Online gaming motives, family relationships, and personality among Indian youth

Abstract

Background:

Youth involvement in gaming has become an important concern for mental health professionals due to its significant impact on functionality and relationships. However, the gaming motives and associated family relationships and personality traits in the Indian context are poorly understood.

Aim:

The study examined problematic online gaming, including Internet gaming disorder in connection to gaming motives and personality, especially as they impact family relationships among Indian youth.

Materials and Methods:

The study consisted of 179 participants (86 males; 93 females) with the age range of 18–25 years who were involved in Internet gaming in the last 1 year. The subjects were recruited using an online survey. Tools used were brief and included the Gaming Usage Questionnaire, Internet Gaming Disorder Scale-Short-Form, Motivation for Online Gaming Questionnaire UCLA Loneliness Scale, Sheehan Disability Scale, Brief Family Relationships Questionnaire, and MINI International Personality Item Pool.

Results:

The mean age of the participants was 21.99 ± 2.202 years. A stepwise multivariate regression analysis indicated that escape and competition motives, low cohesion in family relationships, low level of conscientiousness, and low level of intellect/imagination contributed to problematic gaming behaviors.

Conclusions:

The study established a relationship between gaming motives and both internal and external factors associated with problematic online gaming. Generalizing the findings across a larger youth population would help in developing informed preventive measures to reduce the risk of developing a gaming disorder.

Online gaming refers to an interaction between a player, a machine with an electronic visual display, and in some cases, other players, occurring in a meaningful fictional context and sustained by an emotional attachment between the player and the outcomes of their actions within this fictional context.[1] Research suggests that 64% of adults play video games; out of which, 59% are male. On an average, men tend to play 19 minutes longer than women.[2] Recent market research indicates that being male is identified as a major risk factor to developing gaming addiction.[3] With the influx of easily affordable smartphones in India, online gaming has shown an increasing trend in India, with approximately 6.92 hours being spent on gaming. Metanalytic research suggests that gaming by itself has been associated with significant positive benefits such as mental stimulation, better cognitive skills, relief, stress management, improved problem solving, and connecting with the larger community to name a few.[4] However, the long duration of gameplay is problematic, especially if individuals play longer than 5 hours a day.[5,6] Negative effects include impairment in academic achievement, tiredness, and even antisocial behavior.[7] Mental and physical health conditions such as anxiety, depression, social withdrawal, headaches, backaches, and muscular-skeletal dysfunction especially while playing multiplayer games further compound the problem.[8,9,10] Evidence consistently points toward neurobiological similarities between gaming addiction and other substance use disorders.[11] The reward pathways in both have been similarly implicated, with reduced level of dopamine and increased level of stress-related corticotropin and noradrenaline.[12] In behavioral terms, the pleasure experienced by gameplay initially needs to be sustained for the greater duration to avoid negative consequences such as withdrawal. However, the prevalence of online gaming addiction is vague due to shifting definitions, type of criteria used and diagnostic thresholds, and different questionnaires across different populations.

To understand the phenomena more comprehensively, gaming motives have been tested, which suggest that playing for enjoyment and recreation leads to the reasons for play.[11,13] Another research study suggests that the social aspects of playing (cooperation and communication) were the main motivation for gaming in addition to escapism (avoiding problems) and seeking the experience of flow, that is, a sense of complete immersion in the game.[14] However, gaming motives that could potentially contribute to development of a disorder needs further examination. This is important since gaming has been associated with greater degrees of isolation, emotional dysregulation and conflicts within the family context. Personality has also been found to be associated with gaming behavior.[15] A highly competitive individual might prefer games that also provide the opportunity to compete. Braun et al.[16] (2016) found that gamers with a preference for action games scored lowest on the trait of neuroticism. Another study found that preference for violent video games was associated with high extraversion and openness to experience.[17] Those who score high on emotional stability and agreeableness generally do not prefer such games. Borders (2012) found that gamers with low extraversion scores chose games involving cognitive processing more than action.[18] These highlight the relationship between type of games played and the underlying personality traits that could lead an individual to choose such games. While there is a significant body of literature available that studies these variables in the Western setting, there is a need to examine the same in India, especially among the urban youth population, wherein access and interest to online games may be higher.

