The Impact Of Gaming On Psychological Behavior And Health Among Adolescent Groups In Malaysia

Research Questions

Discuss about the Impact Of Gaming On Psychological Behavior And Health Among Adolescent Groups In Malaysia.

Gaming or computer games have become one of the most popular and attractive media amongst the young generation with even some adult groups taking part in the games. The gaming activities are shared among boys as compared to the girls with research showing that gaming has had both positive and negative effects on the individuals or participants psychological behavior as well as their health (Pontes & Griffiths, 2014, p. 6). However the impact of the gaming activities on particular individuals either psychologically or health wise depends on the nature of the games, the content of the game, the amount of time spent on the game as well as the mechanics of the game (Lam, 2014, p. 16). Amy scholars have engaged in research to investigate the impact of gaming activities amongst the adolescents groups on their socialization process resulting into findings that the more time spent on the digital computer games by the participants, the less social communication or socialization the adolescents make with their families and relatives and hence contributing negatively to their social health (Wang et al. 2015, p. 33). Psychologically gaming has been attributed to causing mental disorder, and according to the World Health Organization, the organization is close to classifying gaming disorder as a mental health condition in its 2018 manual on diseases. However, to understand the impact of gaming, the underlying question would be, assuming the extent to which gaming experience affects an individual thinking capacity.

The effect of the games varies regarding different levels focused on different learning aspects (Ding et al. 2014, p. 42). The games have become a powerful learning tool for the young generation since the content of the games is very active, designed to offer problem-solving skills though established puzzles and techniques, provides self-assessment and a better social learning environment. The matches have therefore been found to impact on an individual psychological behavior as well as on their health. This study will, therefore, focus on developing a research proposal report to investigate the impact of gaming on mental behavior and health.

To enhance the reliability of the findings of this research proposal, the research will be guided by various research questions designed to help the researchers get in-depth analysis of the main issues as stated in the research problem statement.

The Rationale of the Research and Possible Benefits

RQ1.  What is the impact of digital gaming activities on individual psychological behavior and their health?

RQ2. Is there any healthy relationship between gaming activities and the rise of mental disorders amongst the young generation?

RQ3.  Does gaming activities to increased or decreased socialization activities and hence affecting individual social health?

RQ4. What are the positive and negative effects of digital gaming on an individual psychological behavior and their social health?

RQ5. Does gender contribute to the differentiation and relevance of the gaming activities amongst the adolescent’s groups?

RQ6. What action can be taken to influence positive gaming experience to reduce the negative psychological behavior and social health and maximize the benefits of gaming activities on individual psychological and social behavior?

Gaming activities have become rampant amongst the adolescent’s groups in the society and have been found to impact their social health as well as their psychological behavior. There has been increasingly reported case of mental disorder amongst the youth or the young generations with the World Health organization categorizing gaming disorder amongst is 2018 lists of mental disorders or diseases (Hussain et al. 2015, p. 225). Many scholars have engaged in various studies to investigate the impact of gaming activities on students’ performance, socialization process, and participation on technical subjects as well as the effects of increased deviant behavior. Limited research has therefore been done to investigate the impact of the gaming activities or digital game on individual psychological behavior and social health (Anderson et al. 2017, p. 440). This research, therefore, aims to provide more insights and fill the existing literature gap that will contribute to increased knowledge on digital games and their impact. The study finds will, therefore, add to the development of increased knowledge on digital games and their effects on psychological behavior. It will help us understand the relationship between the rises of gaming activities and associated gaming disorders and how they contribute to increased mental disorders (Billieux et al. 2015, p. 465). The research findings will also help us understand how gaming activities have impacted on individual social health and whether the decline in social events or health contributes to increased deviant behavior amongst the young and adolescents generation.

1.    The prevalence of gaming activities among the adolescent’s groups in term of their gender differentiation.
2.    Human psychological behavior and how it is impacted positively or negatively by digital gaming activities.
3.    Human social health and how it is affected positively or negatively by digital gaming activities among the young groups.
4.    The relationship between gaming activities and increased mental disorders amongst the young generation.
5.     The relationship between gaming activities and increased deviant behavior among the young groups in Malaysia.
6.    Possible recommendations to aid in increased positive gaming impact on psychological behavior and social as well as mental health.

