Psychosocial Correlates of Mobile Phone Game
Addiction: A Cross-National Comparison
Master’s Thesis
Graduate School of Communication
Master’s programme Communication Science
Track: Entertainment Communication
Author: Keqin Ling
Student Number: 11589140 Completion Date: 30-01-2019
Supervisor: dr. J.S. (Jeroen) Lemmens Word Count: 8207
Abstract
With the development of mobile phone game industry, mobile phone game addiction has become a worldwide issue. To better understand the characteristics of global mobile phone gamers, the first aim of this study was to make a cross-national comparison of gamer characteristics between Chinese and non-Chinese gamers. Based on social compensation hypothesis, this study second investigated the association between psychosocial well-being and mobile phone game addiction. Self-determination theory suggested that satisfaction of three psychological needs, for autonomy, relatedness and competence explain the intrinsic motivations for gameplay. The third aim of this study was to explore the indirect effects of psychosocial factors on mobile phone game addiction through game motivations. For these purposes, 308 Chinese and 269 non-Chinese respondents were recruited from online social networking sites (e.g., WeChat, Facebook), online survey websites and face-to-face invitations. Respondents completed self-report measures on their mobile phone game use, loneliness, social competence, self-efficacy, game motivations and mobile phone game addiction. Independent-samples t-tests indicated that Chinese gamers spent more time playing and showed more signs of mobile phone game addiction than non-Chinese gamers. Results demonstrated a positive correlation between loneliness and game addiction. Furthermore, mediation analyses showed that decreased social competence and enhanced self-efficacy had an indirect effect on mobile phone game addiction through the mediation of relatedness. Self-efficacy also had an indirectly negative effect on game addiction via competence. Significantly intercultural difference also emerged between gamers regarding loneliness, social competence, as well as the relationship between self-efficacy and game addiction. The findings may provide a better understanding of gamer characteristics within the context of mobile phone game addiction and have several practical implications.
Introduction
Mobile applications, which are more well known as apps, running on smartphones and tablets are used widely for different purposes (Cha & Seo, 2018). Thanks to the mobility and interactivity, mobile phone games have gained increasing popularity among players of different age groups (Sampat & Krishnamoorthy, 2016). Statista pointed out that 24.86% of all active apps available in the Apple App Store (Apple Inc., 2008) are game apps, which are the most popular app category. Newzoo, a market intelligence firm, predicted that in 2018, the total worldwide revenue of video games would reach $137.9 billion, half of which will come from the platform of smartphones and tablets (Wijman, 2018).
Although mobile phone games are popular throughout the world, cross-national comparisons have clarified that game experience differs greatly across countries and cultures (e.g., Anderson et al., 2010). China is currently the biggest mobile phone game market in the world (Newzoo, 2018). Given that Chinese censorship has blocked the entrance of foreign games, China appears to be a unique mobile phone game market from the rest of this industry (Zhao, 2015). A general understanding regarding difference between Chinese and non-Chinese gamers is yet to be reached. Therefore, the first aim of this study is to examine if there are intercultural differences in characteristics of Chinese and non-Chinese mobile phone gamers.
As a result of the popularity of smartphone games, addictive gaming starts to emerge as a serious issue (Lee, Cheung, & Chan, 2015) and the psychosocial impact of video game addiction has aroused great concerns (Colder Carras et al., 2016). Findings of previous research
demonstrated that greater loneliness and lower social competence are predictors of game
addiction (e.g., Lemmens et al., 2011). Other studies (e.g., Chen et al., 2018) have found gamers with lower self-efficacy are more likely to become addicted to playing games. Along with
extensive research on the relationship between indicators of psychosocial well-being and video game use, there have been several studies focusing on game motivational factors (e.g., Tabacchi, Caci, Cardaci, & Perticone, 2017). Studies have found that self-reported motivations for
gameplay will predict users’ tendency towards game addiction (Billieux et al., 2013).
Despite the popularity of mobile phone games, scholars on video games pay most of their attention to computer or console games, and less on smartphone or tablet games. There exist uncertainties regarding how gamers’ addiction to mobile phone games relates to their
psychosocial well-being. Understanding the influential mechanism of mobile phone gameplay can offer greater insight into this fast-growing industry. Therefore, the second aim of this study is to explore the relationship between indicators of psychosocial well-being and mobile phone game addiction. This study will examine how three aspects, including loneliness, social
competence and self-efficacy relate to gamers’ mobile phone game addiction. The third objective seeks to assess the association between psychosocial well-being and game motivations. This study will examine how game motivations affect the relationship between three psychosocial indicators and mobile phone game addiction. In order to achieve these aims, one general research question was proposed:
Research Question (RQ): What is the relationship between individuals’ cultural identity,
psychosocial well-being and mobile phone game addiction?
Theoretical Background
Intercultural Difference in Game AddictionAs one subset of behavioral addictions, game addiction refers to problematic video game use that affects individuals’ social relationships and daily functions (Griffiths, 2000). American
Psychiatric Association (APA) has warranted its inclusion as a formal diagnostic disorder (APA, 2013). Previous studies have confirmed that with addictive gamers spent excessive amount of time gaming (Holtz & Appel, 2011), a subjective loss of control over game use (Toker & Baturay, 2015), functional impairment (Colder Carras et al., 2018) and conflicts with family or friends (Liu & Peng, 2009) emerge when they are not engaged in the game world.
Empirical studies have evidenced difference in proportions of game addicts between countries (e.g., Wang et al., 2014; Kowert et al., 2014). A cross-sectional study in China found that among a sample of 992 Chinese adolescents, about 13% were identified as game addicts (Wang, Ho, Chan, & Tse, 2015). Meanwhile, one study (Colder Carras et al., 2016) with a sample of 9733 European adolescents identified only 1.3% of participants as problematic gamers according to the results of Video Game Addiction Test (Van Rooij, Schoenmakers, Vermulst, Van Den Eijnden, & Van de Mheen, 2011). Four earlier studies also yielded different
proportions of addictive gamers, including 15.6% in China (Wang et al., 2014), 8.7% in Norway (Wittek et al., 2018), 8.5% in the U.S. (Gentile, 2009) and 8.0% in Australia (Porter, Starcevic, Berle, & Fenech, 2010). This study aimed to compare the level of mobile phone game addiction between Chinese and non-Chinese gamers and hypothesized the same differential indicated by previous literature:
H1: Chinese gamers are more likely to show signs of mobile phone game addiction than
non-Chinese gamers.