These disparate findings, therefore, suggest a need to examine factors associated with online gaming among the Indian youth. A comprehensive understanding of predictors of gaming motives, relationships, and personality traits is the need of the hour and would help in studying these within the context of both, gaming, as well as its representation in the Indian culture.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A total of 243 Internet gamers playing/played games in the age range of 18–25 years in the last 1-year period were approached through online social media platform using convenience sampling. The comprehensive details of the study were widely circulated across popular social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp. We targeted individual gamers within the age range of 18–25, who had engaged in gaming activities on digital platforms, both online and offline, within the past year. The gamers were invited to participate in the study, and those interested were able to access the complete study information by simply clicking in the provided Google Forms link alongside the circulated materials.

Upon accessing the Google Forms link, participants were presented with a thorough informed consent form, which outlined the study’s purpose and procedures. After carefully reviewing this document, participants had the options to willingly provide their consent and actively take part in the study. Out of 243 gamers who thoroughly examined the study details within the informed consent form, a total of 179 participants voluntarily consented to participate in the study and successfully completed the subsequent assessments. All the participants were fully informed and willingly agreed to contribute to the study. A total of 64 individuals did not give consent and were excluded from the study. The final sample therefore comprised 179 participants (86 males, 93 females). Informed consent was sought from all participants. This study was approved by the Institute Ethics Committee Review Board and was initiated at a tertiary care mental health facility in Bengaluru city, Karnataka (IRB Ethics Committee Clearance: No. NIMH/DO/BEH, Sc. Div./2020-21; dated: 05.10.2020). The center was chosen because of the presence of a specialized clinic that promoted healthy Internet usage. All recruitment of participants was conducted online. Data was collected between 2000 and 2021. The tools used were included to identify gaming disorders, motives, relationships, psychiatric disorders, isolation, and personality:

Gaming Usage Questionnaire: In addition to socio-demographic details, the questionnaire taps into the average number of hours played per week, the average duration of each playing session, the genre of the games, and an estimate of how much of each player’s life is spent engaged in these games, preference for online interaction and playing games over real-life interactions, preferred lighting over while playing games, whether or not prefer sound and music while playing games, and whether or not the participant identified as a “gamer”.

Internet Gaming Disorder Scale-Short-Form (IGDS9-SF): It is nine items scale with higher scores indicating a higher degree of Internet gaming disorder. The scale was also reliable with an internal consistency with Cronbach’s alpha of 0.89.[19]

Motivation for Online Gaming Questionnaire (MOGQ): It is a 27-item self-reported questionnaire assessing the full range of motives for online gaming, including escape, coping, fantasy, skill development, recreation, competition, and social. The instrument uses a 5-point Likert scale. Internal consistencies were reported ranging from 0.79 to 0.90 (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.912).[20]

Brief Family Relationship Scales (BFRS): It is adapted from the 27-item relationship dimension of the Family Environment Scale (FES) consisting of Cohesion, Expressiveness, and Conflict subscale. These subscales measure support, expression of opinions, and angry conflict within a family.[21]

UCLA 3-item Loneliness Scale (UCLA-LS3): It is three items scale to gauge the general feelings of loneliness quite well. The alpha coefficient of reliability for the three-item version is. 72, the internal consistency for a three-item scale is quite good and indicates that the items reliably measure loneliness in a large sample.[22]

Sheehan Disability Scale (SDS): It assesses functional impairment in three interrelated domains; work/school, social, and family life. The sensitivity of 83% and specificity (69%) is for patients with any of the following six mental disorders (alcohol dependence, drug dependence, general anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and panic disorder).[23]

MINI International Personality Item Pool (MINI IPIP): It is a 20 items questionnaire to measure five traits (Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and Intellect). The Internal consistency of the questionnaire is 0.60[24]

All tools were administered online. To ensure that the ethical standards were maintained, consent was considered an essential aspect of the study. Measures were put in place to safeguard participants’ anonymity.

Statistical analysis

We used the Statistical Package for the Social Science version 20.0 for Windows (SPSS International Business Machines Corp, Armonk, NY, USA) to compute the study data. Mann–Whitney U test was used to compare the medians of both the groups (males and females) with the variables. A Chi-square test was used to test categorical variables. Multivariate analysis was carried out using stepwise regression analysis to examine associations between Internet gaming disorder with motives, personality, and relationships.

RESULTS

The mean age of the participants was 21.99 ± 2.202 years [Table 1], who were predominantly urban students. We used a clinical data sheet to identify the types of games played. The most common type of the video games played by the participants were adventure (35.8%), puzzle (35.2%), action (30.7%), racing games (31.3%), and sports (28.5%). The least type of the games preferred by the participants was casino (0.6%), trivia (2.2%), and arcade (7.8%). Interestingly, over half the sample (N = 103; 57.5%) reported playing <1 hour per day. While the study reported casual and novice gamers as well, approximately 11% reported being expert gamers. This could be suggestive of increased gameplay. Smartphone were the primary choice (N = 162; 90.5%), followed by laptops (N = 78; 43.6%), and gaming consoles. Use of tablets was minimal.

