An Explanatory Model for the Relationship between Motivation in Sport, Victimization, and Video Game Use in Schoolchildren

Manuel Castro-Sánchez, Ramón Chacón-Cuberos, José Luis Ubago-Jiménez, Edson Zafra-Santos and Félix Zurita-Ortega
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Manuel Castro-Sánchez: Department of Education, University of Almería, 04120 Almería, Spain
Ramón Chacón-Cuberos: Department of Integrated Didactics, University of Huelva, 21007 Huelva, Spain
José Luis Ubago-Jiménez: Department of Didactics of Musical, Plastic and Corporal Expression, University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain
Edson Zafra-Santos: Kinesiology School, University Santo Tomas, 837003 Santiago, Chile
Félix Zurita-Ortega: Department of Didactics of Musical, Plastic and Corporal Expression, University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain

IJERPH, 2018, vol. 15, issue 9, 1-15

Abstract: (1) Background: Society is changing amazingly fast, and this is bringing about changes in the way that people spend their free time. In the 21st century, free time is increasingly spent using technological devices such as video games, thus increasing levels of sedentariness. The aim of the present study was to define an explanatory model for the problematic use of video games, physical activity, motivational climate in sports, and victimization in schoolchildren, and to analyze the relationships between these variables according to gender; (2) Methods: A total of 734 schoolchildren, of both sexes, participated in this research study. They were aged from 10 to 12 and lived in the province of Granada (Spain). The main instruments used were the questionnaires PMCSQ-2, PAQ-C, QERV, and SVS. A multigroup structural equation model was used, which had an excellent fit (χ 2 = 319.472; df = 72; p < 0.001; CFI = 0.962; NFI = 0.952; IFI = 0.962; RMSEA = 0.048); (3) Results: The practice of physical activity was related negatively and indirectly to the problematic use of video games ((r = −0.085, boys); (r = −0.081, girls)), and this in turn was related positively and directly to victimization ((r = 0.094, boys); (r = 0.174, girls)). Additionally, task climate was inversely related to the problematic use of video games for girls (r = −0.133), and ego climate was directly related to the use of these devices only with regard to boys (r = 0.250). (4) Conclusions: It must be noted that schoolchildren’s pathological use of video games is closely related to lower levels of physical activity. In addition, those motivational climates in sports that are oriented towards performance exacerbate this pathological behavior, which accentuates the importance of promoting motivational climates that are oriented towards tasks in schoolchildren.

Keywords: motivational climate in sport; physical activity; bullying; problematic use of video games; children (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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