Psychosocial Well-being and Game Addiction
Psychosocial well-being can be defined as a dynamic concept which is made up of multiple constructs that reflect individuals’ social functioning (Lent, 2004). Empirical findings
indicated psychosocial ill-being as a strong predictor of game addiction (e.g., Gentile et al., 2011). Previous studies have uncovered significant associations between video game addiction and more loneliness (Martončik, & Loksa, 2015), lower social competence (Visser, Antheunis, & Schouten, 2013) and a lack of self-efficacy (Jeong & Kim, 2011).
Loneliness is defined as an unpleasant psychological condition caused by discrepancy between existing and desired social relationship (Perlman & Peplau, 1981). When exploring the impact of video game engagement on psychosocial factors, many researchers adopt one
theoretical perspective based on social compensation hypothesis (Valkenburg & Peter, 2007), which suggests that those who feel difficulty in cultivating real-world relationships are appealed to in-game social settings that can compensate their requirement of sociability. Research found lonely gamers prefer meaningful connections with others to alleviate their feeling of loneliness, which leads to their overuse of video games (e.g., Kaye, Kowert, & Quinn, 2017). Two studies (Chen & Leung, 2016; Zhou & Leung, 2012) illustrated that loneliness was a significant predictor of Chinese gamers’ mobile phone game addiction. Similarly, with a sample of Norwegian high school students, Bjordal, Skumsnes and Ørland (2011) found a positive
association between game addiction and loneliness. In line with the theoretical background and empirical findings, one hypothesis can be proposed:
H2a: Loneliness is positively related to mobile phone game addiction.
In the definition by Inderbitzen and Foster (1992), social competence refers to the tendency to be sociable and have connection with one’s peers. Similarly, according to social compensation hypothesis (Valkenburg & Peter, 2007), gamers with lower social competence are likely to form psychological dependence on online interaction (Shen & Williams, 2011) to
improve their interpersonal abilities and peer relationships (Peter & Malesky, 2009), which further leads to problematic gaming. With a sample of Chinese university students, Gong and colleagues (2019) demonstrated a positive correlation between social competence deficiency and online social game addiction. Meanwhile, Kowert and Oldmeadow (2013) argued that gamers lower in social competence have obsessive video game involvement because they can experience social comfort in multiplayer environment. A 2-year longitudinal study by Gentile et al (2011) revealed that youths who had lower social competence and poorer emotional regulation showed greater risk to become pathological gamers. The work of Lemmens and his colleagues (2011) indicated social incompetence emerged as an antecedent of game addiction. Therefore, one hypothesis can be made:
H2b: Social competence is negatively related to mobile phone game addiction.
Self-efficacy has been defined as a personal belief of one’s capability to achieve goals (Bandura, 1982). This construct has attracted the attention of scholars in that its causal
relationship with behavior addiction was proved (e.g., Lee, Chang, Cheng, & Lin, 2018). According to social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1986), if addicts don’t have confidence in their ability to carry out behavioral changes, they will continue their addiction. Empirical findings (e.g., Chen et al., 2018) revealed that Chinese smartphone gamers with deficient self-efficacy have difficulty in abstaining from problematic gaming. Similarly, another study (Festl, Scharkow, & Quandt, 2013) with a sample of young German adults indicated a negative association
between general self-efficacy and digital game addiction. Based on the literature, another hypothesis is:
Psychosocial Well-being and Game Motivations
Self-determination theory (SDT, Ryan & Deci, 2000) proposes that the satisfaction of three basic psychological needs, for autonomy, relatedness and competence during video game engagement can explain individuals’ intrinsic gaming motivations (Johnson, Gardner & Sweetser, 2016). Autonomy involves feeling volitional in one’s performance (Ryan, Rigby, & Przybylski, 2006). Relatedness refers to a need for connection with others and competence refers to feeling mastery and being optionally challenged (Ryan, Rigby, & Przybylski, 2006). SDT can serve as a lens to comprehend gamer psychology from a motivational viewpoint (Proulx, Romero, & Arnab, 2017). Basic needs satisfaction fulfilled by gaming activities can reflect gamers’ specific
motivations (Peng, Lin, Pfeiffer, & Winn, 2012). Several empirical studies which supported self-determination theory argued that deficiency in psychosocial well-being can lead to particular psychological needs, which can be satisfied via gameplay (e.g., Sterling, 2017; Blinka & Mikuška, 2014).
Video games which facilitate the satisfaction of relatedness can always provide gamers with a warm and responsive environment in which they can interact with each other (Rigby & Ryan, 2011). In addition to multiplayer games, single player games can also gratify such need by giving gamers acknowledgement from non-player characters (Proulx, Romero, & Arnab, 2017; Sheldon & Filak, 2008). Recent studies (e.g., Yang & Liu, 2017; Sanchez et al., 2017) suggested that online gaming can bring individuals many social benefits, as it encourages gamers to build a large-scale social network. Huang and colleagues (2015) indicated that Chinese lonely gamers participating in video games tended to have more in-game communication partners. Another study by Visser, Antheunis and Schouten (2013) indicated that by participating in different
guilds, lonelier gamers show desires for in-game socialization because they want to have connectivity with other gamers. Based on the literature, one hypothesis can be proposed:
H3a: Loneliness is positively related to perceived relatedness in games.