Table 1.

Socio-demographic profile of participants

Socio-demographic variables	Frequency	Percent
Sex
Male	86	48
Female	93	52
Age
18–21	65	36.3
22–25	114	63.7
Years of education
12–15	96	53.6
Above 15	83	46.4
Occupation
Student	99	55.3
Homemaker	2	1.1
Employed	49	27.4
Currently unemployed	29	16.2
Marital Status
Single	154	86.0
Married	7	3.9
In a relationship	17	9.5
Divorced	1	0.6
Family Type
Nuclear	132	73.7
Joint	35	19.6
Single Parenting	11	6.1
Extended	1	0.6
Domicile
Rural	61	34.1
Urban	118	65.9
Residing
Alone	12	6.7
With Family Members	141	78.8
With Friends	26	14.5

Overall, the means obtained for Internet gaming disorder were below the cut-off (M = 18.75; SD = 8.35). About 22.30% of participants reported feeling lonely and had dysfunctions across occupation, social, and family relationships [Table 2]. Anger was reported with game interruptions as well as conflicts in the family [Table 3]. Tilting was associated with greater family cohesiveness and greater conflicts [Table 3]. It was also associated with gaming motives such social, escaping, fantasy, and recreation [Table 4]. While most of the gaming motives were recreation, dreaming about playing games was associated with different motives such as to escape or cope with conflicts. Competitiveness emerged as a significant motive for gaming [Table 4].

Table 2.

Means and Standard Deviations of Gaming Disorder, Loneliness, Functional Impairment, and Family Environment

	Mean	Std. deviation (S.D)	N (M±S.D)
Gaming disorder	18.75	± 8.350	28 (15.6%)
Loneliness	5.12	± 1.807	40 (22.3%)
Functional Impairment
Work/School	3.16	± 2.479	32 (17.9%)
Social Life	3.25	± 2.539	36 (20.1%)
Family Life	3.32	± 2.615	38 (21.2%)
Family Environment
Cohesion	6.37	± 4.427	35 (19.6%)
Expressiveness	3.30	± 2.672	48 (26.8%)
Conflict	8.28	± 3.824	28 (15.6%)

Table 3.

Distribution of the dreaming about gaming, anger expression, and tilting among youth

	Cohesion	Expressiveness	Conflict
Dream about gaming	0.104	0.186*	0.161*
Change in expression of anger after playing games	0.066	-0.050	0.165*
Experiencing tilting	0.160*	0.023	0.181*

*P<0.05 level. Using Chi-square test (n=179)

Table 4.

Distribution of gaming usage and motivation for gaming among youth

	S	E	COM	COP	SD	F	R
Preference for sound and music while playing games	0.091	0.101	0.1370	0.103	0.174*	0.131	0.228**
Change in preference of games	0.089	0.029	0.015	0.067	0.110	0.151*	0.138
Participating in gaming tournament	0.209**	0.033	0.134	0.166*	0.213**	0.117	0.191*
Preference for online than real-life interaction	0.316**	0.241**	0.331**	0.206**	0.133	0.325**	0.180*
Dream about gaming	0.192*	0.399**	0.188*	0.370**	0.330**	0.245**	0.286**
Change in expression of anger after playing games	0.209**	0.158*	0.194**	0.178*	0.055	0.193**	0.108
Benefits of playing games	0.087	0.067	0.033	0.272**	0.455**	0.084	0.372**
Experiencing tilting	0.150*	0.264**	0.140	0.137	0.080	0.171*	0.155*

*P<0.05 level**p<0.01 level, using Chi-square test (n=179). S=Social, E=Escape, Com=Competition, Cop=Coping, SD=Skill Development, F=Fantasy and R=Recreation

Internet gaming disorder was associated with preference for online than real-life interaction, experiencing dreams about gaming, change in the expression of anger after playing games, and state of mental/emotional confusion or frustration while playing games and loneliness. This was also associated with low conscientiousness and introversion. Tilting was positively associated with both, Internet gaming disorder, as well as loneliness, but not with any personality variables [Table 5]. Furthermore, all of the above variables were significantly associated with impairments in occupational, social and family relationships, with gaming disorder having the highest association [Table 6]. A stepwise multiple regression analysis was conducted to understand predictors of Internet gaming disorder. This indicated that escape and competition motivation for gaming predicts Internet gaming disorder. Furthermore, low cohesion in family relationships, low levels of personality traits of conscientiousness and imagination also predicted Internet gaming disorder.

