Chew, Peter K.H. (2025) The indirect associations of gaming motivations between psychological distress and problematic gaming. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction. (In Press)

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Abstract

Psychological distress is a risk factor of problematic gaming and studies have examined potential mediators, such as gaming motivations, that could explain the relationship. Overall, these studies showed that the escape and competition motives appear to be robust mediators of the relationship. However, there are a few limitations with existing studies (e.g., the use of predominantly Hungarian and Italian speaking male gamers). The current study aimed to address the limitations and extend on the findings of existing studies. Participants were a representative sample of 1001 young adults in Singapore. There were 499 males (age range = 18 to 40, M = 29.12, SD = 5.76) and 502 females (age range = 18 to 40, M = 27.83, SD = 6.57). They completed instruments that assess psychological distress, gaming motivations, and problematic gaming. In general, the results showed that the competition and social motives had significant indirect associations between psychological distress and problematic gaming, but the results varied depending on the type of psychological distress (i.e., depression, anxiety, or stress), gender, and diagnostic criteria. Limitations include the use of a cross-sectional design and a stringent alpha level. Future research directions include distinguishing between positive and negative forms of the escape motive and examining cross-cultural variables that could affect the mediation models.

Item ID:	90193
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1557-1882
Keywords:	psychological distress, gaming motivations, problematic gaming
Copyright Information:	© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2025
Date Deposited:	07 Jan 2026 22:46
FoR Codes:	52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5203 Clinical and health psychology > 520302 Clinical psychology @ 100%
SEO Codes:	28 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 2801 Expanding knowledge > 280121 Expanding knowledge in psychology @ 100%
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