Gaming behavior and addiction
among Hong Kong adolescents Objectives: Game playing is very popular among Hong Kong teenagers. This study
aimed to investigate adolescent gaming behavior and addiction at the Internet cafe,
and to explore perceived benefits and harms associated with the activity.
Methods: A convenient sample of 13 male high school students aged 12–15 years
(mean age = 13.6 years) were interviewed at two Internet cafes. Young’s (Caught in the
net, Wiley, New York, 1998) criteria of Internet addiction were modified to assess gaming
addiction.
Results: Internet cafes were described as a safe and ideal rendezvous for gamers. The
benefits of gaming included fun and satisfaction, fostering social support and teamwork,
meeting new friends and becoming sociable, boosting cognitive techniques and
intellectual agility, improved responsiveness and quick thinking. Perceived harms of
gaming addiction were reduced time and interest in other important activities, poor
academic performance, physical harms and emotional distress, disrupted friendship
with non-gaming peers, risked family relationship and financial problems. Five interviewees
(38.5 %) could be categorized as pathological gamers and two were problem
gamers (15.4 %). The psychological factors associated with gaming addiction include
low self-esteem, a strong desire for aggressive and exciting experiences, reliance on
gaming to kill time and to obtain satisfaction, coping with problems and negative
emotions, and obsession with achieving higher rankings in games. The social and
environmental risk factors are accessibility to the Internet cafés, aggressive promotional
activities at the Internet cafes, peer pressure, family influence and early gaming
experiences, perceived parental approval, lack of parental supervision, and poor family
relationship.
Conclusions: The study results throw light on prevention programs.
Keywords: Games, Addiction, Internet, Adolescent students, Prevention