Table 5.

Distribution of the gaming usage and Internet Gaming Disorder, Loneliness, and Personality Traits among youth

	IGD	L	Personality Traits
			E	A	C	N	I
Preference for sound and music while playing games	0.147*	0.046	0.028	−0.029	0.017	−0.068	0.044
Participating in gaming tournament	0.011	−0.072	0.058	0.058	−0.044	−0.149*	0.096
Preference for online than real-life interaction	0.397**	0.159*	0.007	0.032	−0.310**	−0.037	−0.218**
Dream about gaming	0.321**	0.111	−0.089	0.086	0.015	−0.024	0.090
Change in expression of anger after playing games	0.278**	0.084	0.079	−0.096	−0.134	0.018	−0.096
Benefits of playing games	0.061	0.055	−0.011	0.237**	0.242**	−0.176**	0.247**
Experiencing Tilting	0.195**	0.170*	−0.139	−0.042	−0.017	−0.004	−0.015

*P<0.05 level** P<0.01 level, using Chi-square test (n=179). IGD=Internet Gaming Disorder, L=Loneliness, E=Extraversion, A=Agreeableness, C=Conscientiousness, N=Neuroticism, and I=Intellect/Imagination

Table 6.

Relationship between gaming usage and functional impairment due to gaming behavior in work/school, social, and family life among youth

	Work/School	Social	Family
Preference for sound and music while playing games	0.079	0.031	0.060
Change in preference of games	0.049	−0.20	0.018
Participating in gaming tournament	−0.053	0.089	0.080
Preference for online than real-life interaction	0.215**	0.353**	0.249**
Dream about gaming	0.233**	0.183**	0.218**
Change in expression of anger after playing games	0.183**	0.225**	0.223**
Benefits of playing games	−0.116	−0.059	−0.111
State of mental/emotional confusion or frustration	0.179*	0.173*	0.202*
Internet Gaming Disorder	0.602**	0.637**	0.630**

**P<0.01 level *P<0.05 level

DISCUSSION

The study highlighted the relationship between online gaming with functional impairments, motives, family context, and personality traits. The sample comprised young, single urban students staying with their families [Table 1]. The study was restricted to young adults so as to ascertain specific problematic gaming behaviors in this age group. When one examines this in the context of Internet gaming disorder, which was below the cut-off, this finding could reveal the transition of a game player from use to disorder with time and age. Contrary to expected results, the findings indicate that in the urban Indian context, gaming disorder may be higher among older populations, which has significant implications for preventive programs in the younger population. Loneliness was significant in the sample; aligned with international studies that indicate higher levels of loneliness.[22] This is particularly significant in the Indian context, wherein, relationships play a significant supportive factor. Absence of the same could evoke greater loneliness, as seen in the present study. As expected, the study revealed impairments in different life domains, which is aligned with previous literature that indicates that the pre-existing conflicts in the workplace, family, and social relationships could facilitate gaming usage in the individual.[25] Interestingly, all gamers reported approximately one hour per day spent on gaming. Given the extent of pathology, this suggests that the types of games played, in connection with other pathological domains could contribute to problematic gaming.

The study also documented the association of low level of conscientiousness and low level of imagination, escape, alongside high competition and escape motives with Internet gaming disorder. A similar trend has been observed in other studies as well, wherein high levels of family cohesion weakened the anxiety-related Internet gaming disorder risk.[4] Along similar lines, Liao et al.,[26] 2020 found that conscientiousness is negatively associated with gaming disorder. This could indicate that difficulty in taking up responsibilities or completing assignments may be associated with escape through gaming. Interestingly, imagination capacities were found to be low, which suggests that Indian youth may prefer structured games with clear guidelines rather than those that include fantasy and creating virtual personas. Previous attempts to understand the relationship between the different gaming behaviors and personality traits have been quite consistent with the current findings as well as behavior.[1,3,15] Thus, clearly shows an indication to study exclusively the manifestation of different personality traits in the gaming pattern and gaming disorders. An important finding of the present study was that the personality trait of neuroticism did not emerge significant in the population. While studies have shown a link between neuroticism, especially anxiety and emotional vulnerability with problematic gaming, this finding may be suggestive of underlying personality strengths among the Indian youth.