Empirical findings (e.g., Kovess-Masfety et al., 2014) have evidenced that interactive atmosphere of collaboration in online video games can formulate gamers’ mutual connection, which leads to improvement of their interpersonal skills. Those with social competence deficiency tend to solve in-game challenges through teamwork in the purpose of establishing new relationships (Billieux et al., 2012). One study (Kowert, Vogelgesang, Festl, & Quandt, 2014) supporting social compensation hypothesis (Valkenburg & Peter, 2007) found that young adults with lower social competence involve more frequently in online video games because these game-related activities can initiate relationships with other gamers and strengthen their social abilities. Visser, Autheunis and Schouten (2013) identified that online games gave those who are low in social competence many opportunities to engage in collective activities by interacting with others who share the same interest. Thus, one hypothesis can be conducted:
H3b: Social competence is negatively related to perceived relatedness in games.
Digital games which satisfy competence need provide gamers with effective performance feedback and opportunities to learn different skills so that they can overcome challenges
effectively (Rigby & Ryan, 2011). Gamers with a high level of self-efficacy display greater efforts and persistence when facing challenges (Mouloud, Fonseca & Abdelkader, 2015). These gamers show more confidence in their performance, which stimulates the desire for the feeling of competence during gameplay (Trepte & Reinecke, 2011). One experimental study confirmed that
when players believed they could master tasks in games, their perceived competence would be enhanced (Schmierbach, Chung, Wu, & Kim, 2014). Several empirical findings (Baldwin, Johnson, & Wyeth, 2014; Dindar & Akbulut, 2015) indicated a positive correlation between self-efficacy and competence. Therefore, another hypothesis can be formulated:
H3c: Self-efficacy is positively related to perceived competence in games.
Game Motivations and Game Addiction
Gaming motivations are strong predictors of game addiction (Kuss, Louws & Wiers, 2012). According to the need density hypothesis (Rigby & Ryan, 2011), if gamers encounter frustrations on their real-life psychological need, and can frequently experience such need satisfaction when playing games, they are likely to slip deeply into games and at risk forming addictive game use. Since online video games have the strong capacity to satisfy psychological need in virtual context, many gamers tend to form preference for online game world, which further leads to pathological gaming (Rigby & Ryan, 2017). Johnson and colleagues (2016) confirmed that gamers’ enhanced experience of autonomy, competence and relatedness contributed largely to their amount of gameplay. One study by Mills and colleagues (2018) revealed that in-game satisfaction of all three psychological needs was positively related to excessive gaming. Allen and Anderson (2018) evidenced the need-density hypothesis by uncovering a positive association of video game need satisfaction with game addiction. Consistent with the theoretical background and empirical findings, two hypotheses can be proposed:
H4a: Gamers who are motivated by relatedness are more likely to show signs of mobile
H4b: Gamers who are motivated by competence are more likely to show signs of mobile
phone game addiction.
Mediating Role of Game Motivations
The relationship between psychosocial well-being and game addiction can be indirect and thus better explained by a third mediating variable: game motivations (Kardefelt-Winther, 2014). Previous studies have affirmed the mediating role of game motivations from different theoretical standpoints. Eysenbach and colleagues (2015) found a positive relationship between distress and problematic online gaming when gameplay was motivated by escapism and competition based on the Player Motivation Factor Model (Yee, 2006). Another study by Kirby, Jones and Copello (2014) clarified that gamers’ psychosocial well-being had a significantly indirect effect on problematic online video game use via the motivation of immersion. However, a general understanding is yet to be reached about how game motivations can affect the relationship between psychosocial well-being and mobile phone game addiction within the approach of self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000; 2017). Therefore, this study will also examine the mediating effect of game motivations on the relationship between psychosocial indicators and mobile phone game addiction. One research question can be proposed:
RQ1: Do three intrinsic game motivations mediate the relationship between indicators of
psychosocial well-being and mobile phone game addiction?
Moderating Role of Cultural Identity
Empirical studies have (e.g., Wang, Ho, Chan & Tse, 2014; Baysak et al., 2018) indicated intercultural difference in the relation between psychosocial well-being and game addiction. Liu
Chinese gamers. Relatively, several studies (e.g., Lemmens, Valkenburg, & Peter, 2011) carried out in Europe have confirmed the significant causal relationship between loneliness and game addiction. The same study by Liu and Peng (2009) indicated a significant association between lower social competence and high risks of game addiction. Meanwhile, Kowert and Oldmeadow (2013) didn't find a significant link between social competence and game addiction among Caucasian players. Another study by Blinka and Mikuška (2014) also revealed a negative relationship between self-efficacy and game addiction among European online gamers.
With increased penetration of mobile phone games, researchers worldwide have sought to learn more about how mobile phone game addiction affects individuals’ psychosocial well-being. However, to date, little research has been done in the context of mobile phone games with the aim of intercultural comparison from the psychosocial perspective. Therefore, this study would further explore how Chinese and non-Chinese gamers (a) differ in indicators of psychosocial well-being; (b) differ in game motivations; (c) differ in the relationship between psychosocial indicators and mobile phone game addiction.
Conceptual Model
The model below has been constructed according to the body of literature to investigate the relationship between indicators of psychosocial well-being and mobile phone game addiction (Fig. 1). In this model, the directions shown by two-way arrows between the variables assume their hypothesized relations (see Fig. 1).
Fig. 1. Conceptual Model of The Relations between Psychosocial Indicators, Game Motivations
and Mobile Phone Game Addiction.
