The PMDWell framework: A confirmatory factor analysis of video game players’ wellbeing

Despite the video game moral panics that have sprung up since the early 1990s, videogames remain a popular medium, increasing in capacity and market value every year. With the growth in the number of digital game players came the growth of uncertainty over the impacts of video games on wellbeing. The new generations are growing upsurrounded by ubiquitous, always-available digital technology and increasingly practice digitally mediated socialisation. The cultural shift suggests a change in the conceptualisation of wellbeing that can explain the phenomena of video game playing deaths.

A Player Multidimensional Wellbeing scale (PMDWell) is presented. The scale was derived from a conceptual framework drawn from existing literature on video game specific influences on wellbeing, and tested of 443 participants aged 13 to 65 worldwide. Teenagers were included due to the prevalence of gamers in the younger population. The scale constructs were validated using confirmatory factor analyses, ranging from good to excellent model fits, validity and reliability. We concluded that player wellbeing is a multidimensional construct with internal (social functioning, mental health) and external (physical health, life circumstances) dimensions.

Compared to other measures of wellbeing, PMDWell offers a broader understanding of wellbeing in the digital era that can be used to promote and maintain good health and perhaps highlight the lifestyle changes needed to optimise wellbeing and improve mental health. Future research could seek to replicate our validation in wider populations to enable demographic comparisons, especially comparing adolescents and young adults.