Project Overview
Due to the increased use of technology nowadays, various online activities have become widespread for many purposes (e.g., leisure activity, social interaction) among people. In addition, research indicated that excessive online usage might potentially lead to behavioral addictions and causes health problems which might affect people’s daily life. Moreover, previous findings showed that specific internet applications (e.g., social media use, gaming) could present different problematic behaviors and should be classified as behavioral addictions in their own. Additionally, gender differences could present individual phenomenon of problematic internet use, females could be more relate to social media addiction and males could be more relate to gaming addiction. Consequently, there is a need to assess specific internet-related addictions with different behavioral addictions, and their health consequences among Asian cultures.
1. Purpose of Research
After reviewing contemporary research, the purpose of this project is to describe the understanding of behavioral addictions. Moreover, this project aims to explore internet-related addictions (including gaming, online gaming, smartphone use, social media use, and nomophobia) with comparisons across different Asian countries (i.e., Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia). Also, the researchers aim to describe the relationship between internet-related behavioral addictions and their health consequences with concerning gender differences. Additionally, the research team proposes to translate and validate the psychometric properties of instruments which relate to online-related addictive behaviors (e.g., Gaming Disorder Test (GDT), Gaming Disorder Scale for Adolescents (GADIS-A)) across different Asian countries, which may contribute to future research to utilizing these scales for further studies on investigating risk of internet-related addiction.
2. Research Methodology
This project uses a quantitative research design, using surveys online to collect data with convenience sampling from university students (including undergraduate and postgraduate students) in each Asian country (i.e., Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia). The online collect data was organized by SurveyMonkey. We recruited 500+ participants to explore the relationships between behavioral addiction and mental health problems. The inclusion criteria for participants are (i) being a current student; (ii) being willing to participant in our studies; (iii) having access to the internet. Furthermore, all participants completed the structured questionnaires: (i) demographic questionnaires (i.e., age, gender, study level, self-reported any condition or diseases during survey, average time spent a day per week on sleeping, exercising, internet (including gaming, social media, online learning and smartphone use); (ii) standardize measures including GDT, GADIS-A, Internet Gaming Disorder-Short Form (IGDS9-SF), Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS), Smartphone Application-Based Addiction Scale (SABAS), Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q), and Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale 21 (DASS-21). Moreover, some questionnaires would translate from original language into each Asian country following a systemic translation method.
3. Current Progress
A project is currently being worked on and our progress has been steady. The research team is working on translation process on questionnaires, collecting data (500+ participants), performing data analysing and reporting. Presently, we have now published five academic journal papers and one conference paper. Also, there are other papers on progress with the manuscripts are under review in academic journals. In addition, the team expects further investigation of the relationship between internet-related addiction (e.g., social media use, gaming) and its detrimental consequences with considering gender differences and across different Asian countries (i.e., Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia). Therefore, the findings may present individual levels of mental health problems and may describe a contemporary viewpoint regarding the internet-related addiction between females and males.
4. Estimated Results
The research team expect that there will be a significant association of behavioral addictions regarding internet-related addiction (including gaming, online gaming, smartphone use, social media use, and nomophobia) with mental health problem. Our findings can be deeply discussed with two points; i) consideration with gender differences and ii) comparing the relationship across different countries (i.e., Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia). This study will describe some certain addictions, potential effects of online-related addictive activities and psychological distress. The results can be used to develop healthcare programs regarding interventions and prevention management to promote healthy internet use. Furthermore, this project can serve as a preliminary study for additional research on similar topics.
- Chen IH, Chang YL, Yang YN, et al. Psychometric properties and development of the Chinese versions of Gaming Disorder Test (GDT) and Gaming Disorder Scale for Adolescents (GADIS-A). Asian J Psychiatr. 2023;86:103638. doi:10.1016/j.ajp.2023.103638
- Wu TY, Huang SW, Chen JS, et al. Translation and Validation of the Gaming Disorder Test and Gaming Disorder Scale for Adolescents into Chinese for Taiwanese Young Adults. Compr Psychiatry. 2023;124:152396. doi:10.1016/j.comppsych.2023.152396
- Ghazi FR, Gan WY, Tung SEH, et al. Problematic Gaming in Malaysian University Students: Translation and Psychometric Evaluation of the Malay Language Versions of Gaming Disorder Test and Gaming Disorder Scale for Young Adults. Eval Health Prof. 2023;1632787231185845. doi:10.1177/01632787231185845
- Ahorsu, D.K., Adjorlolo, S., Nurmala, I. et al. Problematic Porn Use and Cross-Cultural Differences: A Brief Review. Curr Addict Rep. 2023:1-9. doi:10.1007/s40429-023-00505-3
- Lin CY, Ratan ZA, Pakpour AH. Collection of smartphone and internet addiction. BMC Psychiatry. 2023;23(1):427. doi:10.1186/s12888-023-04915-5