Method
SampleTo answer the research questions and test the hypotheses, an online survey was
conducted. In November 2018, 577 people (Mage = 23.76, SD = 5.17) filled out the questionnaire,
of which 20 responses from non-Chinese respondents had to be excluded because data was missing on the most relevant variables. The analytical sample contained 308 Chinese
respondents (60.7% females; Mage = 23.06, SD = 4.42) and 249 respondents out of China (54.2%
females; Mage = 24.61, SD = 5.88). 379 respondents (54.4% females; Mage = 23.56, SD = 4.54)
indicated that they played at least one mobile phone or tablet game in the last three months, of whom 197 are Chinese (56.9% females; Mage = 22.92, SD = 3.33) and 182 are non-Chinese (51.6%
females; Mage = 24.25, SD = 5.48). WeChat (Tencent, 2011) is one of the most famous social
posting an invitation link to the questionnaire in WeChat groups made up with mobile phone gamers, while the rest were recruited by face-to-face invitations. Among the Chinese sample, 6 respondents who filled in the English questionnaire indicated that they are Chinese and thus were counted in Chinese responses. Responses from other countries were retrieved from game forums on Facebook (48.20%), survey exchange websites (28.51%) and face-to-face invitations
(23.29%). The majority of all participants were still students (65.9%), 29.2% were employed, and 2.3% were unemployed.
Procedure
This was a cross-sectional online survey with respondents individually self-reporting their data. All the respondents were invited to fill out an online questionnaire. Data from Chinese respondents were collected using a Chinese survey design website called Wenjuanxing (2006) Other responses were collected by the means of Qualtrics (2002), a popular online survey tool. The questionnaire for Chinese respondents was written in Chinese, with questions and scales carefully translated from English to Chinese and validated by a second researcher. Before they started, respondents were informed about the anonymity of their data and asked to provide their informed consent.
The whole questionnaire was separated into four sections. In the first part, respondents were asked to answer questions about their demographic information. Next, respondents were given questions about their mobile phone game use, including the game they played and weekly time spent playing. Thirdly, they answered questions that were used to measure their game motivations and game addiction level. In the fourth section, participants answered questions regarding indicators of psychosocial well-being.
In the end, participants were thanked for their participation in this study. A lottery was announced as an incentive for participation. Among all the Chinese respondents, 15 individuals were selected randomly, and each was rewarded with 10 RMB (1.27 Euros). For the respondents from other countries, 5 individuals were drawn, and each was rewarded with 5 Euros. The average time for all respondents to finish the questionnaire was 282.73 seconds (SD = 251.54), with Chinese respondents spending averagely 273.02 seconds (SD = 311.68) and non-Chinese respondents spending 294.84 seconds (SD = 144.79) on average.
Measures
The questionnaire was implemented to assess all the variables included in the study: Demographic variables. Respondents were asked to indicate their demographic
information, including gender (58.2% females), age (Mage = 23.76, SD = 5.17), national identity
(53.38% Chinese) and professional status (65.9% students).
Game-related variables. Respondents were asked to name one mobile phone or tablet game that they had played most often in the last three months. Respondents also answered how many hours per day and how many days per week they spent playing this game. The weekly time spent on mobile phone games was measured by multiplying the days per week by the number of hours per day (M = 5.34, SD = 8.58).
Game motivations. Players’ gaming motivations were measured using a modified version of the Player Experience of Need Satisfaction Model (PENS) by Ryan, Rigby and Przybylski (2006). Detailed EFA and CFA (Johnson, Gardner, Perry, 2018; Denisova, Nordin, Cairns, 2016) provided considerable convergent validity of this scale by strong correlations with the Game Experience Questionnaire Scale (GEQ) by Ijsselsteijn and colleagues (2008). This
14-item PENS examined participants’ experience of need satisfaction during gameplay. Competence and relatedness were assessed by five items, while autonomy was measured by four items. Each item was rated on a 5-point scale (1 = disagree, 5 = agree). An example item from the
relatedness subscale was “When I am playing the game, it is important that I can chat with other players”. One principal axis factoring using oblique rotation (varimax) found that these 14 items formed three single unidimensional scales with eigenvalues above 1 and there was a clear point of inflexion after the third component in the screen plot. After checking the three-factor loadings of the EFA, two items from the competence need subscale, “When I am playing the game, it is important that I can compete with others” and “When I am playing the game, it is important that I can achieve victories over other players” loaded highly onto the relatedness need subscale and didn’t cross-load onto other factors. Therefore, both items were kept in the scale of relatedness. One item in autonomy scale was removed because its factor loading was below .40. Subscales of relatedness, competence and autonomy explained cumulatively 59.57% of total variance. Results identified good reliability for the 7-item relatedness scale (α = .89, M = 2.78, SD = 1.17),
borderline acceptable reliability for the 3-item competence scale (α = .69, M = 3.69, SD = .88) and the 3-item autonomy scale (α = .65, M = 3.82, SD = .84).
Game addiction. This variable was measured using the Game Addiction Scale created by Lemmens and colleagues (2009) in its seven-item modified version. This scale includes one item for each of the seven underlying criteria of game addiction: salience, tolerance, mood modification, relapse, withdrawal, conflict and problems. Participants were asked to indicate how often they had undergone such situations related to mobile phone gameplay described in the items during last three months. Lemmens and colleagues (2009) obtained both good criterion and convergent validity for the revised scale, as the results from CFA demonstrated strong
correlations with negative psychosocial well-being and weekly time spent on gaming among adolescents. One example of items was “How often during the last three months, did you think about playing a game all day long”. Respondents answered on a 5-point Likert scale, from 1 (never) to 5 (always). EFA showed that the unidimensional 7-item game addiction scale had internal consistency, explaining 65.08% of the variance. Cronbach’s alpha was .91 (M = 1.80, SD = .85).
Loneliness. Self-reported loneliness was assessed by selecting six items with the highest item-total correlations in the modified version of UCLA Loneliness Scale (Russel, Peplau, & Ferguson, 1978). Validity of this scale was indicated by correlations with emerging adults’ life satisfaction and self-esteem (Nazzal, Cruz & Neto, 2018). One example of items was “I feel left out”. The Chinese version of this scale has been validated by several studies (e.g., Xu, Qiu, Zhao, Hu, & Hahne, 2018; Zhao, Chen, Luo, Pan, & Zeng, 2016). Respondents gave their answer on each item on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (disagree) to 5 (agree). Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) using a principal axis factoring shown that five of these six items formed one unidimensional scale, explaining 55.63% of the variance. One item which stated “I don’t feel part of a group of friends” was removed because its factor loading was below .40. Answers for items were averaged to create the scale scores. Reliability of this 5-item scale was good with a Cronbach’s alpha of .85 (M = 2.33, SD = .91).
