Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Mental Health
Date Submitted: Apr 22, 2018
Open Peer Review Period: Apr 23, 2018 - Jun 18, 2018
Date Accepted: Nov 10, 2018
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Gender moderates the partial mediation of impulsivity in the relationship between psychiatric distress and problematic online gaming
ABSTRACT
Background:
Research has shown that some individuals can develop problematic patterns of online gaming, leading to significant psychological and interpersonal problems. Psychiatric distress and impulsivity has been suggested to contribute to problematic online gaming (POG).
Objective:
The underlying mediating and/or moderating mechanism of impulsivity as well as gender differences in possible associations between psychiatric distress and POG are largely unknown, which guides this current study
Methods:
To address this gap, the current study examined relationships between self-reported impulsivity, psychiatric distress, and POG in a sample of matched Hungarian female and male online gamers (n=596, 50% males).
Results:
Results showed that psychiatric distress directly predicted POG, and impulsivity partially mediated the relationship between psychiatric distress and POG. However, this mediation effect was found only for the impatience subscale. Impulsivity did not moderate the relationship between psychiatric distress and POG. A moderating effect of gender was not found in the direct relationship between psychiatric distress and POG. However, a moderated mediation analysis revealed that impatience mediated the association between psychiatric distress and POG in males, whereas the indirect effect of impatience was not significant in females.
Conclusions:
Future implications are discussed in light of these results. Clinical Trial: N/a
Citation
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Copyright
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