 The development of this research proposal will include the different sections which will help us enhance the scope and understanding of our research statement of the problem. The first section of the study will provide an introduction to the research issues comprising of background research to the research topic, research questions, the rationale and benefits, critical issues to be investigated as well as the structure of the research project. The second section will provide a literature review of the research topic in addressing the literature developments contributing to the research questions and the research statement problem. The last part of the research proposal will provide a detailed analysis of the research methodology comprising of the research approach and methods, the conceptual framework, data collection and sampling techniques as well as the possible limitations to the research. The structure will, therefore, help us enhance the understanding of our research question.  

Main Issues to be Investigated to Achieve the Research Objectives

The literature review section will do an analysis of the existing scholarly work related to the topic of research. It will also identify the major research gaps and opportunities for future research. As an introduction to this section of the paper, operational definitions of some of the terms that readers will interact with are provided. Adolescents shall mean male and female individuals of ages between 12 and 17. The definition of gaming shall include both online gaming applications as well as other non-online platforms of gaming. Gamification shall be used to mean the adoption of gaming concepts and application to non-conventional gaming areas. Addiction shall mean the inability of gamers to discontinue detrimental gaming despite attempts at the same. Behavioral effects shall refer to the externally induced variations that shall obtain on a person’s conduct due to exposure to gaming as evidenced in their actions. Psychological factors will include alterations on the cognitive, arousal and affective abilities of an individual which determine the overall thought process.

Addiction to online games has a striking similarity to pathological gambling. It could be likened to drug dependency or even eating disorders. In the USA in a recent study, 99% and 94% or boys and girls respectively admitted to playing video games as a major past time activity (Donati et al. 2013, p 130). These overwhelming figures are representative of addiction levels in the country. What is paradoxical about this is the manner that both popular media and the marketing departments of online gaming companies disguise this fact in their advertisements. When looked at critically, most of their headlining statements in the adverts directly point at the immense potential, of online video games to cause addiction (Ashley & Boehlke 2012, p. 32). The use of statements like ‘just one more’, ‘page turner’ and ‘addictive gameplay’ is a recognition from the marketers of online video games that they can lead to addiction. Online games have a variation in design and complexity which accounts for their entertainment experience (Kowert et al. 2014, p. 388). This type of addiction could disguise itself as engagement. Engagement implies feeling a delightful and strong attraction to an experience. Underneath this is the state of powerlessness that the gamers find themselves. Much like in substance abuse, the gamer is not able to discontinue playing the game despite several attempts (Li, Liau & Khoo 2011, p. 537) Addiction has potential to cause deleterious effects in the gamer’s life. Problematic use of online video games has long been a persistent problem in the USA. It was recognized by the American Psychological Association in the 1990s and has been at the core of research studies in the subsequent decades (King, Delfabbro & Griffiths 2013, p. 74)  

The Structure of the Project Research Proposal

The human being is a proactive being with ability to self-organize as well as carry out a personal reflection on life issues rather than being reactive and malleable by external factors (Griffiths 2010, p. 38). This is according to the Social Cognitive Theory fronted by Bandura. Self-regulation sits at the core of this cognitive perspective. The processes that are initiated in the gaming individual by the content they are viewing (when it is violent gaming) have negative impact on the self-regulatory abilities. The rationale behind this is that internal constraints are better handled by the individual as compared to external influences.

A study conducted by the University of Oulu, Finland and the Nottingham Trent University in 2017 found that gamers run the risk of developing mental side effects. The report which was published in the Journal of Heath Psychology surveyed 130000 gamers between the ages of 12 and 88. The study revealed that gaming accounted for 15% of psychological disorders and conditions. Depression and anxiety were the leading conditions among them. Earlier in January 208, the World Health Organization announced that it would to its list of mental health conditions add gaming addiction (Saunders et al. 2017, p. 276). This announcement was made in anticipation of the 11^th International Classification of Diseases Diagnostic tool.

