Measurement and validation of Online game addiction among undergraduate students (Preprint)
Authors: Aslam Muhammad Shahzad , Kim Yun Jin 
Published: February 2020

BACKGROUND

Game addiction has been associated with an array of mental health variables. There is a paucity of descriptive studies investigating such associations and studies, few studies have particularly examined the relationship between game addiction and mental health outcomes, due to a lack of specified instrument for measuring this type of behavioral addiction.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this study is to (1) measure and validate the game addiction scale among undergraduate students, (2) examine the relationship between game addiction and anxiety, depression, and self-esteem scale among undergraduate students and (3) contribute to the current discussion (CD) about the implication of game addiction among undergraduate students in Malaysia.

METHODS

Participants were recruited from a university (n=81), Participants completed a Web-based questionnaire, which included measures of Salience, Tolerance, Mood modification, Relapse, Withdrawal, Conflict, Problems, Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D), Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A) and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES). Demographic items were also addressed and understand the effect of the relationship between the categorical variable and its effect on depression, anxiety, and self-esteem. The hypothesized model was tested using structural equation modeling.

RESULTS

The prevalence of total anxiety, total depression, and total self-esteem were found (51.85%) 42/81, (48.14%) 39/81 and (55.55%) 45/81 respectively. Construct reliability and the average variance extracted for the factors were verified to demonstrate that this tool was highly reliable to explain the eight (8) factors. Jöreskog’s rho (0.7952-0.9467) demonstrated high degrees of agreement in all construct followed by Dijkstra-Henseler’s rho (0.6444-0.9451) and Cronbach’s alpha (0.6168- 0.9400). Discriminant validity was established with a value of 0.77 for the Fornell-Larcker Criterion. R square value for all exogenous variable recline range between 0.4849-0.7025. Bootstrapping for Structural Model Evaluation support the hypothesis. Gender, nationality, age, scholarship, physical disease, mental illness, alcohol intake was not associated with total anxiety (P=0.857;0.279;0.323;0.973;0.925;0.168;0.246;0.755), total depression (P=0.858;0.052;0.810;0.623;0.345;0.137;0.751), and total self-esteem (P=0.282;0.485;0.292;0.919;0.569;0.873;0.230;0.053). Financial stress was significant with depression (p=0.010) (<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

This analysis supports the appropriateness of using game addiction scale among undergraduate students to further establish the psychometric properties of the game addiction items. It also supports that financial stress is associated with depression. However, the researcher’s circumspection to generalize our findings because of the small sample size.

CLINICALTRIAL

According to the local and national ethical instructions for research (National Committee for Clinical Research, http://www.ncc r.gov.my/index.cfm) guidelines, this study did not require ethical approval. The human biological tissues, good clinical practice (GCP), and clinical trial research subjects were respected.