Abstract
Introduction
With the advancement of technology over the last years, gaming is no longer reserved to adolescents. It has become a growing phenomenon within young adults which should,’t be overlooked as it is accompanied with the risk of addiction.
Objectives
To study the factors involved in video games addiction behaviors in adults
Methods
We conducted a cross-sectional, descriptive and analytical study. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire on social networks. We solicited adults between 18–40 years. We used the gaming addiction scale (GAS) in its validated Arabic short version.
Results
A hundred and nine participants were included. The mean age was 29.6 ±10.3 with a sex ratio of 1.5.The mean age of the beginning of regular gaming was 16.3± 8.64. we found that40.4% of our participants preferred the mode Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPG) while others played casual single player games. A play time of over 20 hours per week was reported by 11.9%of participants. According to the GAS, 25.7%were addicted gamers. Our participants spent an average of 7.94±6.71 hours before they play their first game of the day. We found that the score of Gas was significantly correlated to the male gender of the participants (p<0.000), a higher number of weekly gaming hours (p<0.000),a lower number of hours before gaming (P<0.000) and the mode of games (p<0.000).
Conclusions
Our study showed that contextual factors play an important role in understanding gaming addiction in young adults as a holistic phenomenon,embedding the problematic behavior within the context of the individual the game and gaming practices.
Disclosure
No significant relationships.
Keywords: gaming, Addiction, adults