Aggression

There are two main models that have been employed by researchers to understand the aggression behavior that results from gaming; the General Aggression Model (GAM) and the Five Dimension of Video game Effects (Hellström et al. 2015, p. 268). This paper shall explore the GAM Model in understanding aggression as an effect of gaming. The GAM approach holds that a number of biological and personal-logical aspects interplay giving rise to aggressive behavior. According to this model exposure to violent scenes in online video games causes one to be desensitized to violence. Interacting with content that is violent in nature for long periods affects an individual’s cognitive, arousal and affective abilities e. g playing aggressive video games predisposes one to aggressive thoughts. Aggressive thought then primes one to act in hostile ways.

The impact of gaming (and especially violent online gaming) on one’s appraisal can best be understood using the Gaming Aggression Model. It postulates that violent media content primes on ones susceptibility (present internal state of mind or body) to alter the affective, arousal and cognitive processes (Ashley & Boehlke 2012, p. 33). Once the variables of an individual’s internal state are altered, appraisal and decision making are negatively impacted too. When an individual makes decision in this state of mind, they could be impulsive and not thoughtful. Also the possibility of one selecting a violent choice is increased. Stimuli that initiate violent thoughts also tends to result in erratic decision making processes (Sublette & Mullan 2012, p. 14). Behavioral responses usually have a feedback effect on the situation. In the long term this has a long lasting impact on an individual’s thought process, their emotions as well as feelings. There is a high likelihood of this kind of person developing a habitual pattern of reacting violently as shown in the table in the subsequent page.

Literature Review

Figure 1: Feedback Mechanism of Behavioral Responses (adapted from Hellström et al. 2015, p. 269)

Gaming has detrimental effects on the adolescent physical and mental health. Significant of the health problems pose their roost in the early years.  Various models such as Problematic Online Use Models that have integrated the outcomes of games have supported these adverse effects, and the mediums cause addiction those results in long-term detrimental effects to the users (Rikkers et al. 2016, p7). According to POUM, there are five dimensions that are euphoria, health problems, conflict, and failure of self-control and preference of virtual relationship. According to WHO, the Disability-adjusted life years (DALYs): a measurement used to determine the burden of diseases in the form of death and disability function (Pearcy ,McEvoy & Roberts 2017,p.128).

 Currently, about 45.2% of the adolescent are affected across the world that has recorded health problems such as muscle-skeletal issues, vision problems, obesity and epileptic seizure among others. Gaming is an addictive event that exposes the users to a long time sitting position that might affect the backbone and are related to other diseases such as obesity as the BMI increases due to less physical activity among the children (Melkeivik et al. 2015). Consequently, the long hours sitting position tends to affect the blood flow in the body hence resulting in heart diseases such as high blood pressure.  Finally, the long hour’s exposure to a computer screen that emits x-rays, infrared, invisible lights tends to affect the eyes of the users that might result in blindness.

Consequently, gaming has positive impacts on the callow youths. Researchers have proved that gaming increased the activity in the brain regions such as visual processing, sensorimotor integration, visual processing, and visual-spatial attention. Indulging in gaming at the tender and young age increases speed training of an individual that is very important in reducing long-term dementia and Alzheimer’s during old age (Saenz-de-Urturi et al.2015. p.1042). Scientist state that grey matter in the hippocampus that is responsible from enhancing memory always increases in young adults after engaging into video games hence a strategic method used to treat Alzheimer’s .study reveals that gaming at 5+ years and 10+ year raises the cognitive ability by 35.6% in the old age(Salama et al. 2012, p.340). Other benefits include emotional stabilizes, and stress reduction among the user hence reduces the probability of contracting diseases such as ulcers.

Ahn, Pellicone & Butler (2014) defined gamification as the impression of applying the operations, processes, and competition of the gaming setting and turning those elements into a system that encourages the adolescent participation and engagement. As indicated from the study, the techniques that are used to grab the attention of the gamers can be employed to facilitate the interaction between the adolescents (Barata et al., 2013, p. 12).   According to the definition, gamification tends to influence the emotions of an individual and can have both negative and positive impacts depending on how the personal engages him in the game. An individual with positive distress entails that he or she is either going through a positive practice or predisposed with the kind of emotions that comes as a result of gamification regardless of the contemporary experience. Since it also contributes to the subjective health, level of gamification impact depends majorly on the person’s self-self-reported perception or experiences rather than that of general explanation or definition provided earlier (Giannetto, Chao & Fontana, 2013, p. 193).

