Prevalence and predisposing factors of digital game addiction and cyberbullying in adolescents: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Objectives

This research was conducted to measure the prevalence of digital game addiction and cyberbullying and their predisposing factors among adolescents.

Study design

A cross-sectional design.

Methods

The sample consisted of 1002 adolescents (the mean age was 15.77 (SD = 1.08), and 95.1 % boys) from a vocational high school. Data were collected through a questionnaire, the Digital Game Addiction Scale, and the Revised Cyberbullying Inventory-II. Associations were analyzed with multiple logistic regression analyses.

Results

The prevalence of digital game addiction was 41.5 %. The risk of digital game addiction was higher among adolescents who were cyberbullies (2.3 times), those who played games for 4 h or more (5.1 times), and those who played action/adventure (1.4 Times) and sci-fi games (1.5 times). The risk of cyberbullying was higher in adolescents who were addicted to digital games (2.3 times) or used the Internet for 5 h or more (2.2 times). Meeting on the Internet (2 times) and being a 9th-grader (2 times) compared to 10th and 11th-graders increased the risk of being a cyberbully.

Conclusions

The study concluded that about half of the adolescents were addicted to digital games, and the majority of them were cyberbullies. Common predisposing factor for digital game addiction and cyberbullying was found to be time spent on the Internet.