Testing the Influence of Social Axioms on Internet Gaming Disorder Tendency with a Cross-Lagged Panel Model: a One-Year Longitudinal Study

• Published in: International journal of mental health and addiction 2022-10, Vol.20 (5), p.2587-2598
• Main Authors: Yang, Hong Mian, Tong, Kwok Kit, Li, Yun, Tao, Vivienne Y. K., Zhang, Meng Xuan, Wu, Anise M. S.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Academic achievement; Community and Environmental Psychology; Cynicism; Health Psychology; Longitudinal studies; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Original Article; Psychiatry; Psychology; Public Health; Rehabilitation
• ISSN: 1557-1874; 1557-1882
• DOI: 10.1007/s11469-021-00532-z

Gaming-specific beliefs on the functions and/or consequences of gaming have consistently been shown to be risk factors for Internet gaming disorder (IGD). However, there is a scarcity of research on the effects of generalized beliefs about the world (i.e., social axioms) on IGD tendency. This 1-year longitudinal study was designed to test whether and which social axioms would have a prospective influence on IGD tendency. One hundred ninety-five Chinese university students ( M age  = 19.86, female = 72.3%) voluntarily participated in both the baseline and 1-year follow-up surveys. Social cynicism, but not four other social axioms (i.e., fate control, reward for application, social complexity, and religiosity), was found to be significantly associated with baseline and follow-up IGD tendency. Using a cross-lagged panel model, while controlling for baseline IGD tendency and grade point average (GPA), baseline social cynicism belief still had a positive effect on follow-up IGD tendency at a marginal significance level ( p  = .07). Moreover, students’ baseline GPA predicted lower follow-up IGD tendency ( β  = −.17, p