Gamification has been applied in several backgrounds such as healthcare, education, business and productivity (Adachi & Willoughby, 2011, p. 262). For instance, several instructions such as Aga Khan Schools give rewards to learners to learners for watching videos and at the same time for solving mathematical problems and fitocracy uses gamification to encourage learners to be more physically active (Berkling & Thomas, 2013). Gamification has components such as points, badges, leaderboards, and levels. Most of the studies (Barata et al., 2013) found that points offer an instant response that the learners found encouraging. Similarly, the studies also suggest that these points must be incorporated with other features of gamification in psychologically motivating the learners.

Still, in matters of health, gamification improves the ability to swiftly and precisely recognize visual information. According to study from a Medical research center in Israel, it was found that there is a straight connection between ability at video gaming and that at the keyhole in surgery. Experts who took most of their time or at least 4hrs/week playing video games made approximately 36% fewer errors in surgery and conducted the task 28% quicker than non-gaming experts.  

In various nations, adolescents are more on video games and the use is still on the rise. The situation has arisen a lot of questions and concerns like what kind of benefits or disadvantages do video games have on children, and what are the risks of prolonged involvement on video games create to the youths. Based on the findings from other studies, it is crystal clear that video games have negative effects on the behavior of the young ones. These are created through the content of the video games such as violent games that increase aggressive thoughts on the child. In this case, parental control is effective in ensuring that the negative contents are not consumed or even prohibit the contents perceived to be having adverse effects on the child.

Parental control can be manually done even though it comes with numerous challenges such as monitoring the use of gadgets that offer the gaming contents. In this case, conducting parent control using a suitable means such as software is recommended. Parental control software enables the parent to set or establish control or management on their children’s gaming. It is the best way to help children and prevent them from accessing unsuitable gaming contents. According to a study conducted by  Hamari, Koivisto & Sarsa (2014) parents are required to make sure that every gadget is protected through installing controls on every machine the child uses such as mobile phones, tablets, gaming consoles to restrict the usage and also enable only the user-friendly content for the young ones.  

The play has a positive impact on the progress of a child and some few on the adult life. The improvement of technology has changed the manner in which both children and adults play. Some studies have only indicated the adverse impacts of video gaming while a few others have shown the contrary impacts of video games. Both video games and console-based reflect an all-encompassing form of entertainment action in developed countries starting in the middle childhood to adulthood. As a form of entertainment, video games provide great value when it comes to the point that the brain is used and absorbed. That feature may have a positive result or outcome when the beleaguered experience of the game and the player himself is structured by good components such as sharpening senses and individual understanding. Similarly, as discussed earlier, other negative effects also come through the entertaining part of the video games. These include illusory and atrocious aggression, subconscious projection and acceptance of violence. However, it should be noted that negative side effects are created by the perception or conception of the player (Bowers & Cannon-Bowers, 2010, p. 34). Video games provide an outstanding form of entertainment value for a conscious mind when used in self-control. Video games can use up all the sagacity of importance for real strength out of a man’s soul.

According to the United States Economic Incorporated reports, video game industry recorded about $ 4.95 billion to the United States Gross Domestic Product since the tremendous growth of the entertainment and software sector. The sector has resulted in job creation of graphic designer, artists, and software developers among other positions that translates into increased salary. This positively affects the well-being of individuals as their economic status and purchasing power is improved (Fiedor et al. 2017, p.110). The financial situation is thus directly related to the health factors of an individual in various ways, for example, the emotional level is balanced through the attainment of the basics needs reducing the probability of contracting diseases such as ulcers, cardiovascular diseases, and loss of memory among many others.

On the other hand, the gaming sector also affects individual economic status negatively. An individual that is employed in developing the software and graphic designs are always exposed to various ultraviolet rays (Barreto & Adams  2011, p.8).  The diseases contracted from these economic activities destroy the capability of these individuals in participating in the economic activities in the future.

