A formal anthropological view of motivation models of problematic MMO play: achievement, social, and immersion factors in the context of culture

Psychometric Properties of the Spanish Motives for Online Gaming Questionnaire in a Sample of College Students

This study investigates the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Motives for Online Gaming Questionnaire (MOGQ). We explored the factor structure and construct validity of the MOGQ through its relationships with gaming disorder symptoms (IGD-20) and impulsivity traits. We also analyzed if sociodemographic variables and gaming habits were related to gaming motives. An online cross-sectional survey was completed by 845 college students. Structure validity was examined using a combination of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, which supported a bifactor model composed of a general motivation factor and six uncorrelated factors (a mixed factor composed of escape and coping, competition, recreation, skill, social, and fantasy). Omega-hierarchical and omega coefficients were used to determine reliability of the MOGQ. The scale presented acceptable reliability for the general factor (ωh = .79) and the specific factor scores (social ω = .79, escape/coping ω = .81, competition ω = .79, skill ω = .84, fantasy ω = .82, and recreation ω = .70). Positive associations were observed between the MOGQ and the IGD-20 symptoms, with escape/coping (r = .48) and fantasy (r =.40) showing the strongest ones. Null or low correlations were observed with impulsivity traits. Motives to play varied significantly across genders. These findings provide evidence that the Spanish version of the MOGQ is a reliable and valid tool to assess motives to play online games.

Need Frustration, Gaming Motives, and Internet Gaming Disorder in Mobile Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) Games: Through the Lens of Self-Determination Theory

Playing mobile MOBA games has become a popular leisure activity among Malaysian youth. However, MOBA games are highly addictive and have negative impacts on adult development. Inadequate local studies investigated the risk factors of excessive MOBA gameplay. The present study examined the (1) predictive role of need frustration on Internet gaming disorder (IGD) and (2) mediating effect of gaming motives. A total of 398 mobile MOBA gamers aged 18 to 29 participated in this cross-sectional online survey study. The findings showed that need frustration positively predicted IGD. Social, escape, competition, coping, and skill motives were significant mediators for the association between need frustration and IGD. However, fantasy and recreation motives were not significant mediators. MOBA players who were frustrated while fulfilling their basic needs may succumb to uncontrollable gaming behavior. Therefore, future prevention and intervention programs should cultivate positive mental strength for youth while meeting their basic needs.

The Associations Between Gaming Motivation and Internet Gaming Disorder: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

There has been a surge in interest in examining internet gaming disorder (IGD) and its associations with gaming motivation. Three broad components of gaming motivation have been proposed: achievement, immersion, and social. Achievement-oriented players are motivated by gaining in-game rewards, immersion-oriented players are motivated by the experience of immersion in the virtual world, and social-oriented players are motivated by the need to socialize with other players through gaming.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to (1) quantitatively synthesize the growing body of literature to systematically examine the discrepancies in the magnitude of associations between various components of gaming motivation and IGD and (2) examine the moderating role of cultural dimension on the association between escapism gaming motivation and IGD.

METHODS

We conducted a systematic search of multiple databases between 2002 and 2020. Studies were included if they (1) included quantitative data, (2) used measures assessing both gaming motivation and IGD, and (3) contained sufficient information for effect size calculation.

RESULTS

The findings revealed IGD to have a stronger association with achievement motivation (r=0.32) than with immersion (r=0.22) or social motivation (r=0.20), but the strongest such association was found to be with escapism motivation (r=0.40), a subcomponent of immersion motivation. Our cross-cultural comparison further showed a stronger association between escapism motivation and IGD in studies conducted in individualistic (vs collectivistic) regions.

CONCLUSIONS

This meta-analysis highlights the importance of acknowledging the discrepancies among different components of gaming motivation with respect to their role in the development of IGD, as well as the potential cultural variations in the strength of such associations.

