The relationships between the digital game addiction, alexithymia and metacognitive problems in adolescents

Abstract

Objective: Digital game addiction has become a diffuse problem among adolescents. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationships between digital game addiction, alexithymia personality traits and metacognitive problems in adolescents. Method: 664 adolescents (51\% male, n=339, 49\% female, n=325) from three secondary school in Istanbul were included in this study. The mean age of male and female participants was 12.89 +/- 1.29, and 12.58 +/- 1.53 respectively. Digital game addiction scale for children (DGASFC), 20 item Toronto alexithymia scale (TAS-20), and the metacognition questionnaire for children and adolescents (MCQ-C) were applied to participants. The correlation coefficients between the scales were analyzed with Spearmen's rank order correlation test. The predictability of TAS-20 and MCQ-C subscale scores, gender and age on the status of digital game addiction was tested with binary logistic regression analysis. Results: There were positive correlations between DGASFC and TAS-20 total (r=.275), factor 1 (r=.250), factor 2 (r=.159), factor 3 (r=.175) scores, and MCQ-C total (r=.180) and factor 1 (r=.109) scores. Results of the binary regression analysis revealed that TAS-20 factor 1 and factor 3, and MCQ-C factor 1 scores, and the gender predict the status of digital game addiction, significantly. Discussion: It is suggested that addressing the problems of identifying and expressing the emotions, and metacognitive problems may increase the treatment success of the adolescents presenting with digital game addiction.