Date Thesis Awarded
5-2024
Access Type
Honors Thesis -- Open Access
Degree Name
Bachelors of Science (BS)
Department
Psychology
Advisor
Adrian Bravo
Committee Members
Michele King
Xiaowen Xu
Abstract
This study investigates the relationships among personality traits, gaming motivations, and Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) in a diverse sample of U. S. college students. Drawing on prior work examining the associations between Big Five personality traits and IGD, we examined whether individual gaming motivations mediate the influence of personality traits on the risk of developing IGD. Participants (n=1661; 53.8% female, mean age=19.53) completed measures assessing their personality, gaming habits, and symptoms of IGD. Our analysis employed a mediation model to explore how specific gaming motivations such as competition, coping, recreation, socializing, customization, cognitive development, violent reward, and fantasy could link personality traits to IGD. Results showed that coping motivations mediated the relationship for three traits (Openness, Neuroticism, and Extraversion) and IGD. Specifically, higher reports of Extraversion and Emotional Stability (opposite pole of Neuroticism) were associated with lower IGD scores via lower coping motivations. For Openness to Experience, higher Openness to Experience was associated with greater IGD scores via higher coping motivations. These findings suggest that gaming motivations outside of coping may not play much of a role in the pathway from personality traits to the development of IGD, and they support prior investigations that show mild relationships between personality and IGD. Additionally, novel relationships between the competition and violent reward motivations and IGD were found, indicating that more research should be done to identify how these motives act to influence development of IGD.
Keywords: big five personality, gaming motivations, internet gaming disorder
Recommended Citation
Wilson, Sam, "Personality, Gaming Motivations, and Internet Gaming Disorder: A Motivational Mediation Model in College Students" (2024). Undergraduate Honors Theses. William & Mary. Paper 2099.
https://scholarworks.wm.edu/honorstheses/2099
