Digital gaming during the COVID-19 pandemic: Examining the interplay of psychosocial problems, gaming motivations, and gaming disorder severity

Reer, Felix

Abstract

The current study aimed to provide a deeper understanding of the factors underlying the development of addictive gaming (‘gaming disorder’, GD) during the COVID-19 pandemic. A path model was designed to examine the interplay of COVID-19-related fears, negative daily life impacts experienced during the pandemic, psychosocial problems (stress, depression/anxiety, loneliness), gaming motivations (escapism, coping, fantasy, and social motivations), and GD severity. The model was tested using an online survey administered to 504 German game users. It was found that gaming behaviors changed to a certain degree during the pandemic. Path modeling indicated that fear of COVID-19 and perceived negative daily life impacts may have played roles in the development of GD during the pandemic: they were associated with increased feelings of stress, depression/anxiety, and loneliness experienced during the pandemic, which, in turn, were (directly or indirectly) related to increased levels of GD severity. Gaming driven by escapism motives was identified as a significant predictor of GD severity and was found to mediate the relationship between stress and depression/anxiety and GD severity.