The situations of online game addiction and effects: A case study of undergraduate students, Khon Kaen University, 2021

Abstract

The 2021 report by the Mental Health Department presented those Thai children played games on average 5 hours a day, affecting adverse emotional and addiction states. This research aims to study the impact of online games from an undergraduate student at Khon Kaen University, 2021 academic year, on 5 the impacts of (1) health, (2) learning, (3) family and social relationships (4) Emotional and mental health (5) Financial. This is survey research using questionnaires from 420 subjects in 3 major groups: Health Sciences (Health), Science and Technology (SC&TE), and Human and Social Sciences (Huso). Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis. The results showed that 51.67% of subjects were female, 31.67% were first-year students, 33.57% were interested in MOBA games, and 83.33% played games for entertainment and relaxation propose. Most of the subjects played games at dormitories and homes 88.10%, 46.19% played games between 6.01–10.00 p.m., spending 2 hours and 11 minutes on average per day, and the GPA average was 2.76. The Game Addiction Screening Test (GAST) could divide the level of game addiction into 3 groups: 55.24% of non-gaming and 17.86% of game addicting. The remainder is frantic group. The average GPA in the non-gaming group was higher than others. The average hours of games playing, and time spent on games per month were lower than others (p<0.01). The proportion of game addiction was significantly different between levels of addiction (p<0.01). There was a statistically significant relationship between the level of game addiction and subgroups (p<0.01); SC&TE had a higher proportion of game addiction than other groups. If focusing between the frantic and the game addict group, there could not found a difference in the 5 impacts mean between the 3 subgroups (p>0.05). The impacts mean in males was higher than in females (p<0.01). Mental health was not different. The comparison between the game-addicted and the frantic group found in 5 impacts mean, the game-addict group was significantly higher than the frantic group (p<0.01).