Relational Victimization and Video Game Addiction among Female College Students during COVID-19 Pandemic: The Roles of Social Anxiety and Parasocial Relationship

Gengfeng Niu, Siyu Jin, Fang Xu, Shanyan Lin (), Zongkui Zhou () and Claudio Longobardi
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Gengfeng Niu: Key Laboratory of Human Development and Mental Health of Hubei Province, School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China
Siyu Jin: Key Laboratory of Human Development and Mental Health of Hubei Province, School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China
Fang Xu: Key Laboratory of Human Development and Mental Health of Hubei Province, School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China
Shanyan Lin: Department of Psychology, University of Turin, 10124 Torino, Italy
Zongkui Zhou: Key Laboratory of Human Development and Mental Health of Hubei Province, School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China
Claudio Longobardi: Department of Psychology, University of Turin, 10124 Torino, Italy

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 24, 1-14

Abstract: Video game addiction, a common behavioral problem among college students, has been more prominent during the COVID-19 pandemic; at the same time, females’ video game usage has also attracted considerable research attention. Against this background and under the perspective of social interaction, this study aimed to examine the relationship between relational victimization and video game addiction among female college students, as well as its underlying mechanism—the mediating roles of social anxiety and parasocial relationships with virtual characters. Female college students ( N = 437) were recruited to complete a set of questionnaires voluntarily in June 2022. Through the mediating effect analysis, the results found that (1) relational victimization was positively associated with female college students’ video game addiction; (2) social anxiety and parasocial relationships with virtual characters could independently mediate this relation; (3) social anxiety and parasocial relationships with virtual characters were also the serial mediators in this association. These findings not only expand previous studies by revealing the social motivation of video game usage and the underlying mechanism accounting for video game addiction, but also provide basis and guidance for the prevention and intervention of video game addiction in the current context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords: video game addiction; relational victimization; social anxiety; parasocial relationship (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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