Social competence. Respondents’ social competence was measured using Perceived Social Competence Scale II (Anderson-Butcher et al., 2016). A longitudinal confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) by Anderson-Butcher and colleagues (2016) assessed the invariance of the factor structure and indicated the convergent validity of correlations between this 5-item scale and individuals’ social skill. One sample item was “I show concern for others”. Response categories
ranged from 1 (disagree) to 5 (agree). Items were averaged to create the scale scores. EFA confirmed the scale was unidimensional, explaining 71.61% of variance. Cronbach’s alpha for this scale was .90 (M = 4.17, SD = .70).
Self-efficacy. Individuals’ self-efficacy was measured using a short form of the General Self-Efficacy Scale (Romppel et al., 2013), which contained six items with the highest
coefficients of variation from the original instrument (Jerusalem & Schwarzer, 1992). The Chinese version of General Self-Efficacy Scale has been validated by previous research (e.g., Cheung & Sun, 1999). According to the findings of a longitudinal study (Romppel et al., 2013), satisfactory convergent validity of this scale was revealed by significantly negative association with symptoms of depression, and positive association with social support. One example of items was “It is easy for me to stick to my aims and accomplish my goals”. Participants reported their level of agreement or disagreement towards the statements on a 5-point Likert-type scale (1 =
disagree, 5 = agree). Items were averaged to establish the scores of this scale. EFA identified
this scale as a one-dimensional structure, explaining 57.43% of the variance. Cronbach’s alpha was .85 (M = 3.77, SD = .73).
Data Analysis
All the data collected in the current study were processed using SPSS 24.0 (IBM, 2016). After calculating for demographic variables, independent samples t-tests were applied to
compare difference between Chinese and non-Chinese gamers in terms of their mobile phone game addiction level, characteristics of psychosocial well-being and game motivations. Bivariate correlation analyses were conducted to examine the relationship among variables of psychosocial well-being, game motivations and mobile phone game addiction. The mediating effect of game
motivations on the association between psychosocial factors and game addiction was tested with the PROCESS macro for SPSS (Model 4) developed by Hayes (2013). This tool was chosen over regression analyses because the bootstrap approach of the macro allowed for single significance test for mediating effect of game motivations. The effects calculated with 5,000 bootstrap samples ensured more reliable findings. A moderation analysis was carried out using the PROCESS for SPSS (Hayes, 2013) to assess the significance of cross-national difference in the association between psychosocial indicators and game addiction.
Results
Difference in Gamer CharacteristicsThe average amount of time participants spent playing mobile phone games each week was 5.34 hours (SD = 8.58), with males playing for 5.46 hours (SD = 10.95) a week and females for 5.27 hours (SD = 6.11), t (373) = .21, p = .835. Females were more likely to form mobile phone game addiction (M = 1.82, SD = .89) than males (M = 1.76, SD = .82), but the gender difference was also insignificant, t (372) = -.65, p = .519.
60 gamers reported playing Player Unknown Battleground Mobile (PUBG, Tencent Games, 2017) during last three months, which was the most mentioned mobile phone game among all respondents (15.8%). Chinese gamers reported playing the following games most:
PUBG (26.9%) and Honor of Kings (19.8%) by Tencent Games (2015). The game most
mentioned by non-Chinese respondents was Candy Crush Saga (10.4%). Players from China spent significantly more time (M = 6.22, SD = 10.75) on mobile phone gaming than those from other countries (M = 4.38, SD = 5.18), t (287.09) = 2.15, p = .033. Players from China (M = 1,97,
players (M = 1.61, SD = .74), t (370.41) = 4.20, p < .001. This result supported Hypothesis 1 which assumed Chinese players show more signs of game addiction than non-Chinese players.
Regarding psychosocial well-being, respondents from China (M = 2.24, SD = .88) reported significantly less perceived loneliness than respondents from other countries (M = 2.44,
SD = .93), t (551) = -2.61, p = .009. Chinese respondents’ social competence (M = 4.12, SD = .78)
was significantly lower than non-Chinese respondents (M = 4.24, SD = .59), t (550.86) = - 2.16,
p = .032. Chinese respondents (M = 3.72, SD = .80) were also lower in self-efficacy than others
(M = 3.84, SD = .63), but the difference was insignificant, t (551.66) = -1.85, p = .065. These results suggest that non-Chinese individuals have significantly greater feeling of loneliness and higher social competence than Chinese respondents.
In terms of game motivations, Chinese players (M = 3.12, SD = 1.15) reported a greater need for relatedness in games than other players (M = 2.41, SD = 1.08), t (377) = 6.17, p < .001. Chinese respondents (M = 4.03, SD = .80) also showed a greater need for autonomy in mobile phone games than others (M = 3.60, SD = .82), t (377) = 5.08, p < .001. Meanwhile, Chinese respondents (M = 3.60, SD = .99) reported a significantly lesser need for competence in games than respondents from other countries (M = 3.79, SD = .73), t (359.72) = -2.17, p = .030. This means Chinese gamers are more likely to be motivated by the need for relatedness and autonomy but less likely to be motivated by the need for competence than non-Chinese gamers. The
average values of included variables were presented in Table 1.
Table 1
Differences between Respondents from China Versus Those from Other Countries
Chinese Respondents (n = 308) Other Respondents (n = 249)
Game Addiction 1.97* .91 1.61* .74 Loneliness 2.24* .88 2.44* .93 Social Competence 4.12* .78 4.24* .59 Self-efficacy 3.72 .80 3.84 .63 Competence 3.60* .99 3.79* .73 Relatedness 3.12* 1.15 2.41* 1.08 Autonomy 4.03* .80 3.60* .82
Note. * indicates significant difference at the 0.05 level (two-tailed) based on independent-sample t-tests.
