Examining the Role of Individuals' Need for Online Social Interactions and Interpersonal Incompetence in Game Addiction

Because online game addiction has become one of the serious social computing issues related to public health, there is an unprecedented need to explore and understand online game addiction from a psychosocial perspective. Extant studies have empirically tested the effects of and the relationship among prominent psychological distresses such as depression, loneliness and aggression on game addiction, but few studies have explored the relationships among individuals' need for online social interaction, interpersonal incompetence and self-regulation (control) and their effects on game addiction. Additionally, the mediating role of individuals' need for online social interaction in online game addiction has neither been proposed nor empirically tested. This study examines addiction through the lens of individuals' need for online social interaction, interpersonal incompetence, self-regulation and loneliness as a psychological distress. More specifically, the purpose of this study is to understand the mediation effect of individuals' need for online social interaction on game addiction.