The Role of Avoidance Coping and Escape Motives in Problematic Online Gaming: A Systematic Literature Review
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The Role of Avoidance Coping and Escape Motives in Problematic Online Gaming: A Systematic Literature Review Fiordalisa Melodia 1 & Natale Canale 1 & Mark D. Griffiths 2 Accepted: 23 October 2020/ # The Author(s) 2020
Abstract
Over the past two decades, research into Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) has markedly increased due to worldwide spread of online videogames. The reasons and motivations for playing greatly contribute to its popularity. Escapism and avoidance coping strategies have been studied extensively and conceptualized as motives to play. A growing research base has demonstrated a strong association between these motives to play and negative gaming outcomes. Consequently, the aim of the present systematic review was to provide a comprehensive overview of the role of avoidance coping and escape motives in problematic online gaming. A systematic literature search was carried out using academic databases and a total of 26 empirical studies met the inclusion criteria. The results show that escapism and avoidance coping represent both a predictor of IGD and play a mediating role between many psychological factors (e.g., self-esteem, loneliness, selfconcept, anxiety) and problematic online gaming. However, the review also highlights the paucity of longitudinal studies that hinder the determination of the causal direction of these associations. Despite this limitation, the evidence has important implication for developing more effective prevention programs and clinical interventions. Keywords Problematic online gaming . Internet gaming disorder . Avoidance . Escapism . Motives to play Behavioral addictions (i.e., addictions that do not involve the ingestion of a psychoactive substance) are becoming increasing commonplace in modern society, particularly online addictions which are inextricably linked to the way humans now live, continued technological advancement, increased opportunity and availability, and the instant gratifications that such
* Mark D. Griffiths [email protected]
1
Department of Developmental Psychology and Socialisation, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
2
International Gaming Research Unit, Psychology Department, Nottingham Trent University, 50 Shakespeare Street, Nottingham NG1 4FQ, UK
International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction
technologies provide. One such area is that of gaming addiction (Alonso-Fernández 1999). Griffiths (1995, 1996, 2005, 2009) argued that all addictions share more commonalities than differences and identified six particular characteristics: mood modification, whereby activities and psychoactive substances give a subjective sensation of pleasure such as calming or exciting effects; tolerance whereby an individual needs an increasing quantity or amount of time to obtain the same initial mood-modifying effects; withdrawal symptoms whereby when the behavior is interrupted or reduced, the individual experiences unpleasant feeling states and/ or physical effects, e.g., irritability, shakes, moodiness; conflict whereby there are conflicts between
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