Psychological Determinants of Computer Gaming Addiction of Children in Primary School

Introduction. Currently, the relevant object of research is the studying of psychological determinants that contribute to the formation of computer gaming addiction in children and adolescents. The younger school age is the least studied in terms of familiarization with the Internet environment and, in particular, computer games. The identification of psychological determinants that contribute to the formation of gambling addiction among younger students is an urgent problem in connection with the prevention of the formation of destructive behavior even at the early stages at school.

Objective. Identify psychological determinants that cause the formation of computer gaming addiction in younger schoolchildren.

Materials and methods. A sample of an empirical study was made up of students of 3 classes of the city school, in the amount of 78 people, the average age was 9.8 years. To achieve the goals of the study, the following methods were used: a test questionnaire of the degree of enthusiasm for computer games by A.V. Grishina; methodology “Computer game addiction” by O. M. Vidova; Technique “What is good and what is bad”, adapted by N.V. Kuleshova. For mathematical data processing, the Mann-Whitney U test and the r-Spearman rank correlation coefficient were used.

Results. According to the conducted psychological testing, three groups of younger schoolchildren with different levels of computer gaming activity were identified – low, medium and high. According to the criteria of the questionnaire “The level of computer gaming addiction”, a high level, which correlates with computer gaming addiction, was detected in 26.1 % of respondents. The results of a comparative analysis of the severity of indicators of computer game addiction are described.

Discussion. It was found that groups with different levels of computer gaming activity differ in the degree of enthusiasm for computer games. So, the higher the level of gaming activity, the higher the level of emotional attractiveness of computer games and focus on gaming activities, and the lower the self-control of gaming behavior, that all is the inability to independently complete gaming activities. The results obtained are indicated that these psychological characteristics are the determinants of computer gaming addiction in younger schoolchildren.

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