The effect of challenge-based gamification on learning: An experiment in the context of statistics education

Gamification is increasingly employed in learning environments as a way to increase student motivation and consequent learning outcomes. However, while the research on the effectiveness of gamification in the context of education has been growing, there are blind spots regarding which types of gamification may be suitable for different educational contexts. This study investigates the effects of the challenge-based gamification on learning in the area of statistics education. We developed a gamification approach, called Horses for Courses, which is composed of main game design patterns related to the challenge-based gamification; points, levels, challenges and a leaderboard. Having conducted a 2 (read: yes vs. no) x 2 (gamification: yes vs. no) between-subject experiment, we present a quantitative analysis of the performance of 365 students from two different academic majors: Electrical and Computer Engineering (n=279), and Business Administration (n=86). The results of our experiments show that the challenge-based gamification had a positive impact on student learning compared to traditional teaching methods (compared to having no treatment and treatment involving reading exercises). The effect was larger for females or for students at the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Avatar Creation in Videogaming: Between Compensation and Constraint

Objective: We examine the extent that videogame avatars provide players with opportunities for identity exploration, aiming to test the findings of self-discrepancy theory research on the user/avatar relationship with novel cognitive anthropological methods. Specifically, we examine if avatar traits are idealized (more representative of players' ideal rather than actual self) or actualized (more representative of players' actual self) as a function of players' self-esteem. Materials and Methods: Utilizing cognitive anthropological methods, we examine the relationship between actual, avatar, and ideal selves. We first asked 21 respondents to list traits they associated with their various selves. We then asked 57 new respondents to perform four pile sorts of the salient items from these lists (1 unconstrained sort of like-traits, and 3 sorts of terms indicative of respondents' ideal/actual/avatar self). Analysis of this "free list" and "pile sort" data allowed us to clarify (in a manner sensitive to gamer culture) relationships between respondents' various conceptions of self, including how those relationships were modified by self-esteem. Illustrative quotes from the interviews further clarified these relationships. Results: Paired t-test analysis shows that informants as a whole describe their avatar compared with actual selves with fewer negative terms (idealization). Low-esteem players actualize what they deem as positive traits onto their avatars, while simultaneously idealizing avatars' negative traits by minimizing them. Compared with low-esteem gamers, high-esteem players associate significantly more positive attributes with all their various selves-actual, avatar, and ideal-while describing avatar compared with actual selves with fewer positive terms and comparable numbers of negative terms (the latter a process of actualization). Conclusion: Results point to the necessity of theoretical accounts that recognize that avatars may reflect a complex relationship with the user's actual and ideal self, without assuming that avatar play frees gamers from offline social, psychological, or bodily constraints.

Positive mental well-being and immune transcriptional profiles in highly involved videogame players

Previous research has identified a link between experiencing life as meaningful and purposeful-what is referred to as "eudaimonia"-and reduced expression of a stress-induced gene profile known as the "conserved transcriptional response to adversity" (CTRA). In the current study, we examine whether similar links between eudaimonic well-being and CTRA reduction occur in a sample of 56 individuals with a particularly strong engagement with virtual worlds: avid online videogame players. Results consistently linked higher eudaimonic well-being, and more specifically the social well-being subdomain of eudaimonia, to lower levels of CTRA gene expression. That favorable psychobiological relationship between eudaimonia and CTRA appeared most strongly among individuals reporting high levels of positive psychosocial involvement with gaming. Findings are consistent with the hypothesis that committed social/recreational activity may help damp CTRA expression especially among persons who are already experiencing some kind of threshold of positive eudaimonic experience.

Intensive online videogame involvement: A new global idiom of wellness and distress

Extending classic anthropological "idioms of distress" research, we argue that intensive online videogame involvement is better conceptualized as a new global idiom, not only of distress but also of wellness, especially for emerging adults (late teens through the 20s). Drawing on cognitive anthropological cultural domain interviews conducted with a small sample of U.S. gamers (N = 26 free-list and 34 pile-sort respondents) (Study 1) and a large sample of survey data on gaming experience (N = 3629) (Study 2), we discuss the cultural meaning and social context of this new cultural idiom of wellness and distress. Our analysis suggests that the "addiction" frame provides a means for gamers to communicate their passion and commitment to online play, even furthering their enthusiasm for the hobby and community in the process, but also a way for players to express and even resolve life distress such as depression and loneliness. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) has recently included "Internet gaming disorder" (IGD) as a possible behavioral addiction, akin to gambling, warranting further consideration for eventual formal inclusion in the next iteration of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). Our study leads us to suggest that clinicians only sparingly use IGD as a clinical category, given that medical and gamer understandings of "addictive" play differ so markedly. This includes better distinguishing positive online gaming involvement-also sometimes framed by gamers as "addictive"-from other play patterns more clearly entailing distress and dysfunction.

The Prevalence of Internet Addiction in Turkish Adolescents with Psychiatric Disorders

Introduction

The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of Internet addiction (IA) in adolescents with psychiatric disorders.

