The role of resilience in internet gaming disorder and risky online behaviours among Hong Kong adolescents

Abstract

Our adolescents are experiencing online risk unavoidably in this century, however, little research explored the protective factors of those harm from the risk of Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) and engaging in risky online behaviours. In the present study, the mediating effect of resilience and loneliness in the association between depression and symptoms of Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD), as well as in online risky behaviours were investigated. A sample of 1133 Chinese adolescents with 33% boys (Mean age=13.5, range= 10 to 17 years old) were recruited from multiple secondary schools and administered a battery of questionnaires that included measures of resilience, IGD symptomatology, risky online behaviours and loneliness. We used the PROCESS macro in SPSS to perform mediation and moderation analysis. Results revealed that 3.9 % of participants showed high risk of IGD, while those at-risk of IGD were 5.9%. A significant mediating effect of resilience in IGD and online risky behaviours were discovered. These results imply that clinicians and teachers should consider resilience as an element in intervention against the adverse effect of internet gaming addiction and risky online behaviours; to focus on mitigating the negative psychological effect and vulnerability by enhancing resilience in adolescents.