Game dependency and aggressive behavior among form two and form four students in Kuala Lumpur

• Main Authors: Lew, M.T., Palaniappan, A.K.
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English
• Published: 2008
• Subjects: L Education (General); LB Theory and practice of education
• Online Access: http://eprints.um.edu.my/9373/1/Game_Dependency.pdf; http://eprints.um.edu.my/9373/

The study intends to ascertain the relationships between game dependency and students' aggressive behavior and to what extent individual differences such as grade level, gender and parental control moderate this relationship. This study utilizes a mixed method design to examine the relationships between game dependency and aggressive behavior. Survey via questionnaire was used to collect data in selected secondary school in Kuala Lumpur. Subsequently, focus group interview was employed to probe further the video game issues from a group of heavy users who were identified from their video game habits. Eight hundred and fifteen secondary school students in Kuala Lumpur took part in this study. Descriptive statistics are used to ascertain the relationship between game dependency and aggressive behavior. In the present study, males are likely to play at dependent level more than females. Form Two gamers show smaller percentages of playing at dependent level compared to Form Four gamers. Game dependency did not differ significantly among different levels of parental control. Females recorded significantly higher mean on aggressive behavior than males. Findings in this study show that game dependency is positively correlated with self-reported of aggressive behavior. Game dependency appears to have moderate relationship with aggressive behavior. Results from the interview data revealed that heavy users somehow agreed that they encountered emotional and behavioral changes from playing video games. These results suggest that once gamers are 'dependent' on game activity, they are likely to show more aggressive inclination through higher level of aggressive behavior and endorse violent behavior is higher compared to non-addicted gamers. The findings also implicated that video games could be innovative learning tools, which not only enhance effectiveness of teaching, but also are a training platform for aggression. Game dependency seems an innovative way to explain psychology of learning for aggressive behavior.