Methods

A total of 310 adolescents, aged from 12 to 18, participated in the study. The psychiatric sample group included 162 participants who had applied to the child psychiatry outpatients service. The psychiatric disorders among those in this group were assessed through clinical interviews based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR). The control group was chosen from adolescents of families who had never sought psychiatric help. The demographics of the participants and the features of their Internet usage habits were gathered through a questionnaire prepared by researchers. Young's Internet Addiction Test was used to assess internet addiction.

Results

The frequency of IA was found to be significantly higher in the psychiatric sample group than in the control group (24.1% vs. 8.8%, respectively). A total of 23.9% of the subjects had one, and 12.6% had two or more co-morbid psychiatric diagnoses. The frequencies of the diagnostic groups were as follows: attention deficit hyperactivity disorder 55.6%, anxiety disorder 29.0%, mood disorder 21.0%.

Conclusion

IA was found to be significantly more common among adolescents in the child psychiatry outpatient department than among the adolescents who had no psychiatric history, even after confounding variables had been controlled. Further studies are needed to define IA more precisely and to improve prevention approaches.

"Find that Balance:" The Impact of Cultural Consonance and Dissonance on Mental Health among Utah and Mormon Women

Cultural consonance and religious participation are both associated with salutogenic mental health outcomes. Yet studies of religious and other cultural models must take into account multiple and conflicting cultural norms. In this article, we explore the consequences of trying to adhere to the oppositional cultural models of religious (Latter-day Saint or Mormon) and secular American gender roles as perceived by college-aged women at a Utah university. Using cultural consensus and cultural consonance analysis, we demonstrate that while conforming with one model may provide social and mental health benefits, striving for consonance with both results in increased perceived stress levels for Latter-day Saints and nonmembers alike. Such cultural dissonance may be a contributing factor to the current mental health crisis among Utah youth. This work expands the theory of cultural consonance by examining it in the context of two incongruent lifestyles.

The cross-cultural expression of internet gaming distress in North America, Europe, and China

We compare the forms online gaming-related distress takes cross-culturally, and examine how much such distress resembles the World Health Organization's (WHO) “Gaming disorder,” understood to be an “addiction.” Our preliminary exploratory factor analysis (EFA) in North America (n = 2025), Europe (n = 1198), and China (n = 841) revealed a constant four-factor structure across the three regions, with classic “addiction” symptoms always clustering together on the first and most important factor, though with some variability in regional factors' exact item composition. In the present study, we use second-order confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to further examine this factor structure and the cultural similarities and differences. Specifically, we focus on confirming the regional structure and composition of an ethnographically developed 21-item gaming distress scale, which contains a wider symptoms pool than typical gaming disorder scales, and thus allows us to better separate generalized gaming distress's “addictive” from other culturally-influenced “problem” experiences and behaviors in each regional case. We use propensity score matching to separate the impact on gaming-related distress of regional culture from demographic variables (North America/Europe: n = 1043 pairs; North America/China: n = 535 pairs). Although our results support current WHO formulations of gaming-related distress as an addictive disorder, we show how cultural forces can shape how “addictive” and “problem” gaming are experienced and thus psychiatrically presented in different parts of the world. In particular, generalized gaming distress's addictive and problematic dimensions seem to be shaped by culture-specific expressions of achievement motivations, social connection and disconnection, and unique psychosomatic experiences.

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Second-order CFA shows similarities and differences between online gaming distress in North America, Europe, and China.

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Our 21-item distress scale allows us to separate “addictive” from “problem” experiences and behaviors in each regional case.

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Propensity score matching helps us separate the impact on gaming distress of regional culture from demographic variables.

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Generalized gaming distress consists of four dimensions, with three closely related to addiction experiences and behaviors.

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Our results support current WHO and APA formulations of gaming-related distress as an addictive disorder.

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Culture also shapes how “addictive” and “problem” gaming are experienced in different parts of the world.

Distinguishing Core from Peripheral Psychiatric Symptoms: Addictive and Problematic Internet Gaming in North America, Europe, and China

We explore the problem of distinguishing the relatively constant versus culturally variable dimensions of mental suffering and disorder in the context of a cross-cultural study of Internet gaming-related distress. We extend the conceptual contrast of "core" and "peripheral" symptoms drawn from game studies and use a framework that synthesizes cultural and neurobiological understandings of emotional distress. In our framework, "core" symptoms are relatively constant across cultures and therefore presumed to be more closely tied to a neurobiological base. By contrast, we treat as "peripheral" symptoms those that are more culturally variable, and thus less directly tied to the neurobiology of addiction. We develop and illustrate this approach with a factor analysis of cross-cultural survey data, resting on previous ethnographic work, through which we compare online gaming distress experienced in North America (n = 2025), Europe (n = 1198), and China (n = 841). We identify the same four-factor structure across the three regions, with Addiction always the first and most important factor, though with variability in regional factors' exact item composition. The study aims to advance an integrative biocultural approach to distinguishing universal as opposed to culturally contingent dimensions of human suffering, and to help resolve debates about whether problem gaming represents a form of addiction.

