Increased Aggression and Loneliness as Potential Effects of Pathological Video-Gaming among Adolescents

Article Title: Increased Aggression and Loneliness as Potential Effects of Pathological Video-Gaming among Adolescents

Author(s): Halima Sadia Qureshi and Mussarat Jabeen Khan Uzma Masroor

Institute(s): GC University, Lahore International Islamic University, Islamabad

Journal: Pakistan Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 2013, Vol. 11, No.1, 66-71

Correspondence Address: Halima Sadia Qureshi, Trainee, Clinical Psychology Unit G. C. University, Lahore. Email: halimasaadiya@hotmail.com

Abstract

The present research was conducted to examine the impact of video games on changing the levels of aggression and loneliness in adolescents. It was hypothesized that the adolescent and male pathological gamers are more aggressive and lonely than non-pathological and female gamers. In this study three scales were used, the first one was to measure the pathological video gaming by Video Game Addiction Scale of Gentile (2006); the second scale was to measure loneliness by R-UCLA Scale of Russell (1996 ), the third scale was Aggression Scale of Pamela Orpinas (Orpinas, 2001). The sample consisted of 150 adolescents, divided into 76 male and 74 female, age ranged from 12 to 20 years. Results indicated a significant variation between males and females on Video Game Addiction scale. There is also a significant difference between males and females in the loneliness scale, and there is a significant difference between males and females on the aggression scale. It was concluded that pathological video gaming can induce aggression and create feelings of loneliness among adolescents.

Keywords: pathological video game, aggression, loneliness, game addiction

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