Psychosocial Indicators and Game Addiction
To investigate the relationship between psychosocial indicators and game addiction, a zero-order Pearson correlation analysis (see Table 2) was employed on multiple variables, including time spent playing, three indicators of psychosocial well-being (loneliness, social competence and self-efficacy), three game motivations (relatedness, competence and autonomy) and mobile phone game addiction . Results indicated that game addiction (r = .19, p < .001) was positively correlated with gaming time. The indicators of psychosocial well-being were all correlated as expected. When considering the relationship with mobile phone game addiction, only one significant association was found between game addiction and loneliness (r = .25, p < .001). Both social competence (r = -.07, p = .189) and self-efficacy (r = -.08, p = .149) were negatively associated with game addiction, but neither of their correlations was significant. Therefore, only Hypothesis 2a which assumed that there exists a negative relationship between loneliness and mobile phone game addiction was supported. This means lonely gamers are more likely to show signs of mobile phone game addiction.
Relations with Game Motivations
Three game motivations were all correlated as expected. Relatedness (r = .18, p < .001) and autonomy (r = .15, p = .004) presented significantly positive relationships with time spent gaming. For the link between psychosocial indicators and game motivations, as presented in Table 2, none of the game motivations showed any significant association with loneliness, which implies that lonely gamers are not motivated by relatedness, competence or autonomy. Social competence showed a significantly negative correlation with relatedness (r = -.22, p < .001), but it wasn’t significantly related to competence or autonomy, indicating that gamers low in social competence have a stronger need for relatedness in mobile phone games. Self-efficacy was positively correlated with all three motivations, and these relationships were significant. This means individuals with strong self-efficacy beliefs are more likely to be motivated by relatedness, competence and autonomy for mobile phone game play. Thus, results supported Hypothesis 3b, which mentioned a negative relationship between social competence and relatedness, and Hypothesis 3c, which stated a positive association between self-efficacy and competence. The association between game motivations and game addiction was also explored. Mobile phone game addiction was positively correlated with relatedness (r = .39, p < .001), autonomy (r = .18, p < .001), and negatively with competence (r = -.17, p = .001), which means gamers who are motivated by relatedness and autonomy show more signs of mobile phone game addiction, while those motivated by competence show less tendency of addictive playing. Hence, only Hypothesis 4a which supposed that players who are motivated by relatedness are more likely to show signs of mobile phone game addiction was supported.
Correlations between Game Use and Well-being 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1. Time 1.00 2. Competence .08 1.00 3. Relatedness .18** .13* 1.00 4. Autonomy .15** .22** .37** 1.00 5. Loneliness .06 .04 .10 -.02 1.00 6. Game Addiction 19** -.17** .39** .18** .25** 1.00 7. Social Competence .01 -.05 -.22** -.03 -.12** -.07 1.00 8. Self-efficacy .02 .18** .11* .19** -.10* -.08 .16** 1.00
Note. ** p < .01 level (2-tailed), * p < .05 level (2-tailed).
Mediation by Game Motivations
With the aim to examine the mediating effect of game motivations on the relationship between indicators of psychosocial well-being and mobile phone game addiction, simple mediation bootstrapping procedures (Preacher, Rucker, & Hayes, 2007) were conducted using PROCESS (Hayes, 2013). Indirect effects of game motivations have been tested on the
psychosocial constructs that show significant correlations (see Table 2). Results indicated social competence had no direct effect on game addiction when including relatedness as the mediating variable (β = .02, SE = .06, t = .37, p = .709) and an indirectly negative effect on game addiction via relatedness (β = -.10, SE = .02, 95% CI [-.15, -.05]), which affirmed the mediating role of perceived relatedness. Gamers lower in social competence present more signs of mobile phone game addiction if they are motivated by relatedness.
Results indicated the path coefficient for the direct effect of self-efficacy on mobile phone game addiction was not significant when the mediated path via competence was included in the analysis (β = -.05, SE = .06, t = -.89, p = .373). An indirectly negative effect of self-efficacy on game addiction through the mediation of competence (β = -.03, SE = .02, 95% CI [-.07, -.01]) was found. This means that gamers with stronger self-efficacy show less signs of game addiction when motivated by competence. Meanwhile, self-efficacy had a direct effect on game addiction when relatedness (β = -.14, SE = .06, t = -2.50, p = .013) and autonomy (β = -.13,
SE = .06, t = -2.24, p = .026) were included as the mediating variables separately. Results also
indicated indirectly positive effects of self-efficacy on game addiction mediated respectively by relatedness (β = .05, SE = .03, 95% CI [.01, .10]) and autonomy (β = .05, SE = .02, 95% CI [.02, .09]). It is suggested that gamers with stronger self-efficacy show greater signs of mobile phone game addiction when motivated by relatedness or autonomy. Fig.2 shows the standardized coefficients for all pathways of each mediation model found to be significant (see Fig.2).
Fig. 2. Standardized Coefficients for All Pathways of Each Mediation Model Found Significant.
Moderation Analyses
In order to test whether the relationship between psychosocial indicators and game addiction differed significantly between Chinese versus non-Chinese gamers, moderation bootstrapping procedures (Preacher, Rucker, & Hayes, 2007) were processed. Results indicated
that whether respondents come from China or other countries didn’t have a moderating effect from loneliness (b = -.16, SE = .09, t = - 1.73, p = .085, 95% CI [-.34, .02]) or social competence (b = -.06, SE = .13, t = -.51, p = .613, 95% CI [-.19, .32]) to mobile phone game addiction, but it significantly moderated the relationship between self-efficacy and game addiction (b = -.34, SE = .12, t = -2.88, p = .004, 95% CI [-.58, -.11]). As indicated by visualized interactions (see Fig.3), Chinese gamers with higher self-efficacy showed more signs of mobile phone game addiction, while other gamers with higher self-efficacy presented lower signs of game addiction.