Classification of problematic Internet usage types by motives and contexts with elementary and secondary school-aged counseling clients

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Past research on the classification of problematic Internet use (PIU) has focused on symptom-based severity and usage motive in order to understand its mechanism. Recently, usage context, such as family or social relationships, has been identified as a key influencing factor of PIU. Therefore, we extended the classification of PIU to include usage context in addition to symptom-based severity and usage motive.

METHODS

To classify PIU types, we conducted two studies. First, we performed a clustering analysis, where 265 counseling cases were clustered into usage types in terms of motive and context. After characterizing each usage type, we examined their hierarchical relationships by considering symptoms. Second, we performed a focus group interview with six counselors to increase the transferability of usage types. This transferability was established by matching counselors' quotations to the usage types. When usage types showed consistency between quotations and the clustering analysis, we identified the progression patterns between hierarchical relationships.

RESULTS

The clustering analysis of motive and context yielded six usage types with three hierarchical relationships. The focus group interview results verified the transferability of these six types and identified two progression patterns between the hierarchical relationships.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

Although usage motive and context were given equal weight before the clustering analysis, the resulting types revealed that usage context played a greater role in the classification process.

Addressing problematic video game use: A multimethod, dual-context perspective on leisure-time use

A more integrative approach to the prevention of problematic gaming behavior is recommended in Király et al.'s review. We discuss the Dutch policy responses to problematic gaming behavior and suggest two alternatives to the dominant survey research approach to achieve this. Employing time-use/diary studies allows us to map out the full scope of leisure-time use and employing log-data analysis improves our understanding of gamer behavior within the virtual context. All of these approaches would benefit from accounting for the diversity of within-virtual context behavior. The approach is summarized as a multimethod, dual-context approach to understanding leisure-time behavior.

Social genomics of healthy and disordered internet gaming

OBJECTIVES

To combine social genomics with cultural approaches to expand understandings of the somatic health dynamics of online gaming, including in the controversial nosological construct of internet gaming disorder (IGD).

METHODS

In blood samples from 56 U.S. gamers, we examined expression of the conserved transcriptional response to adversity (CTRA), a leukocyte gene expression profile activated by chronic stress. We compared positively engaged and problem gamers, as identified by an ethnographically developed measure, the Positive and Negative Gaming Experiences Scale (PNGE-42), and also by a clinically derived IGD scale (IGDS-SF9).

RESULTS

CTRA profiles showed a clear relationship with PNGE-42, with a substantial linkage to offline social support, but were not meaningfully associated with disordered play as measured by IGDS-SF9.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study advances understanding of the psychobiology of play, demonstrating via novel transcriptomic methods the association of negatively experienced internet play with biological measures of chronic threat, uncertainty, and distress. Our findings are consistent with the view that problematic patterns of online gaming are a proxy for broader patterns of biopsychosocial stress and distress such as loneliness, rather than a psychiatric disorder sui generis, which might exist apart from gamers' other life problems. By confirming the biological correlates of certain patterns of internet gaming, culturally-sensitive genomics approaches such as this can inform both evolutionary theorizing regarding the nature of play, as well as current psychiatric debates about the appropriateness of modeling distressful gaming on substance addiction and problem gambling.

What You Know, What You Do, and How You Feel: Cultural Competence, Cultural Consonance, and Psychological Distress

Describing the link between culture (as a phenomenon pertaining to social aggregates) and the beliefs and behaviors of individuals has eluded satisfactory resolution; however, contemporary cognitive culture theory offers hope. In this theory, culture is conceptualized as cognitive models describing specific domains of life that are shared by members of a social group. It is sharing that gives culture its aggregate properties. There are two aspects to these cultural models at the level of the individual. Persons have their own representations of the world that correspond incompletely to the shared model-this is their 'cultural competence.' Persons are also variable in the degree to which they can put cultural models into practice in their own lives-this is their 'cultural consonance.' Low cultural consonance is a stressful experience and has been linked to higher psychological distress. The relationship of cultural competence per se and psychological distress is less clear. In the research reported here, cultural competence and cultural consonance are measured on the same sample and their associations with psychological distress are examined using multiple regression analysis. Results indicate that, with respect to psychological distress, while it is good to know the cultural model, it is better to put it into practice.

