The relationships between positive/negative metacognitions and Internet gaming disorder among Chinese adult gamers: Cross-sectional and longitudinal evidence

Jan 5, 2025Addictive behaviors

How positive and negative beliefs about thinking relate to Internet gaming disorder in Chinese adult gamers over time

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Circadian Biology on OpenScience ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Abstract

Data from 409 adult gamers indicated that the short-form Metacognitions about Online Gaming Scale (MOGS) demonstrates satisfactory validity and reliability.

The MOGS includes two factors: negative and positive gaming-specific metacognitions.
Negative metacognitions are linked to higher vulnerability to developing Internet gaming disorder (IGD) over time.
IGD can also influence and increase negative metacognitions six months later.
Positive metacognitions showed a significant prospective effect from IGD.
The findings suggest a cycle of negative metacognitions and IGD among adult gamers.

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Previous research investigating Internet gaming disorder (IGD) in China involved mainly youth samples despite the large population of adult gamers. Drawing on the self-regulatory executive function model, this study aimed to demonstrate the psychometric robustness of negative and positive gaming-specific metacognitions assessed by the short-form Metacognitions about Online Gaming Scale (MOGS; Study 1). Then, Study 2 aimed to explore bidirectional associations between these two factors of the MOGS and IGD among a broad age spectrum of Chinese adult gamers. Through online surveys, we obtained data from Chinese community adults: Study 1 surveyed 409 past-month gamers (M = 42.45, SD = 11.66; 53.8 % female) and Study 2 surveyed 266 past-month gamers (M = 34.76, SD = 11.78; 65.8 % female). Results of Study 1 supported the robustness of the two-factor structure, demonstrated the short-form MOGS' satisfactory convergent validity and reliability, and displayed its scalar invariance between community adults and university students. Study 2 found bidirectional associations between negative metacognitions only and IGD, in which baseline negative metacognitions were associated with higher levels of individuals' follow-up vulnerability to developing IGD. In contrast, IGD had a prospective effect on negative metacognitions 6 months later. IGD also showed a significant prospective effect on positive metacognitions. These findings demonstrate that the short-form MOGS is a cost-effective tool for measuring gaming-specific metacognitions in Chinese adults, highlighting the prominent role of negative metacognitions in the vicious circle of maladaptive metacognitions and IGD, which has implications for IGD preventions. age age

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The relationships between positive/negative metacognitions and Internet gaming disorder among Chinese adult gamers: Cross-sectional and longitudinal evidence

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