Relation between Video Game Addiction and Interfamily Relationships on Primary School Students.

AbstractThis study seeks to analyze whether or not the following three variables of "Discouraging Family Relations," "Supportive Family Relations," "Total Time Spent on the Computer," and "Grade Point Average (GPA)" predict elementary school students' video game addiction rates, and whether or not there exists a meaningful difference in students' video game addiction rates based on gender or on parents' levels of education. Being a descriptive survey model, the study group consists of 396 4th and 6th grade primary school students. The following scales, prepared by the researchers, were used to gather data for this study: The Scale of Game Addiction for Children (SGAC), The Family Relationship Scale for Children (FRSC), and the Personal Information Form (PIF). The data gathered from the study were analyzed by using stepwise regression, one-way variance analysis, and independent sample t-test in SPSS. According to the findings of the study, while the variables "Discouraging Family Relations," "Time Spent on the Computer," and "GPA" predict 4th and 5th grade students' video game addiction rates in a meaningful way, the variable "Supportive Family Relations" does not. Moreover, it was seen that male students' video game addiction rates were higher than those of female students. The results of a oneway variance analysis show that there is no meaningful difference in students' video game addiction rates based on parents' levels of education. The findings were discussed under the light of the literature and suggestions and limitations discussed.Keywords: Game addiction * Discouraging family relations * Supportive family relations * Students of elementary school * ComputerIn the related literature, the situation which related to problematic playing computer games is described by different concepts. These concepts are game addiction, video addiction, internet addiction, pathological use of computer. In addition to this concepts, 'pathological technology use (PTU)' concept which is the term intended to include all of these is located within this wide range of concepts (Sim, Gentile, Bricolo, Serpelloni, & Gulamoydeen, 2012). Addiction is defined as an unpreventable desire and wish which occurs as a result of taking a substance in repeated doses and increasing amounts without aiming to eradicate the symptoms of an organic illness (Ziyalar, 1999). Media addiction, television addiction, cell phone addiction, computer, and internet addiction take place among technological addictions (Griffiths, 2000). The concepts of addiction and of behavioral addiction share a common quality in that one is "unable to control the action and continu[es] the behavior in spite of its negative results" (Henderson, 2001). Individuals addicted to the internet show such patterns as thinking excessively about the internet, a gradual increase in the level of pleasure derived from internet use, failure in attempts to decrease the harms of internet use, anger and disappointment as a result of undergoing these attempts, an increase in time spared using the internet, having problems in their social and occupational relations due to internet use, and preferring internet use to solving or coping with problems (Young, 1998). A number of studies on technological addiction are seen when the literature is analyzed. According to the result of a study conducted in the USA (Morahan-Martin & Schumacher, 2000) it was observed that individuals showed four or more of the symptoms of pathological internet use by 8.1% of individuals surveyed. While Gentile (2009) indicated that video games were played by 8.5% of individuals surveyed aged between 8 and 18, it was seen that 11.9% of the same age group suffered from computer addiction (Grusser, Thalemann, & Griffiths, 2007). In a study carried out in China, it was discovered that 10.32% of individuals surveyed played pathological video games (Peng & Li, 2009 as cited in Sim et al., 2012). …