To Keep this Disease from Killing You: Cultural Competence, Consonance, and Health among HIV-positive Women in Kenya

The HIV/AIDS crisis continues in sub-Saharan Africa, where nearly 70% of infections are found. Despite recent efforts to supply antiretroviral therapy to those infected, most are not receiving medication and are forced to rely on self-management to remain healthy. In Kenya, many of those infected are women living in extreme poverty. This article presents the findings of research among poor women in Nairobi that examined the relationship between knowledge of a cultural model of self-managing HIV/AIDS, cultural consonance, and health. This biocultural study expands on earlier findings showing that knowledge of the model (competence) is a significant predictor of health by examining here how behavior consistent with that knowledge (consonance) affects health outcomes, as measured by CD4 counts, perceived stress, depressive symptoms, and recent illnesses.

DSM-5 diagnosis of Internet Gaming Disorder: Some ways forward in overcoming issues and concerns in the gaming studies field

Background and aims The current DSM-5 diagnosis of Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD; American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013) has led to a number of issues and concerns that we highlighted in our recent paper (Kuss, Griffiths, & Pontes, 2017). Experts in the field responded to our evaluation of these issues resulting in six commentaries. Methods In this paper, we offer responses to the six commentaries to move the scientific field forward. All of the responses to our original paper highlighted many conceptual, theoretical, and/or methodological problems with the proposed IGD diagnosis as outlined in the DSM-5. We outline some ways forward in overcoming issues and concerns in the gaming studies field. Results We argue that rather than stigmatizing gaming per se, the role of scientists and practitioners is to establish a clear-cut distinction between someone who may use games excessively but non-problematically and someone who is experiencing significant impairment in their daily lives as a consequence of their excessive gaming. This responsibility needs to be shared by popular media who are often quick to build a moral panic around gaming behaviors, often based on cherry-picking specific case studies and pieces of research which support their headlines. Conclusion Researchers, practitioners, gaming developers, and the media need to work together and collaboratively to build a realistic and comprehensive understanding of gaming as a normal, enjoyable, and often beneficial sociocultural practice, which for a small minority of excessive users may be associated with the experience of addiction-related symptoms that may require professional support.

Identification and Characterization of Adolescent Internet User's Profiles

The percentages of adolescent Internet use in general terms have been measured for nearly two decades now; however, it might be thought that not every teenager behaves online in the same way. This study aims to identify the different types or profiles of adolescents and to characterize them from an attitudinal, behavioral and socio-demographic viewpoint. A questionnaire was applied to a representative sample of 2,339 Compulsory Secondary School students (M = 13.77 years old) from Galicia (a North-Western region of Spain) for this purpose. A two-stage cluster analysis, based on the response pattern in relation to their attitudes toward Internet, was carried out. Four different segments with specific characteristics were identified: the first steppers, the trainees, the sensible users, and the heavy users. Besides the relevance of descriptive data, these results are of particular interest at an applied level, because they could lead to a better fit of programs to prevent risky behaviors and problematic Internet use in adolescents.

Stress moderates the relationship between problematic Internet use by parents and problematic Internet use by adolescents

PURPOSE

Based on the theoretical framework of Problem Behavior and Stress Reduction theories for problematic Internet use (PIU), this study aimed to investigate the relationship between parental PIU and the PIU among adolescents taking into consideration the stress levels of young people.

METHODS

This was a population-based parent and adolescent dyad health survey utilizing a random sampling technique. PIU for both parents and adolescents was measured by the Internet addiction test designed by Young. The stress level of adolescents was assessed using the stress subscale of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS). Data were analyzed using logistic regression modeling techniques with adjustment for potential confounding factors with analysis on the modification effect of stress levels on the relationship between parent and adolescent PIU.

RESULTS

Of the total 1,098 parent and adolescent dyads with usable information, 263 adolescents (24.0%) and 62 parents (5.7%) could be classified as moderate and severe problematic users of the Internet. About 14% (n = 157) of adolescents could be classified with moderate-to-severe stress. Regression analysis results suggested a significant interaction between parental PIU and adolescents' stress levels on adolescent PIU. Stratified regression analyses by stress level resulted in a significant parent and adolescent PIU relationship in the low stress group (odds ratio, 3.18; 95% confidence interval 1.65-6.14). However, the association between parent and adolescent PIU in the high stress group became insignificant.

