneously within a longitudinal research basis.Method: This study analyzed 3 years of longitudinal data collected from 968 adolescent gamers (M = 477, F = 491) in South Korea. A PLS-SEM method was employed using SmartPLS version 4 to reveal potential associations among parenting attitudes (harsh-negative parenting), psychosocial factors (social intelligence, aggression), and the degree of pathological gaming within a structural equation model.Results: The results indicate that harsh-negative parenting strongly influences social intelligence and aggression, potentially leading to pathological gaming. Specifically, harsh-negative parenting decreased the degree of social intelligence but also increased aggression. Social intelligence, in turn, was associated with a decrease in pathological gaming, while aggression was linked to an increase in pathological gaming.Discussion: These findings underscore the critical role and mechanism of parenting attitudes, which may influence adolescents’ pathological gaming through impacts on social intelligence and aggression. Adolescents’ psychological and social factors can be strongly affected by parents’ negative attitudes. In the context of preventing adolescent pathological gaming, more focus on policies or education aimed at parenting attitudes should be considered.

Introduction: Pathological gaming continues to be highlighted as one of the most critical issues concerning adolescents. Numerous studies have aimed to elucidate the relationships between adolescents' negative emotions (e.g., peer stress, anxiety, loneliness) and social factors (e.g., social skills and relationships) with pathological gaming. Despite the recognition of social intelligence as a crucial factor related to social factors in adolescents, there is a paucity of research examining pathological gaming and social intelligence through longitudinal analyses.Method: This study focuses on exploring the factors that induce or inhibit pathological gaming among adolescents by analysing three-year longitudinal data from Korean adolescent gamers (N=968). Using a structural equation model, the study examines the relationships between adolescents' negative emotions (e.g., peer stress, anxiety, loneliness), social intelligence, and pathological gaming to elucidate their associations.Results: The results indicate that negative emotions can potentially reduce levels of social intelligence and increase aggression. Increased aggression, in turn, appears to be associated with higher levels of pathological gaming. Social intelligence was found to impact pathological gaming potentially negatively and may exert a significantly stronger influence on aggression compared to negative emotions.Discussion: The study's findings suggest that bolstering adolescents' social aptitude and addressing mental health concerns could serve as beneficial interventions in tackling issues associated with excessive media engagement among youth. These findings suggest that, within the context of adolescent pathological gaming, social intelligence could significantly affect aggression and emerge as a key variable that may lead to pathological gaming.

Introduction: Game cheating (i.e., behavior of violating rules in games by using unregulated Software or assistive devices to gain advantage) poses a fatal problem as it destroys fair competition systems and negatively impacts the game ecosystem. Game cheating is reported to be common in competitive online games because they stimulate strongly a user’s motivation and psychological needs. However, there is still in lack of academic research which focused on the issue from the psycho-social perspective.Methods: This study investigated the relationships between basic psychological needs (i.e., autonomy, competence, and relatedness) and motivation (i.e., intrinsic and extrinsic) based on self-determination theory, and examined their effects on the degree of game cheating with survey data of 322 gamers in a competitive online gaming community.Results: The results showed the opposite associations between the two forms of motivation (intrinsic and extrinsic) and game cheating. On one hand, extrinsic motivation decreased by autonomy enhanced the degree of game cheating. On the other hand, intrinsic motivation increased by both autonomy and relatedness finally abated game cheating. Competence did not influence any form of motivation. The results indicated that people motivated by interest or enjoyment (i.e., intrinsic motivation) of the game tend to view game cheating negatively while those motivated by game victory and rewards are likely to have positive attitudes toward game cheating. Increasing the degree of user autonomy and social relations in the game could decrease game cheating through the enhancement of intrinsic motivation.Discussion: Digital game cheating is a crucial problem threatening the spread of game culture and the growth of the eSports industry. The findings of this study reveal the influence of psychological needs and intrinsic motivation related to ‘game cheating,’ providing valuable guidelines in educational and policy aspects.

Parents’ negative affect could lead to the deterioration of the mental state of their adolescent children. According to previous studies, children of parents who have symptoms of depression or anxiety are more likely to have mental problems. As one of the most important issues concerning adolescents with the rapid rise of screen time, the concern for pathological gaming among adolescents continues to intensify. Many studies have demonstrated the remarkable relationships between adolescents’ pathological gaming and mental factors, but seldom examined them via longitudinal analysis. With three-year data from adolescents (N = 778) and their parents (N = 685) in South Korea, this study assessed the effects of parents’ negative affect (depression and anxiety) on pathological gaming using adolescents’ mental factors (i.e., aggression, ADHD, self-control). The results showed the critical role of parents’ negative affect on their children’s mental health, which finally leads to pathological gaming among adolescents. Depressive parents increased the degree of adolescents’ aggression and ADHD, and decreased the degree of adolescents’ self-control. Anxious parents increased the degree of adolescents’ ADHD. Moreover, both adolescents’ aggression and self-control mediated the relationship between parents’ depression and adolescents’ pathological gaming. Specifically, self-control was one of the most influential factors contributing to pathological gaming among adolescents.

Adolescents often create social relationships with their gaming peers who take on the role of offline friends and peer groups. Through collaboration and competition in the games, the social relationships of adolescents are becoming broader and thicker. Although this is a common phenomenon in online games, few studies have focused on the formation and roles of social capital among adolescent gamers. In particular, longitudinal research that examines the role of social capital in terms of influencing gaming time on adolescent gamers’ psychosocial factors has been minimal. This study was designed to fill this gap to see the long-term effect of social capital among adolescent gamers. Specifically, by using the three-year longitudinal data involving 403 adolescents, we analyzed the effect of gaming time on psychological factors (i.e., loneliness, depression, self-esteem, and life satisfaction) with the moderating role of social capital. Results showed that social capital played a crucial moderating role. In the higher social capital group, gaming time enhanced the degree of self-esteem and life satisfaction. However, a vicious circle was found in the lower social capital group: Gaming time increased the degree of depression but decreased self-esteem, which in turn led to increase in gaming time. These results indicate that games work as an important tool for social capital cultivation among adolescent gamers, which imply successful cultivation of social capital is a key to positive gaming effects. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.