Psychological Distress among Medical Undergraduate Students in Pakistan Addicted to Online Multiplayer Games: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Abstract Introduction: Online gaming addiction has alarmingly emerged as a behavioral problem that is associated with serious implications ranging from psychosomatic issues to suicidal and homicidal tendencies. Psychological distress is among the list of its adverse effects, which is entirely treatable. Reasons and psychological distress due to online gaming addiction can be tackled if considered from a public health aspect. Materials and Methods: An analytical cross-sectional approach was employed using a proportionate randomized sampling technique to recruit 317 participants from 6 sister institutes affiliated with Khyber Medical University (KMU), Peshawar over a period of 6 months from May 2021 to November 2021. Information pertaining to the objectives was collected using two pre-tested validated questionnaires; the Compulsive Internet Gaming Use Scale (CIUS) and Internet Gaming Disorder Test (IGDT – 10). Analysis of the data was made with SPSS version 26.0 and presented as tables, graphs, and figures. Results: This study found psychological distress from internet gaming disorder (IGD) in 7.6% of the study pool with a mean age of 21.08 ± 1.17 years with 68.1% males and 31.9% females. Among the study participants, 17.0% were married, 79.8% were financially dependent, 9.1% showed a history of substance abuse, and 63.4% kept outdoor hobbies. The mean duration of gaming among those screened positive with IGD was 54.58 ± 14.01 hours per week, the mean CIUS score was 28.42 ± 3.78, mean IGDT score was 2.18 ± 1.09. 18.0% of participants had online gaming addiction while 42.11% showed psychological distress from online gaming addiction. A strongly positive correlation was established between psychological distress and online gaming addiction (r = 0.955, p < 0.001). Conclusions: This study concluded a strong positive association between psychological distress in undergraduate health sciences students and their online gaming addiction. Owing to these findings, relevant changes to the existing policy on the online gaming industry in Pakistan is recommended.