Internet gaming, embodied distress, and psychosocial well-being: A syndemic-syndaimonic continuum

Jeffrey G. Snodgrass, Michael G. Lacy and Steven W. Cole

Social Science & Medicine, 2022, vol. 295, issue C

Abstract: We examine internet gaming-related suffering as a novel syndemic most prevalent among contemporary emerging adults. Synthetic analysis of our prior research on internet gaming and health affirms how social factors and mental and physical wellness mutually condition each other in this online play context. Employing biocultural anthropological mixed methods, we focus on statistical interactions between intensive gaming and social well-being in relation to genomic markers of immune function. We show that among gamers with low social well-being, intensive game play is associated with compromised immunity markers, but among those with robust social connection, that same play correlates with decreased activation of stress-related immunity activation. The apparently beneficial interaction of higher social well-being and intensive game play resonates with an emerging body of research showing how positive practices—in this case, engaged and pleasurable videogame play—can increase resilience to the negative linked psychological and genomic responses to precarity. Based on these findings, we argue, in relation to gaming behaviors, a syndemics analysis could usefully be expanded by attending to both sides of the synergistic interaction between two social conditions: not just exacerbation of dysfunction in relation to their combined effect, but also non-additive enhancement of health that may stem from such combinations. We draw on literature emphasizing the relevance to health of “eudaimonic” well-being—psychosocial processes that transcend immediate self-gratification and involve the pursuit of meaningful and pro-social goals. On that basis, we propose the term “syndaimonics” to capture synergies between social context and mental flourishing, which, in this context and presumably others, can illuminate sources of health resilience and overall improved psychosocial wellbeing.

Keywords: Online games; Behavioral addictions; Eudaimonia; Social genomics; Immunity; Stress; Biocultural anthropology; Statistical interactions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953619307233
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:socmed:v:295:y:2022:i:c:s0277953619307233

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/supportfaq.cws_home/regional
http://www.elsevier. ... _01_ooc_1&version=01

DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112728

Access Statistics for this article

Social Science & Medicine is currently edited by Ichiro (I.) Kawachi and S.V. (S.V.) Subramanian

More articles in Social Science & Medicine from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().