Gaming has numerous impacts on the adolescent’s life, both positive and negative. These impacts are further under psychological, behavioral, parental control, gamification, health issues, entertainment value and economic factors. Gamification has been used to facilitate the development of interaction among the adolescents to enhance the health status in healthcare, improve cognitive ability in schools and business productivity. The behavioral effects entail the imitations of the gaming activities by the youths and adolescent, that has led to an increased percentage of violence. The health impacts necessitate the high risk of diseases such as obesity, heart disease, and muscle-skeletal injury. However, gaming also positively impacts the well-being of individual by raising the cognitive ability of the youths that are important in the old age. Finally, the gaming has negatively impacted the effectiveness of the parental control on their children as most of them adopt some behavioral change that is not morally upright. For example, some adolescent end up spending a lot of their money on gambling.

An inductive research approach will be used to develop our research project in helping us explore the research problem, identify the various patterns as well as create a conceptual framework for the research. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods will be employed to help in analyzing the critical issues in the study where exploratory techniques will be used to analyze and evaluate the qualitative data while statistical analytical tools used to analyze the quantitative data (Griffiths et al. 2016, p. 20108). The information primary data will be conducted from groups of young adolescents in Malaysia as well as from their parents or immediate relatives.

 Secondary data will be collected from various journals and literature review articles developed in understanding the concept of gaming and its impact on psychological and health behavior, published articles and reports from the Malaysia mental health reports amongst young and adolescents groups as well the stories published by World Health Organization of spiritual and psychological diseases or health issues (King & Delfabbro, 2014, p. 302). The results or the findings will then be analyzed through the use of both qualitative and quantitative analytical techniques to present facts based on the collected information. Compared to the use of deductive research approach, the inductive approach will help us in generating untested conclusions of our research findings which will be very critical in the development of research concept concerning gaming and its impacts on psychological behavior and health (Kardefelt?Winther et al. 2017, p. 1711). Use of both qualitative and quantitative and qualitative approaches will help in increasing the reliability and validity as well as the relevance of our research findings. The methodology will provide in-depth analysis of our research question and therefore support the researchers to bank on the results for policy making about gaming activities in a bid to control their impacts on psychological and health behavior of adolescents groups in Malaysia.

Theoretical Framework and Measurements of Constructs

According to psychological behavior theory, the authors of the behavioral approach believed and argued that individual behavior is based or acquired through conditioning. In this case, conditioning occurred through the personal interaction with the environment (Kuss et al. 2017, p. 105). They argued that behavior can be understood or studied in a systematic and observable manner irrespective of the individual internal mental states. The primary variables under our study include digital gaming and psychological behavior and health. The research is focused on understanding the impact of gaming on psychological behavior and health amongst the adolescent’s groups in Malaysia. The effectiveness of our efforts to understanding the psychological functioning and social health will be determined by our understanding of human psychological behavior (Beard et al., 2017, p. 398). Therefore, behaviorism theory by Watson will contribute positively to enhancing our understanding of the impact of gaming activities on psychological behavior and health.

This study will, thus, be built around the concept of behaviorism and social learning theories to enhance our understanding of our research question and problem statement under analysis (Peeters et al. 2018, p. 260). The variables and findings will be measured using a unidimensional scale ranging from high to low in measuring the impact of gaming on psychological behavior as well as establishing the from strong or weak in regulating the relationship between gaming activities and psychological or social health behavior.

Sampling Plan and data collection methods

 Both random sampling and cluster sampling techniques will be employed in the development of this study. Random sampling will be used in identifying the research population which will be chosen randomly from different adolescents groups and their parents or relatives. This is to enhance the reliability of our findings by having a population sample of diversified groups (Young & Brand, 2017, p. 17). Cluster sampling will be used to group the identified population group based on various characteristics such as gender and age to enhance the development of our research findings and analysis. The population sample of 100 participants will be used and will consist of adolescents groups who are the main participants and have significantly been affected by digital games and their parents or relatives who indirectly are affected by their children behaviors and their social health (Voloshina et al. 2017, p. 280).

Data will be collected through the use of interviews with the parents as well as through the use of questionnaires and surveys for the young groups designed with specific questions that will help in enhancing our understanding or research problem and fact-finding process. The interviews will be conducted at a designated venue with the parents while the questionnaires and surveys will be filled randomly from various selected individuals randomly (Cheung et al. 2018, p. 8). The information gathered will then be organized together for analysis and development of report and recommendations based on the findings.