A unique finding of the present study was the gender differences in Internet gaming. The study showed the presence of a difference between males and females for the average duration of each video game playing session per day, the maximum duration of the game played in one sitting, type of gamer, preference in sounds and music while playing video games, participation in the gaming tournament, experiencing dreams about gaming, change in expression of anger after playing games, experiencing tilting while playing games, functional impairment due to gaming behavior in work/school, social, and family life, and motivation for engaging in online gaming. Males were found to score higher in all these domains. The previous literature findings indicating males tend to have high vulnerability to gaming addiction are reflected in this study as well[3,27] despite including high number of female participants in the study.

The relationship between gaming usage and social motivation can be understood using the “Interpersonal Impairment Hypothesis” which suggests that gaming disorder is linked to poor interpersonal wellbeing, as excessive time spent gaming prevents accumulating social resources and gaining emotional support from real-life social networks.[28] Studies have also reported that individuals with a high level of social motivation for gaming have scored lower in their social self-efficacy and interpersonal trust measured by peer attachment,[29] which in turn further facilitates the online interaction over real-life interaction. Socializers also like to collaborate and enjoy the interaction in games[30,31] which in turn further enhance gaming usage. The role of escape motivation in the gaming usage of the current study has also been observed in the previous works of literature.[32] The change in anger can be explained by the motive as the intention is to escape from some sort of unpleasant situation. The tilting suggests that though the motive is to escape, the consequences may not always be as intended. Gaming usage and competition motivation are also observed in the literature similar to the current study. Competition within the gaming environment such as leader boards has the potential to increase the player’s level of engagement in the gaming.[33] The coping motivation could be explained by the common comorbidities for gaming disorder including bipolar disorder and depression.[34,35] The skill development motivation can also be linked to the “Self-determination theory” which focuses on the intrinsic and extrinsic factors that play a role in gaming.[36] Barr (2018) qualitatively found that the gamers tend to perceive multidimensional areas in which skills are being developed that further facilitate the gaming usage within the individuals.[37] The fantasy motivation and the gaming usage trends were also observed across the kinds of literature. Kim et al. (2016)[25] found that role-playing games that involve fantasy are related to Internet gaming disorder among adults. Fantasy motivation is likely to be the influencing factor for explorers who play to discover new things and enjoy surprises in games.[30,31] Recreation motivation was found to be un-associated with functional impairment. Thus, it may be a healthy leisure activity that is enjoyable and relaxing.[11]

The study also expanded on the concept of tilting, which is closely associated with gambling and refers to the problems that arise from poor money management and a lack of self-control while playing. This concept was adapted to online/offline gaming and described as part of the player experience. Broadly, tilt is an emotional reaction to in-game events that cause a deterioration in gameplay. Tilt in online/offline gaming in digital media is primarily associated with frustration and rage while playing and comes up alongside investigations of toxic or deviant behavior. Like in other sports, it is followed by repetitive play, which may lead to losing streaks that negatively impact player experience and may even disengage players from the game itself. Interestingly, tilting was associated with greater family conflicts, with gaming motives of social, escaping, fantasy, and recreation, and with Internet gaming disorder and loneliness. This highlights the importance of examining the concept of tilting in the development of a disorder.

However, there were certain limitations to the study. The sample was restricted to young adults, which limits generalizability to other age group. The data was also collected completely in an online modality, which leads to certain disadvantages such as being less likely to be fully engaged in the completion of the questionnaire, low response rates or provide socially desirable responses. This response rate of 73.66% (179 out of 243 individuals) raises concerns about the representativeness of the sample and the generalizability of the findings. It is possible that the characteristics or motivations of the individuals who chose not to participate differ from those who did, which leads to potential non-response bias. Therefore, caution should be exercised when interpreting and applying the results of this study, taking into account the potential limitations associated with the low response rate. A greater sample size would further help generalize the findings in future studies. On the other hand, having an equal distribution of males and females, utilizing brief tools, and maintaining ethical standards to collecting data were significant strengths of the study. Overall, the study revealed that within the Indian scenario, gaming motives such as to escape and cope with problematic life situations, loneliness, competitiveness, family conflicts, and low conscientiousness are all associated with gaming difficulties, and unless addressed, may contribute to Internet gaming disorder in the future.

CONCLUSION

The study revealed that problematic Internet gaming was associated with motives such as to escape or cope with difficult life situations including loneliness, family conflicts, and low conscientiousness and imagination. The findings would help in evolving preventive programs to help prevent problematic gaming from turning into a disorder that can be applied to the young population.

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.