Fig. 3. Intercultural Difference in Relationship between Self-efficacy and Game Addiction
Discussion and Conclusion
The present study was one of the first to examine the relationship between indicators of psychosocial well-being and mobile phone game addiction. This study also examined indirect effects by focusing on the role of game motivations in the theoretical framework of
self-0 0,5 1 1,5 2 2,5 0 1 2 3 4 5 Game Addiction Self-efficacy Chinese Others
determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000; 2017). A research model was developed to explain the underlying mechanism and several findings provide insightful implications.
The first aim of this study was to make comparison between Chinese and non-Chinese gamers regarding their use of mobile phone games. Results indicated that Chinese gamers spent more time playing mobile phone games and were more likely to show signs of game addiction. This finding was contingent with previous studies which revealed that Chinese prevalence rates of game addiction was higher than those reported worldwide (e.g., Long et al., 2018).
The second aim of this study was to assess the relationship between indicators of psychosocial well-being and mobile phone game addiction. Significant correlation only existed between loneliness and game addiction, which was consistent with findings of prior game literature (e.g., Lemmens et al., 2011). No significant relationship was found between mobile phone game addiction and social competence or self-efficacy, which was surprising since manifold empirical data have verified deficiency in these two psychosocial constructs as predictors of video game addiction (e.g., Gong et al., 2019; Gentile et al., 2011).
To get a better understanding of the underlying mechanism of the relationship between psychosocial well-being and mobile phone game addiction, this study next focused on the role of game motivations. The indicated positive relation between relatedness, autonomy and mobile phone game addiction received empirical support from early video game studies (e.g., Xu, Turel, & Yuan, 2012), which indicated that need satisfaction during gameplay contributed to forming gamers’ psychological dependence on video games, which further resulted in problematic gaming. However, competence showed a negative correlation with game addiction, which contradicted with former literature (e.g., Mills et al., 2018). This may be explained by the fact that the measurement for game motivations, which is the modified version of the Player
Experience of Need Satisfaction Model (Ryan, Rigby, & Przybylski, 2006) included in the
current study only focused on the satisfaction of psychological needs. Previous studies (e.g., Allen & Anderson, 2018) have found in-game need frustration can also predict gaming disorder. Facing frustration of competence need by tough challenges, many gamers will persist in making repeated attempts to overcome in-game difficulties (Beard & Wickham, 2016), which causes overuse of mobile phone games. Therefore, in order to better understand the motivational effects on psychosocial well-being from the theoretical framework of self-determination theory, future researchers are encouraged to analyze how both satisfaction and frustration of psychological need can affect gamers’ video game involvement.
Loneliness and social competence presented different relationships with the motivation of relatedness. While gamers with lower social competence were more likely to be motivated by relatedness, lonely gamers did not have the same game motive. It is suggested that lonely individuals apply addictive gaming behaviors only as an avoidant reaction to their perceived loneliness. The online gaming environment with endless game-related conversations can just establish feeble social connections (Trepte, Reinecke, & Juechems, 2012), in which individuals can satisfy their need for expanding peer relationships and improving social skills, but lonely gamers are unable to achieve meaningful and emotional support to reduce their perceived
isolation. Also, by confirming the mediating role of relatedness in the relationship between social competence and game addiction, this study indicated that gamers who are social incompetent show more signs of mobile phone game addiction if they are motivated by the need satisfaction of relatedness. This finding lent support to the Internet-affected social compensation hypothesis (Valkenburg & Peter, 2008), which suggested that due to the social benefits of online gaming,
individuals with social competence deficiency tend to form psychological dependency on mobile phone gaming (Bawa, Lee Watson, & Watson, 2018).
In line with previous literature (e.g., Schmierbach, Chung, Wu, & Kim, 2014), self-efficacy exhibited a positive correlation with competence. In addition, individuals with stronger self-efficacy beliefs have smaller chances to become game addicts if they are motivated by competence. This finding was consistent with previous literature (e.g., Chen et al., 2018), which stated that gamers who have stronger self-efficacy beliefs can effectively regulate their game use when they have already attained subjective psychological rewards. Surprisingly, gamers with enhanced self-efficacy are also more likely to be motivated by relatedness. This could be
explained by the modified measurement of relatedness in the current study which contained two items (e.g., “When I am playing the game, it is important that I can achieve victories over other players” and “When I am playing the game, it is important that I can compete with others”) that dealt with dominance over other players. Considering gamers with higher self-efficacy had greater confidence in their abilities to accomplish desirable goals (Bandura, 2001), they showed more expectation to stand out from collective playing (Hopp, Barker, & Weiss, 2015). Also, self-efficacy showed an indirectly positive effect on mobile phone game addiction mediated by relatedness, which means that gamers higher in self-efficacy are more likely to behave addictive gameplay when motivated by relatedness.
It’s possibly better to interpret these findings with regard to the games that people are playing. As indicated by the results, one of the battle royale games, Player Unknown
Battleground Mobile (Tencent Games, 2017) was mentioned most by the respondents. Battle
royale games, which are a video game genre that highlighted the survival elements in last-man-standing gameplay mode (Luke, 2017) are increasingly popular among gamers worldwide.
Players in these games struggled to survive the fierce competition against each other. Those with strong self-efficacy beliefs would feel frustration on their need for competence because of their avatars’ frequent death. However, considering the societal elements and the ranking system, these players also strive to stand out from the competition because they aspire respect among peers. In order to offset the in-game need frustration of competence and experience the need satisfaction of relatedness, they tend to invest excessive time and effort in these games to improve their collective playing performance, which further develops into addictive gaming (Balakrishnan & Griffiths, 2018).
Another interesting finding lies in the relationship between self-efficacy and the intrinsic motivation of autonomy. It is indicated that gamers higher in self-efficacy beliefs are more likely to be motivated by the need for autonomy and thus show more signs of mobile phone game addiction. This can be explained by the fact that the ability to feel full control over their performance in the gaming environment can satisfy gamers’ need for autonomy (Bawa, Lee Watson, & Watson, 2018), which relates to a high level of self-efficacy (Hoffman & Nadelson, 2009) and increased amount of gameplay (Turkay & Adinolf, 2015).