Limitations of the Research Methods and how the constraints affect the Research findings

The development of this research is however limited to the various limitations on the research methods which in one way or the other impact on the research findings. The limitations in this case act as constraints in enhancing reliable results. The following are possible limitations on the effectiveness of the above research methods

1.    Diversified users of gaming activities outside the scope of adolescents groups amongst the Malaysian Population
2.    Implementation of socialization strategies amongst parents and their adolescent groups to reduce social health problems
3.    Organization of the various population sample into different clusters samples without interfering with the objectives of the research
4.    Ethical issues concerning data collection methods such as interviews especially on critical health issues such as mental illness or disorders resulting from gaming addiction.
5.    Development of a conceptual plan and implementation given that some population groups may not be willing to cooperate in providing substantial information during data collection

The above limitations will therefore affect the reliability and validity of our research findings. A diversified group will affect the applicability of our research findings implying that they cannot be used for generalization purposes since they only focus on adolescent groups (Wichstrøm et al. 2018, p. 7). Implementation of socialization strategies will also be difficult given the different family and social dynamics in modern society. Organization of various sample groups is a great limitation as it may interfere with the data collection process where respondents may just provide information for the sake and not for objective purposes and therefore impacting on the reliability of the findings (Sun et al. 2017. P. 4). Ethical issues will also affect our research findings in that the respondents may not help us get the required information of psychological behavior.

Anderson, E.L., Steen, E. and Stavropoulos, V., 2017. Internet use and Problematic Internet Use: A systematic review of longitudinal research trends in adolescence and emergent adulthood. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 22(4), pp.430-454.

Beard, C.L., Haas, A.L., Wickham, R.E. and Stavropoulos, V., 2017. Age of Initiation and Internet Gaming Disorder: The Role of Self-Esteem. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 20(6), pp.397-401.

Billieux, J., Philippot, P., Schmid, C., Maurage, P., De Mol, J. and Van der Linden, M., 2015. Is dysfunctional use of the mobile phone a behavioural addiction? confronting symptom?based versus process?based approaches. Clinical psychology & psychotherapy, 22(5), pp.460-468.

Ahn, J., Pellicone, A., & Butler, B. 2014. Open badges for education: What are the implications at the intersection of open systems and badging? Research in Learning Technology, pp 22-33. doi: 10.3402/rlt.v22.23563

Barata, G., Gama, S., Jorge, J., & Gonçalves, D. 2013. Improving participation and learning with gamification. Proceedings of the First International Conference on gameful design, research, and applications, pp. 10-17. doi:10.1145/2583008.2583010

Bowers, C. A., & Cannon-Bowers, J. A. 2010. Serious game design and development: technologies for training and learning. Fifth edition. Hershey PA, Information Science

Giannetto, D., Chao, J., & Fontana, A. 2013. Gamification in a social learning environment. Issues in Informing Science & Information Technology, 10, 195.

Adachi, P. J., & Willoughby, T. 2011. The Effect of Video Game Competition and Violence on Aggressive Behavior: Which Characteristic Has the Greatest Influence? Psychology of Violence, 1(4), 259-274. doi:10.1037/a0024908

Hamari, J., Koivisto, J., & Sarsa, H. 2014. Does gamification work? — A literature review of empirical studies on gamification. Paper presented at the 2014 47th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 3025-3034. doi:10.1109/HICSS.2014.377

Cheung, J.C.S., Chan, K.H.W., Lui, Y.W., Tsui, M.S. and Chan, C., 2018. Psychological Well-Being and Adolescents’ Internet Addiction: A School-Based Cross-Sectional Study in Hong Kong. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, pp.1-11.

Ding, W. N., Sun, J. H., Sun, Y. W., Chen, X., Zhou, Y., Zhuang, Z. G., … & Du, Y. S. (2014). Trait impulsivity and impaired prefrontal impulse inhibition function in adolescents with internet gaming addiction revealed by a Go/No-Go fMRI study. Behavioral and Brain Functions, 10(1), 20.