CONCLUSIONS

There was a significant parent and adolescent PIU relationship; however, this relationship is differentially affected by the stress status of the adolescent. The direct implication of the results is that parental Internet use should also be assessed and included as part of the treatment regime for adolescents.

Risk factors of Internet addiction and the health effect of internet addiction on adolescents: a systematic review of longitudinal and prospective studies

Internet gaming addiction was included in the latest version of the DSM-V as a possible disorder recently, while debate is still on-going as to whether the condition called "Internet Addiction" (IA) could be fully recognised as an established disorder. The major contention is how well IA could fulfil the validation criteria as a psychiatric disorder as in other well-established behavioural addictions. In addition to various proposed validation criteria, evidence of risk and protective factors as well as development of outcomes from longitudinal and prospective studies are suggested as important. A systematic review of available longitudinal and prospective studies was conducted to gather epidemiological evidence on risk and protective factors of IA and the health effect of IA on adolescents. Nine articles were identified after an extensive search of the literature in accordance to the PRISMA guidelines. Of these, eight provided data on risk or protective factors of IA and one focused solely on the effects of IA on mental health. Information was extracted and analysed systematically from each study and tabulated. Many exposure variables were studied and could be broadly classified into three main categories: psychopathologies of the participants, family and parenting factors, and others such as Internet usage, motivation, and academic performance. Some were found to be potential risk or protective factors of IA. It was also found that exposure to IA had a detrimental effect on the mental health of young people. These results were discussed in light of their implications to the fulfilment of the validation criteria.

How religious status shapes psychological well-being: cultural consonance as a measure of subcultural status among Brazilian Pentecostals

Research on subjective social status has long recognized that individuals occupy multiple social hierarchies, with socioeconomic status (SES) being but one. The issue, as such, has been to identify culturally meaningful measures of social status. Through cognitive anthropological theory and methods, I show that it is possible to identify multiple cultural models of "status," and objectively measure an individual's level of adherence, or consonance, with each-effectively placing them within the multidimensional space of social hierarchies. Through a mixed qualitative and quantitative study of 118 Brazilian Pentecostals carried out from 2011 to 2012, I show that dominant and limitedly-distributed cultural models of status operate simultaneously and concurrently in the lives of those who hold them. Importantly, each marker of cultural status moderates the other's association with psychological well-being. I argue that the importance of a given social hierarchy is framed by cultural values. For Brazilian Pentecostals, their limitedly distributed model of religious status alters the influence of more dominant societal indicators on psychological well-being. The interaction between religious and secular lifestyle statuses on psychological health is stronger than the association of SES, effectively explaining 51% of the variance. This finding suggests that among some populations, limitedly distributed cultural models of status may be a dominant force in shaping measures of well-being.

Internet gaming addiction: current perspectives

In the 2000s, online games became popular, while studies of Internet gaming addiction emerged, outlining the negative consequences of excessive gaming, its prevalence, and associated risk factors. The establishment of specialized treatment centers in South-East Asia, the US, and Europe reflects the growing need for professional help. It is argued that only by understanding the appeal of Internet gaming, its context, and neurobiologic correlates can the phenomenon of Internet gaming addiction be understood comprehensively. The aim of this review is to provide an insight into current perspectives on Internet gaming addiction using a holistic approach, taking into consideration the mass appeal of online games, the context of Internet gaming addiction, and associated neuroimaging findings, as well as the current diagnostic framework adopted by the American Psychiatric Association. The cited research indicates that the individual’s context is a significant factor that marks the dividing line between excessive gaming and gaming addiction, and the game context can gain particular importance for players, depending on their life situation and gaming preferences. Moreover, the cultural context is significant because it embeds the gamer in a community with shared beliefs and practices, endowing their gaming with particular meaning. The cited neuroimaging studies indicate that Internet gaming addiction shares similarities with other addictions, including substance dependence, at the molecular, neurocircuitry, and behavioral levels. The findings provide support for the current perspective of understanding Internet gaming addiction from a disease framework. The benefits of an Internet gaming addiction diagnosis include reliability across research, destigmatization of individuals, development of efficacious treatments, and the creation of an incentive for public health care and insurance providers. The holistic approach adopted here not only highlights empirical research that evidences neurobiologic correlates of Internet gaming addiction and the establishment of a preliminary diagnosis, but also emphasizes the necessity of an indepth understanding of the meaning, context, and practices associated with gaming.