DOI: 10.3886/e147041v1
title: Excessive Gaming: Impulsivity, and Sensation Seeking from Middle Adolescence to Emerging Adulthood: A Cross-sectional Study Based on Retrospective Recall

description: Despite growing interest in excessive gaming, a paucity of studies with prolonged periods has been conducted on temperament traits of individuals who sustain long-term excessive gaming. The purpose of this study was to explore whether impulsivity and sensation seeking affect the increase in time spent gaming over two developmental periods from middle school to high school and from high school to emerging adulthood. A total of 241 adults with gaming experiences completed an online questionnaire that assessed the two traits, as well as time spent gaming in middle school, high school, and college or higher.
description: Presence of Common Scales: <b>Demographic Variables</b><b></b> Gender and age were indicated via a self-report. Males and females were coded as 1 and 0, respectively. <br> <b>Time Spent Playing Online Games</b> A retrospective self-reported questionnaire was employed to assess the participants’ average gaming time in the various phases of their education. A single question to measure participants’ daily average game time was referenced from previous studies (Hellström et al., 2012; Lemmens et al., 2011). In accordance with Kim and Lee (2012) who demonstrated that participants with the least self-control averaged more than four hours per day in gaming time, the participants were given seven options, ranging from never used to more than four hours. The change in time spent gaming was calculated by subtracting the time spent gaming in each period. Although negative consequences associated with gaming are more important than the amount of time spent gaming (Griffiths, 2010), the latter has been correlated significantly with excessive gaming (Dauriat et al., 2011; Gentile, 2009; Porter et al., 2010). <br> <b>Impulsivity</b><b></b> The 23-item Barrett Impulsivity Scale-11 (Barratt, 1959), as modified by Lee (1992), was used to measure impulsivity. The subscales included nine items that measured non-planning impulsivity, that is, not making detailed plans before starting work; six items that measured cognitive impulsivity, which is the ability to focus immediately on tasks without circular thinking that is characterized by cognitive instability; and eight items that measured motor impulsivity, including starting work without thinking deeply and the inability to restrain oneself. Each item was rated on a 4-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (not at all) to 4 (always). Cronbach’s alpha for our study was.82. The sum of the 23 items was calculated, with higher scores indicating greater impulsivity.<br><b>Sensation Seeking</b> The Brief Sensation Seeking Scale (Hoyle et al., 2002; Rhee & Kim, 2012) was employed to assess sensation seeking tendencies. The scale comprises four subscales, with five items each. The subscales include thrill and adventure seeking, which involves one’s propensity to engage in physically risky activities for new experiences and unusual situations, experience seeking, which entails freely pursuing intense sensory experiences through drugs and peer groups, disinhibition, which includes going to parties, drinking, having various sexual partners, and dreaming of deviating from social taboos, and boredom susceptibility, which encompasses avoiding the boredom of everyday repetition. In our study, Cronbach’s alpha of the total score was.82. The scores of the 20 items were summed. Higher scores indicated higher sensation seeking.
description: Links to an online survey were sent to college or higher education students in various Korean cities, who were requested to share the link with others.
description: web-based survey;