Gaming Addiction and Related Psychological impact upon an Egyptian Adolescent Sample during the Coronavirus Disease Pandemic

Abdelaziz, Abdelaziz Mahmoud; Azzam, Lobna; Sallam, Sara

doi:10.21608/ejpsy.2023.315354

Gaming Addiction and Related Psychological impact upon an Egyptian Adolescent Sample during the Coronavirus Disease Pandemic

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Department of Mental Health & Psychological Counseling, Faculty of Education, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.

² Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.

10.21608/ejpsy.2023.315354

Abstract

Background and Aim:- Digital addiction is increasingly recognized health threat particularly in children and adolescents. Restrictions related to Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated the risk of digital addition. The present study aimed to estimate the prevalence of online gaming addiction among Egyptian children before and during Covid-19 pandemic and its relation to psychological distress. Subjects and Methods:- This cross-sectional survey was conducted on 1844 children from 19 schools. Children were assessed by Gaming Addiction Scale (GAS7) and DASS-21 (Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale - Arabic version). Results:- According to GAS7 results we could identify 525(28.5%) children as addicted gamers, 715(38.8%) as problematic gamers and 604(32.8%) as non-problematic gamers. addicted and problematic gamers are significantly older than non-problematic gamers. Also, addicted and problematic gamers comprised significantly higher frequency of males as compared to non-problematic gamers (60.2% versus 61.4% and 49.0% respectively, p<0.001). Comparison between GAS7 scores before and after Covid-19 pandemic showed significantly higher scores during the pandemic in all the studied subgroups. There was a relation between more GAS7 score and higher depression, anxiety and stress scores and more severity of the three conditions. Conclusions:- The present study found that online gaming addition is prevalent among Egyptian school children and it was exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

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