Video gaming in university students: a longitudinal study with ecological momentary assessment and usage tracker in smartphones

Professor Wang, Man Ping   (Principal Investigator (PI))

Dr Chen Chen Shen   (Co-Investigator)

Professor Cheung Yee Tak Derek   (Co-Investigator)

Ms Guo Ningyuan   (Co-Investigator)

Professor Fong Daniel Yee Tak   (Co-Investigator)

Mr Luk Tzu Tsun   (Co-Investigator)

Dr Wong Janet Yuen Ha   (Co-Investigator)

18

2019-05-01

2020-10-31

53260

Video gaming in university students: a longitudinal study with ecological momentary assessment and usage tracker in smartphones

behavioral risk, Ecological momentary assessment, internet gaming disorder, longitudinal study, mental health, sensing technologies

Others - relating to Social SciencesPopulation Health

201811159086

Seed Fund for PI Research – Basic Research

2018

Completed

Parallel to upsurges of digital technologies use worldwide is a growing public health concern of problematic use of electronic devices and related behaviors such as video gaming [1]. Gaming is a normal recreational activity with beneficial effects on the cognitive function and psychosocial health of gamers [2, 3]. However, disordered gaming behavior could lead to severe and sustained physical and mental health problems and functional impairment, which may constitute a form of behavioral addiction [4, 5]. In 2013, the American Psychology Association (APA) has for the first time included non-substance addiction in 5th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) and appended ""internet gaming disorder"" (IGD) as a condition needing further research for consideration as a legitimate mental disorder [6]. In June 2018, the World Health Organization (WHO) included ""gaming disorder"" as a diagnosis in the 11th edition of International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), subject to approval by the World Health Assembly in 2019. Formalizing problematic gaming as a clinical entity has stirred up a heated debate among scholars in this area. Some considered the inclusion timely as this may raise public awareness, promote standardized research and public health measures against gaming disorder [7-14], although others argued that it is premature and risky due to potentials of overdiagnosis, moral panic and stigmatization of gamers [15-17]. These debate stems from the lack of consensus on the conceptualization and measurement of gaming disorder due to the limited research in this area [18]. Many studies relied on data collected at a single time-point using retrospective self-reported measures of psychological and behavioral status [16, 19]. This precludes the assessment of the complex relationship between sustained and momentary changes in psychological status and impulses to play video game. Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) involve repeated measurements of an individual’s psychological status or behaviors at multiple time point [20]. The status in real-time (in-the-moment) and natural environment (real-world context) reduce recall bias and improve ecological validity of the measures. EMA can better capture the dynamics between psychosocial processes (e.g., mood) and behaviors (e.g., video gaming) than traditional retrospective survey. Apart from EMA, sensing technologies in smartphones (e.g. accelerometer, GPS, usage logs) permit passive/ unobtrusive tracking of the participants’ smartphone activity including video gaming without having the need to prompt the participants with questions (minimizing response burden) [21, 22]. Smartphone tracker also allows recording of game genre (e.g. Action/ Adventure/ Role playing/ Sport), structural characteristics of the video game (e.g., presence of predatory monetization scheme) and level of involvement of the video game – features of the video game that may influence the uptake, development and maintenance of video gaming overtime [23, 24]. Information about the use of other smartphone applications, including communication tools and social networking sites (SNS; e.g., Facebook and Instagram), which are internet-related behaviors that are linked to problematic gaming and internet use, can also be recorded. Combining EMA and smartphone tracker holds promises in advancing the research methodology of gaming disorder. Smartphone penetration in Hong Kong (88.6%) is among the highest in the world with nearly all residents aged 15 to 34 years owning a smartphone (>99%) [25]. Local studies on problematic gaming is scarce, although a study has suggested problematic gaming assessed by the Game Addiction Scale (GAS) is prevalent (15.6%) in Hong Kong adolescents [26], which is much higher than adolescents elsewhere (4.6%) [27]. A population-based study showed that about half (48.0%) of the general adult in Hong Kong reported playing video gaming at least weekly [28]. The proposed study seeks to overcome the limitation in the literature by employing EMA and smartphone tracking to collect empirical data on gaming disorder. With a sample of university students in Hong Kong, the study aims to: 1. Examine the sociodemographic, health behavioural and psychosocial factors and game characteristics associated with video gaming behaviour and gaming disorder. 2. Examine the associations of video gaming behaviour, game characteristics and self-reported gaming disorder with health consequences at 6-month.