Study: Neurotic People More Likely to Experience Video Game Addiction
One’s personality plays a critical role in gaming addiction.
A recent study by James Cook University (JCU) in Singapore has shown that people who score highly on neuroticism are more likely to experience Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD), a recognised phenomenon that affects a small number of gamers.
IGD is defined as “a pattern of excessive and prolonged Internet gaming that results in a cluster of cognitive and behavioural symptoms, including progressive loss of control over gaming, tolerance, and withdrawal symptoms, analogous to the symptoms of substance use disorders”.
The study, conducted by JCU Singapore's Senior Lecturer in Psychology Dr Peter Chew, examines IGD in comparison to the Big Five personality factors, a well-established set of personality traits that everyone has to varying degrees.
The Big Five personality factors are:
- Openness to experience
- Conscientiousness (a tendency to exhibit goal-directed behaviour such as persistence, organisation, and motivation)
- Extraversion
- Agreeableness
- Neuroticism (the tendency to be sensitive, emotional and to be prone to experience negative emotions)
“This means the more conscientious, extraverted and agreeable a person is, the less likely they are to experience IGD, but it’s more likely they will experience IGD if they score highly on neuroticism,” Dr Chew explained.
The paper said conscientious people are unlikely to be addicted to gaming as it would compromise their relationships, jobs or education.
And although there are social aspects of games that could appeal to extraverts — such as working together with other players to complete quests — these activities might be insufficient to meet the high levels of external stimulation they desire, the paper said.
Meanwhile, highly-agreeable people tend to be eager to avoid conflict, and may dislike the conflict present in gaming as well as the real-life conflict with family and workplace managers that could be caused by IGD.
“People high on neuroticism might play games to escape from reality or relieve negative moods. Over time, with the relief of negative moods serving as a form of negative reinforcement, neuroticism might contribute to the acquisition and maintenance of IGD,” Dr Chew added.
