Frontiers in Psychiatry (Aug 2022)

Pathological online game use of secondary vocational school students: Current situation and its relation to self-esteem and self-identity

  • Lixian Yang,
  • Yuan Chen,
  • Yuan Chen,
  • Mengxia Zhang,
  • Jinkun Zhang

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.937841
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13

Abstract

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Secondary Vocational School Students are particularly susceptible to online game addiction due to adolescent characteristics and superimposed pressures of academic and employment. Based on the theoretical framework of self-identity and self-esteem, the present research conducted a questionnaire survey using samples of secondary vocational school students to investigate the relationship between pathological online game use (POGU), self-esteem and self-identity. The results showed that 15.56% of secondary vocational students' level of POGU met the diagnostic criteria, and POGU and self-esteem appeared significant differences in gender and family types. Moreover, lower self-esteem and self-identity were associated with higher POGU and self-esteem played a partial mediating role in the relationship between self-identity and POGU. We briefly discussed practical implications of our findings and the future research.

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