Effect of Addiction to Computer Games
computer games are the most popular entertainment in modern societies and they target a variety of people of different ages. The addiction to the rivalry and excitement of the games make them the most common recreational programs for today's teenagers so that they do anything to reach a higher level of the game, they immerse in the game so much that they are completely separate from their surroundings. Challenging with the obstacles and reaching a higher level in the game, make the players excited and losing the game make them anxious.1
Computer
games started in 1972 with Pang, a computer tennis game, and then developed in hardware and software systems. Improvement of quality and
variety of games increasingly spread it in the society especially
adolescences.2
It is believed that computer games like watching TV provide opportunities for visual learning. Especially because these games are
more active compared to watching TV, they are considered more effective.3
Since these games are known as the second entertainment after TV,
opponents of these games emphasize on their negative effects such as
stimulating anger and violence, costing a lot of money and having
negative effects of physical and mental health, which are much higher
than the positive effects of the games such as increasing the
coordination of eyes and hands.4
As Klein and Keepers mentioned in their research reports in 1990,
students who prefer computer games to other entertainments have more
behavioral problems than other students (cited from Patton).5
Currently, in Iran, a great part of students' leisure time out of school is spent on computer games.6
The reasons for adolescents' attraction to these games include being excited and easily accessible while authorities and families do not have any proper plan for students' leisure time and there are not many options for their entertainments. Playing computer games to some extent
can be useful, but long-term playing leads to various physical and
mental complications.7
Long term involvement with these games means the players' long term tension, restlessness and worrisome and during the game, physical tensions and real physical stimulations are experiences. By sympathetic nervous system stimulation, this can gradually make this system sensitive and ready for response to limited stimulants, while causes anxiety symptoms in the player. A study by Sherry et al (2001)
investigating the reasons for playing video and computer games by adolescents and their game priorities on 535 adolescents in age 15-20 in the West USA found that 68% of adolescents had these games as their weekly entertainment. The reasons for playing these games among boys were excitements and challenges and they insisted to win. Moreover,
sport and violent games were more attractive to boys.8
Development
of electronic and computer games are a great threat for youth and adolescents and can lead to psychological disorders and depression in these groups. In previous times, kids were involved playing with other
children, but children of today spend most of their time on computer
games as soon as they understand and acquainted with them, while these
games cannot create any emotional and human relationship.9
Children's
and adolescents' attractions to computer games cause many mental,
physical and social problems for them. These effects are stimulating anger and violence, obesity, epilepsy due to games, social isolation,
and other physical and mental damages. Many psychologists and mental
health professionals have paid attention to the effects of these games.10
The increasing prevalence of computer games among children and adolescents has made many researchers determine the effects of these games on players. In Iran, there are few and limited studies on the effects of addiction to computer games on players. Considering the increasing rate of addiction to computer games among Iranian adolescents and youth, the present study was conducted to investigate the effects of addiction to computer games on physical and mental health including physical health,
anxiety, and depression and impaired social functioning.
Methods
The
aim of this descriptive correlation study was to determine the effects
of computer games addiction on physical and mental health of male and
female students of guidance schools in Isfahan city.
The
study population includes all students in the second year of public
guidance schools in Isfahan city in the educational year of 2009-2010.
The sample size includes 564 students selected by multiple steps
stratified sampling method. Data were collected by using General Health
Questionnaire (GHQ-28) scale and a questionnaire on addiction to
computer games. To do this research, at first 3 districts (2-4) were
selected randomly among five districts of Isfahan Board of Education.
From each district, one boy and one girl guidance school was chosen
randomly. In total, 600 students were chosen for filling the
questionnaires, after obtaining the permission from Isfahan Board of
Education. The questionnaires distributed among sample. 564 students filled the questionnaires and returned to the researcher.
The
data collection instrument was included the form of GHQ-28 inventory of
physical and psychological health measurement. Another tool was
Antwan's (2008) questionnaire for addiction to computer. The Cronbach's
alpha was reported 0.92 by this researcher,11
since the validity and reliability of this questionnaire was not assessed for Iran; 30 students were selected as sample for a pilot study
and after data analysis, and the reliability was measured 0.76. This
questionnaire was based on Lickert scale and scored from 1 to 5. 1was
for very little and 5 scores were considered very much.
The
GHQ 28 inventory is created by Goldberg (1972) for diagnosing
psychological disorders in various centers and environments. The
questions are about the psychological condition in past month, including signs such as thought, abnormal emotions and dimensions of behavior that are observable. Therefore, questions emphasize the situation
(here and now). This questionnaire is the most known instrument for screening in psychiatry and has a significant effect on developing researches. This questionnaire is in forms of 30. 60. 12 and 28
questions.11
Results
The
the study population included 564 students including 263 girls (46.6%) and
301 boys (53.4%). These 564 students were divided into two groups of 467
students (82.8%) as non-addicts and 97 students who played with
computer games with a mean of 3 or higher (17.2%). The mean age of
participants was 13 years old.
Based on the findings presented in table 1,
correlation between addiction to computer games and physical complains,
anxiety and sleep disorder, a disorder in social functioning and
depression were significant in level P ≤ 0.05. Therefore, there was a
direct relationship between addiction to computer games and physical
disorders such as anxiety, sleep disorder and depression. But, there was
a positive correlation between addiction to computer games and social
dysfunction. In other words, based on the coefficient of determination, 4%
variance of addiction to computer games is common with physical
disorder, 12% with anxiety and sleep disorder, 1% with the disorder of
social functioning and 6% with depression.
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