Internet Gaming and Mental Health Among Late Adolescence University Students: Study Discipline as a Moderator.

Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) has emerged as an increasingly prevalent behavioral health concern among late adolescent university students, a vulnerable population with emotional distress due to the developmental changes and academic pressures. This research explored the direct correlations between...

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Publicado en:Adolescents (2673-7051) Vol. 6; no. 3; pp. 38 - 55
Autores principales: Elshaer, Ibrahim A., Kooli, Chokri, Jasim, Tarik A., Azazz, Alaa M. S.
Formato: research tables/charts Journal Article
Publicado: MDPI Jun2026
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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        atl: Internet Gaming and Mental Health Among Late Adolescence University Students: Study Discipline as a Moderator.
      aug:
        au:
          Elshaer, Ibrahim A.
          Kooli, Chokri
          Jasim, Tarik A.
          Azazz, Alaa M. S.
        affil: Department of Management, College of Business Administration, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia
      sug:
        subj:
          Video Games Adverse Effects
          Internet Addiction Complications
          Mental Disorders Risk Factors
          Humanism
          Social Sciences
          Education, Health Sciences
          Engineering
          Students, College Psychosocial Factors
          Risk Assessment
          Human
          Adolescence
          Young Adult
          Male
          Female
          Saudi Arabia
          Funding Source
          Exploratory Research
          Cross Sectional Studies
          Depression Risk Factors
          Anxiety Risk Factors
          Stress, Psychological Risk Factors
          Structured Questionnaires
          Structural Equation Modeling
          Coping
          Social Anxiety Disorders
          Sleep Quality
          Descriptive Statistics
          Scales
          Psychometrics Evaluation
          Reliability and Validity
          Data Analysis Software
          Coefficient alpha
          Adolescent: 13-18 years
          Male
          Female
      ab: Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) has emerged as an increasingly prevalent behavioral health concern among late adolescent university students, a vulnerable population with emotional distress due to the developmental changes and academic pressures. This research explored the direct correlations between IGD and Mental Health Disorder (MHD), such as depression, anxiety, and stress in Saudi Arabia (SA) with study discipline as a moderator. A total of 480 students participated in the developed self-structured questionnaire, and Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed to analyze the obtained data. The results showed that IGD can exert a positive and significant association with all three aspects of MHD. Moreover, the PLS-SEM slope analysis indicated that study discipline can significantly moderate the link from IGD to both anxiety and depression, with university students in health, science, and engineering fields displaying higher symptoms of depression and anxiety as compared to their peers in humanities and social sciences. However, study discipline failed to moderate the link from IGD to stress. These findings can be interpreted through maladaptive coping mechanisms and behavioral addiction, whereby extreme IG can contribute to social withdrawal, reduce sleep quality, and worsen stress regulation, specifically during the late adolescence period. The results extend current research on IGD by emphasizing the disciplinary differences in mental health vulnerability and offering more empirical evidence from a Middle Eastern context. The study highlighted the urgent need for discipline-oriented mental health screening and targeted proactive interventions to deal with unsettled IG attitude within a higher education context.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype:
        research
        tables/charts
        Journal Article
      ougenre: Article
    language: English
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