Testing the Influence of Social Axioms on Internet Gaming Disorder Tendency with a Cross-Lagged Panel Model: a One-Year Longitudinal Study

A meta-analysis of the impact of technology related factors on students' academic performance

Introduction

The relationship between students' smartphone addiction, social media use, video games play, and their academic performance has been widely studied, yet the existing literature presents inconsistent findings. This meta-analysis synthesizes current research to provide a comprehensive examination of the impact of these technologies on academic achievement.

Methods

A total of 63 studies (yielding 64 effect sizes) were included, encompassing a sample of 124,166 students from 28 countries. The meta-analysis utilized correlation coefficients and sample sizes, reporting results based on the random effects model. Key statistics such as the Fisher's Z value, confidence intervals, and heterogeneity (Q) test results were considered, and publication bias was assessed using Begg and Mazumdar's rank correlation test, with the Kendall Tau coefficient determining bias significance.

Results and discussion

The meta-analysis revealed a small but statistically significant negative association between smartphone use, social media use, video game playing, and students' academic performance [Q(64) = 2501.93, p < 0.001, d = -0.085]. It is concluded that increased use of these technologies was associated with poorer academic outcomes, potentially impacting key cognitive skills essential for academic success. The implications for educational psychology research and future research directions are discussed.

Social axioms and psychological toll: A study of emotional, behavioral, and cognitive responses across 35 cultures during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected the psychological well-being of individuals worldwide. Previous research has indicated that values and beliefs, particularly social axioms, are associated with psychological responses during crises. However, most of the studies have focused on specific regions; the impact of social axioms on a global scale remains unclear. We conducted a multinational study comprising stratified samples of 18,171 participants from 35 cultures. Using multilevel modeling, we examined the associations between social axioms, personal worry, normative concerns, trust, and individuals' psychological responses to the pandemic. The results showed that greater personal worry and normative concerns predicted more negative psychological responses. Furthermore, the study also identified significant buffering effects at the societal level, as cultures with higher overall levels of fate control, religiosity, or reward for application exhibited weaker associations between personal worry and negative responses. Our findings reveal the influence of social axioms on psychological responses during the pandemic, with varying effects across cultures. The buffering effects of fate control, religiosity, and reward for application underscore the importance of considering cultural differences and individual variability when examining the impact of social axioms on psychological outcomes.

The psychometric property of a short-form of the Social Axioms Survey (SAS II)

BACKGROUND

Social Axioms are generalized beliefs and broad assumptions about the world, guiding behaviors across various social situations. Social Axioms are usually assessed by Social Axioms Survey II (SAS II). Nevertheless, the length of the scale may limit its usefulness in studies with strict time constraint. The present study aimed at developing a shorter version.

METHODS

A survey was conducted among 455 college students. First, we performed psychometric evaluation on the full item version of SAS II to identify items with superior psychometric properties for a brief version of SAS II. Second, we validated the psychometric properties of the brief version of SAS II.

RESULTS

A 20-item version of SAS II (SAS II-20) was developed, and it demonstrated adequate reliability and validity. The correlations between SAS II-20 and personality variables, cognitive flexibility, interpersonal trust, locus of control, and paranormal beliefs were consistent with past studies.

CONCLUSIONS

SAS II-20 is psychometrically acceptable and provides a time-efficient measurement tool for investigating social beliefs.

Problematic smartphone use and specific problematic Internet uses among university students and associated predictive factors: a systematic review

University students are a high-risk population with problematic online behaviours that include generalized problematic Internet/smartphone use and specific problematic Internet uses (for example, social media or gaming). The study of their predictive factors is needed in order to develop preventative strategies. This systematic review aims to understand the current state of play by examining the terminology, assessment instruments, prevalence, and predictive factors associated with problematic smartphone use and specific problematic Internet uses in university students. A literature review was conducted according to the PRISMA guidelines using four major databases. A total of 117 studies were included, divided into four groups according to the domain of problem behaviour: problematic smartphone use (n = 67), problematic social media use (n = 39), Internet gaming disorder (n = 9), and problematic online pornography use (n = 2). Variability was found in terminology, assessment tools, and prevalence rates in the four groups. Ten predictors of problematic smartphone use, five predictors of problematic social media use, and one predictor of problematic online gaming were identified. Negative affectivity is found to be a common predictor for all three groups, while social media use, psychological well-being, and Fear of Missing Out are common to problematic smartphone and social media use. Our findings reaffirm the need to reach consistent diagnostic criteria in cyber addictions and allow us to make progress in the investigation of their predictive factors, thus allowing formulation of preventive strategies.

The Impact of Pandemic-Related Life Stress on Internet Gaming: Social Cynicism and Gaming Motivation as Serial Mediators

A heightened interest in online gaming has emerged during COVID-19, and people have become increasingly vulnerable to internet gaming disorder (IGD). However, playing video games can also have a positive effect; gaming has been recognized as an efficient coping strategy. Currently, relatively little is understood about how online gaming can turn from an efficient coping strategy into an addiction disorder. This study investigated the mediating roles of social cynicism, escape and coping motives on the association between daily disruption during COVID-19 and IGD, seeking to reveal the underlying mechanism that influences the effects of gaming. A total of 203 participants in Hong Kong who reported having played electronic games during COVID-19 were surveyed. We conducted three hierarchical multiple regressions, then tested a serial mediation model using path analysis with structural equation modeling. The results revealed that escape motives significantly mediated the relationship between daily disruption related to COVID-19 and IGD, but no such effect was found for coping motives. Social cynicism alone was not a significant mediator, but social cynicism and escape motives in series mediated the relationship between daily disruption and IGD. These difference outcomes suggested different underlying mechanisms of escape and coping motives.

Validation of the metacognitions about online gaming scale (MOGS) among Chinese gamers

With the largest online gamer population worldwide and a heightened rate of Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD), China has a long-lasting need to identify salient correlates of IGD and provide corresponding assessment tools to support cost-effective IGD screening and interventions. To respond to such a need, the present study aimed to validate the Metacognitions about Online Gaming Scale (MOGS) among Chinese gamers to provide an additional tool for promoting studies investigating metacognition, a promising and newly emerged correlate of IGD, in China. To evaluate the psychometric properties of MOGS, we collected data from 1340 Chinese university students with gaming experiences (59.3% female, M_age = 19.84 years), in which 262 of them also participated in the one-month retest. Our results indicated that the Chinese version of MOGS has a two-factor structure and satisfactory reliabilities (α = 0.90 and 0.92, ICC = 0.60 and 0.64, AVE = 0.56 and 0.70, ρ_c = 0.88 and 0.92). Moreover, MOGS's convergent validity was evidenced by the expected, positive associations with generic metacognitions, stress, and IGD tendency (r (1338) = 0.29-0.55, p < 0.001) as well as significant MOGS differences between probable IGD and non-IGD gamers (p < 0.001). A 6-item, short-form MOGS, which displayed equivalent psychometric soundness as its full-scale counterpart, was also developed. As the first study to validate MOGS among Chinese gamers, the present study attested to the readiness of this measure in facilitating further studies of gaming-specific metacognitions for early identification of and tailored interventions for high-risk gamers in China.