Dependance on online computer games as a type of addictive behaviour

• Main Author: Zaretskaya O.V.
• Format: Article
• Language: Russian
• Published: Moscow State University of Psychology and Education 2016-12-01
• Series: Социальная психология и общество
• Online Access: http://psyjournals.ru/en/social_psy/2016/n3/zaretskaya.shtml

The article discusses the dependence on online computer games as a kind of addic- tive behavior, analyzing different viewpoints of researchers. The author represents the results of empirical studies of personality and behavioral characteristics of players, which enable to detect statistically significant differences in characteristics such as locus of control (internality / externality) and coping behavior. In the group of players internality level was lower than in the control group, and the frequency of selection of coping strategy avoidance was higher. Moreover, the author found out the correla- tion between these parameters: the level of internality is negatively correlated with the frequency of selection of avoidance strategies. These data indicate that the one of the basic factors, which forms addictive behavior, in particular, addiction to com- puter online games, is the consciousness of the degree of responsibility for one’s live, of opportunities to influence its course. These results open new perspectives for further study of the problem of computer and Internet addiction. In addition to empirical data, obtained as a result of the author's research, the article analyses well-known theoreti- cal concepts and practical work in the field of Internet addiction, coping behavior and locus of control.