Griffiths, M.D., Kuss, D.J. and Pontes, H.M., 2016. A brief overview of Internet gaming disorder and its treatment. Australian Clinical Psychologist, 2(1), p.20108.

Hussain, Z., Williams, G.A. and Griffiths, M.D., 2015. An exploratory study of the association between online gaming addiction and enjoyment motivations for playing massively multiplayer online role-playing games. Computers in Human Behavior, 50, pp.221-230.

Kardefelt?Winther, D., Heeren, A., Schimmenti, A., Rooij, A., Maurage, P., Carras, M., Edman, J., Blaszczynski, A., Khazaal, Y. and Billieux, J., 2017. How can we conceptualize behavioural addiction without pathologizing common behaviours?. Addiction, 112(10), pp.1709-1715.

King, D.L. and Delfabbro, P.H., 2014. The cognitive psychology of Internet gaming disorder. Clinical psychology review, 34(4), pp.298-308.

Kuss, D.J., Griffiths, M.D. and Pontes, H.M., 2017. Chaos and confusion in DSM-5 diagnosis of Internet Gaming Disorder: Issues, concerns, and recommendations for clarity in the field. Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 6(2), pp.103-109.

Lam, L. T. (2014). Internet gaming addiction, problematic use of the internet, and sleep problems: a systematic review. Current psychiatry reports, 16(4), 444.

Peeters, M., Koning, I. and van den Eijnden, R., 2018. Predicting Internet Gaming Disorder symptoms in young adolescents: A one-year follow-up study. Computers in Human Behavior, 80, pp.255-261.

Pontes, H.M. and Griffiths, M.D., 2014. Internet addiction disorder and internet gaming disorder are not the same. Journal of Addiction Research & Therapy, 5(4).pp. 6.

Sun, C.T., Chen, L.X. and Chu, H.M., 2018. Associations among scaffold presentation, reward mechanisms and problem-solving behaviors in game play. Computers & Education.pp. 4.

Voloshina, L.N., Kondakov, V.L., Kopeikina, E.N., Tretyakov, A.A. and Galimskaya, O.G., 2017. Investigation of Relationships in the Children’s Team in the Process of Sports Gaming. Journal of History Culture and Art Research, 6(4), pp.277-285.

Wang, C. W., Ho, R. T., Chan, C. L., & Tse, S. (2015). Exploring personality characteristics of Chinese adolescents with internet-related addictive behaviors: Trait differences for gaming addiction and social networking addiction. Addictive behaviors, 42, 32-35.

Wichstrøm, L., Stenseng, F., Belsky, J., von Soest, T. and Hygen, B.W., 2018. Symptoms of Internet Gaming Disorder in Youth: Predictors and Comorbidity. Journal of abnormal child psychology, pp.1-13.

Young, K.S. and Brand, M., 2017. Merging theoretical models and therapy approaches in the context of Internet Gaming Disorder: A personal perspective. Frontiers in psychology, 8.pp. 17.

Ashley, LL, & Boehlke, KK 2012, ‘Pathological Gambling: A General Overview’, Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, vol. 44, no. 1, pp. 27-37. Available from: 10.1080/02791072.2012.662078. [5 June 2018]

Barreto, S, & Adams, S 2011, ‘Digital technology and youth: A developmental approach’, Brown University Child & Adolescent Behavior Letter, 27, 6, pp. 1-6, Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 5 June 2018.

Sáenz-de-Urturi, Z, García Zapirain, B, & Méndez Zorrilla, A 2015, ‘Elderly user experience to improve a Kinect-based game playability’, Behaviour & Information Technology, 34, 11, pp. 1040-1051, Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 5 June 2018.

Fiedor, D, Szczyrba, Z, Šerý, M, Smolová, I, & Toušek, V 2017, ‘The spatial distribution of gambling and its economic benefits to municipalities in the Czech Republic’, Moravian Geographical Reports, 25, 2, pp. 104-117, Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 5 June 2018.

Rikkers, W, Lawrence, D, Hafekost, J, & Zubrick, S 2016, ‘Internet use and electronic gaming by children and adolescents with emotional and behavioural problems in Australia – results from the second Child and Adolescent Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing’, BMC Public Health, 16, 1, pp. 1-16, Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 5 June 2018.

