Problem video game playing, self-esteem, and social skills: An online study. Unpublished honours thesis

Problem Video Game Playing, Self Esteem and Social ii This study investigated relationships between problem video game playing, self-esteem and social skills in an adult sample. Via the internet, 621 (560 male) primarily Australian participants completed three scales: the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the multidimensional Social Skills Inventory and Problem Video Game Playing Scale. Hypotheses were: that problem video game playing would be related to social skills and self esteem; that time spent playing online games would be related to social skills; and that social skills and self esteem would predict problematic play. Online game time commitment was not significantly related to social skills or self esteem, suggesting online environments are not distinctly socially enriching or erosive. Resonating with past studies that found links between gaming, introversion, and social anxiety, a pattern of significant (p <.001) correlations emerged between 3 social skills subscales, together representing social hesitancy, and problem video game playing; however the magnitude of relationships was minute. To explor