These findings regarding motivational impacts on psychosocial well-being imply that in order to get more insights into how psychosocial constructs correlate with the game motivation of relatedness or socialization within the mechanism of social compensation hypothesis, future researchers are recommended to take other underlying domains of social interaction, such as social capital (e.g., Kim & Kim, 2017) and social identity (e.g., Gong et al., 2018) into
consideration. It is also suggested that future researchers should include all three psychological needs explained by self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000, 2017) to better comprehend the relationship between game motivations and psychosocial indicators such as self-efficacy.
Cross-national comparisons also revealed difference in psychosocial well-being and game motivations between respondents. Chinese individuals showed significantly lower level in two psychosocial indicators, including loneliness and social competence. Although previous research indicated the negative relationship between loneliness and social competence (e.g, Kaye, Kowert, & Quinn, 2017), this comparative finding suggests that non-Chinese individuals with high social competence may also perceive greater loneliness (e.g., Lodder et al., 2016).
Results regarding game motivations indicated that Chinese gamers were more likely to be motivated by relatedness and autonomy than non-Chinese ones. As indicated by the results, most popular games among Chinese players are multiplayer battle games that encourage in-game collaboration and customization of characters. As the publisher of Chinese biggest social media application (WeChat), Tencent has established a large social network by connecting users from both social media and mobile phone games (Cantale & Buche, 2018). Therefore, Chinese gamers seem more willing to establish a relationship in gaming environment and expand it into broader online social context. Non-Chinese gamers were more likely to be motivated by competence than Chinese ones. This finding can reflect non-Chinese respondents’ game choice considering that the most mentioned game by them was Candy Crush Saga (King, 2012). These games which offer minimal challenges and minimal social interaction can maximize the need satisfaction of competence (Schmierbach, Chung, Wu, & Kim, 2014).
Different preference for games can also possibly explain the discrepancy regarding the association between indicators of psychosocial well-being and mobile phone game addiction. As illustrated by the visualized interaction (see Fig.3), Chinese gamers with enhanced self-efficacy showed more signs of game addiction. Comparatively, a negative relationship existed between self-efficacy and mobile phone game addiction among non-Chinese gamers, which lent support
to the findings by Blinka and Mikuška (2014). Combined with the result that Chinese gamers showed greater need for in-game relatedness and autonomy, while other gamers presented stronger need for in-game competence, these findings suggest that interactive entertainment such as mobile phone games tends to be a complex process, in which the link between psychosocial well-being and game addiction is closely connected with individuals’ motivational determinants and game preference.
This study has three practical implications. Firstly, owing to the increased accessibility, mobile phone games are now a way for young adults to maintain social relationship with others (Cha & Seo, 2018). This can reflect the trend in global mobile phone industry that more and more games which highlight social elements (e.g., PUBG Mobile) start to dominate the market. Secondly, it seems that social connections in mobile phone games can’t serve as a remedy for individuals’ isolation. This suggests that online forums and communities made up with gamers should invest more in offline emotional support. By having real-life gatherings in e-sports clubs or shops, gamers can strengthen their bonds with others through face-to-face interaction. Another implication lies in concerns for the development of mobile phone game industry. As the biggest mobile phone game market globally, this study has uncovered greater risk in Chinese gamers considering Chinese individuals tend to spend more time gaming and show greater signs of addiction. Chinese authorities have set up regulations to restrict approving new mobile phone games during the last year. However, such regulations can only have a short-term effect. The underlying hazard of mobile phone games and relevant prevention procedures should come into notice globally.
Mobile phone game addiction is now becoming a serious social issue. To date, most of the available literature on mobile phone game addiction is still at the initial stage of only
exploring the formation of addictive behaviors. Therefore, this study is one of the first to provide insights into the relationship between psychosocial well-being, game motivations and game addiction within the context of mobile phone games. Also, this study is one of the first to conduct a cross-national comparison between mobile phone gamers, which can to some extent help both game scholars and game companies to better understand the characteristics of worldwide players.
Several limitations should be acknowledged. Firstly, the self-reported data in a cross-sectional survey design can’t determine whether psychosocial constructs serve as antecedents or consequences of mobile phone game addiction. Indicators of psychosocial well-being are very complex concepts that should be better examined by experimental design and longitudinal research to clarify the causal directions. Secondly, this study with a limited sample size only compared characteristics between Chinese and non-Chinese individuals. This dichotomous comparison may hinder the fact that national-difference also exists between other countries. To enhance the generalizability of the findings, future studies are recommended to use larger sample size for more elaborated comparison.
Thirdly, considering the fact that some measures used in the current study didn’t have a verified Chinese version and few of them have been validated in studies with Chinese
participants, these scales were translated from the original English version to Chinese by
researchers themselves. Although the translation has been validated by two researchers, the self-reported gamer characteristics may still be biased by the misunderstanding of the translated measurement. Future researchers are suggested to apply more scientific measurement such as
server-side data (e.g., Shen & Williams, 2011; Caplan, Williams, & Yee, 2009) in video game studies. Fourthly, this study only included a limited set of psychosocial indicators. For future researchers who want to get a broader understanding of psychosocial influence by mobile phone game engagement, more constructs such as self-esteem (e.g., Park & Choi, 2017) should be taken into consideration.
In conclusion, playing mobile phone games now becomes a worldwide entertaining activity, and a substantial proportion of gamers may suffer from addictive mobile phone gaming. By exploring the psychosocial and motivational correlates with mobile phone game addiction, this study contributes to advancing knowledge about the underlying mechanism of mobile phone gameplay. Results from the cross-national comparison indicate intercultural difference between gamers regarding their game motivations and the relationship between psychosocial well-being and mobile phone game addiction, which implies that there is no single solution that can apply for all mobile phone game addicts. Findings of this study can help the global game industry to explore effective interventional strategies for mobile phone game addiction.
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