Pearcy, B, McEvoy, P, & Roberts, L 2017, ‘Internet Gaming Disorder Explains Unique Variance in Psychological Distress and Disability After Controlling for Comorbid Depression, OCD, ADHD, and Anxiety’, Cyberpsychology, Behavior & Social Networking, 20, 2, pp. 126-132, Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 5 June 2018.

Melkevik, O., Haug, E., Rasmussen, M., Fismen, A. S., Wold, B., Borraccino, A., & … Samdal, O. (2015). Are associations between electronic media use and BMI different across levels of physical activity?. BMC Public Health, 15(1), 1-10. doi:10.1186/s12889-015-1810-6

Salama, H, Mahmoud, A, Kamel, A, Abdel Hady, M, & Awad, G 2012, ‘Brain delivery of olanzapine by intranasal administration of transfersomal vesicles’, Journal Of Liposome Research, 22, 4, pp. 336-345, Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 5 June 2018.

Donati, MA, Chiesi, F, Ammannato, G, & Primi, C 2015, ‘Versatility and Addiction in Gaming: The Number of Video-Game Genres Played Is Associated with Pathological Gaming in Male Adolescents’, CyberPsychology, Behavior & Social Networking, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 129-132. Available from: 10.1089/cyber.2014.0342. [5 June 2018].

Griffiths, M 2010, ‘Online video gaming: what should educational psychologists know?’, Educational Psychology in Practice, vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 35-40. Available from: 10.1080/02667360903522769. [5 June 2018]

Hellström, C, Nilsson, KW, Leppert, J, & Åslund, C 2015, ‘Effects of adolescent online gaming time and motives on depressive, musculoskeletal, and psychosomatic symptoms’, Upsala Journal of Medical Sciences, vol. 120, no. 4, pp. 263-275. Available from: 10.3109/03009734.2015.1049724. [5 June 2018].

King, DL, Delfabbro, PH, & Griffiths, MD 2013, ‘Trajectories of Problem Video Gaming Among Adult Regular Gamers: An 18-Month Longitudinal Study’, CyberPsychology, Behavior & Social Networking, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 72-76. Available from: 10.1089/cyber.2012.0062. [5 June 2018].

Kowert, R, Domahidi, E, Festl, R, & Quandt, T 2014, ‘Social gaming, lonely life? The impact of digital game play on adolescents’ social circles’, Computers in Human Behavior, vol. 36, pp. 385-390. Available from: 10.1016/j.chb.2014.04.003. [5 June 2018]

Li, D, Liau, A, & Khoo, A 2011, ‘Examining the Influence of Actual-Ideal Self-Discrepancies, Depression, and Escapism, on Pathological Gaming Among Massively Multiplayer Online Adolescent Gamers’, CyberPsychology, Behavior & Social Networking, vol. 14, no. 9, pp. 535-539. Available from: 10.1089/cyber.2010.0463. [5 June 2018].

Li, D, Liau, A, & Khoo, A 2011, ‘Examining the Influence of Actual-Ideal Self-Discrepancies, Depression, and Escapism, on Pathological Gaming Among Massively Multiplayer Online Adolescent Gamers’, CyberPsychology, Behavior & Social Networking, vol. 14, no. 9, pp. 535-539. Available from: 10.1089/cyber.2010.0463. [5 June 2018].

Saunders, Jb, Wei, H, Jiang, L, King, Dl, Mann, K, Fauth-Bühler, M, Rumpf, H, Bowden-Jones, H, Rahimi-Movaghar, A, Chung, T, Chan, E, Bahar, N, Achab, S, Hae Kook, L, Potenza, M, Petry, N, Spritzer, D, Ambekar, A, Derevensky, J, & Griffiths, MD 2017, ‘Gaming disorder: Its delineation as an important condition for diagnosis, management and prevention’, Journal of Behavioral Addictions, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 271-279. Available from: 10.1556/2006.6.2017.039. [5 June 2018]

Sublette, V, & Mullan, B 2012, ‘Consequences of Play: A Systematic Review of the Effects of Online Gaming’, International Journal of Mental Health & Addiction, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 3-23. Available from: 10.1007/s11469-010-9304-3. [5 June 2018