Depression consistently predicted (IGD) tendency in a study involving 1,243 Chinese undergraduate student gamers.
Negative significantly predicted both depression and IGD tendency.
Two mediation paths were identified: negative metacognitions leading to depression, which then led to IGD tendency, and vice versa.
The study found no evidence that IGD tendency predicted depression.
Negative metacognitions had a stronger prospective effect on depression and IGD tendency than positive metacognitions.
Simplified
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: (IGD) and depression have negative consequences on individuals' mental health, but their relationships are complex. This three-wave longitudinal study aimed to detect the metacognitive mechanisms underlying the association between IGD tendency and depression based on the self-regulatory executive function model.
METHODS: A total of 1,243 Chinese undergraduate student gamers (57% female, M = 19.77, SD = 1.29) were recruited at the baseline survey (Wave 1 [W1]), with 622 and 574 of them taking part in the two follow-up surveys (Wave 2 [W2] at 6 and Wave 3 [W3] at 12 months later), respectively.
RESULTS: The three-wave path model demonstrated, after controlling for the autoregressive effect of each variable, that depression consistently predicted IGD tendency but not vice versa, while negative but not positive (MOG) significantly predicted both depression and IGD tendency. Moreover, two statistically significant mediation paths: (i) negative MOG [W1] → depression [W2] → IGD tendency [W3]; and (ii) depression [W1] → negative MOG [W2] → IGD tendency [W3] were identified.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: These findings extend the understanding of the associations among depression, IGD tendency, and MOG, highlighting how negative MOG has a stronger prospective effect than positive MOG on depression and IGD tendency, and also reveal the mutual mediation effects of depression and negative MOG on IGD tendency. Integrated programmes with both emotional regulation training and Metacognitive Therapy are recommended for IGD treatment.
Key numbers
1,243
Participants
Total number of Chinese undergraduate student gamers at baseline (Wave 1).
57%
Female Participants
Percentage of female participants among the total sample at Wave 1.
19.3%
Moderate Depression
Percentage of participants identified as moderately depressed at Wave 1.
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