The effects of online game addiction on reduced academic achievement motivation among Chinese college students: the mediating role of learning engagement

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Abstract

Introduction

The present study aimed to examine the effects of online game addiction on reduced academic achievement motivation, and the mediating role of learning engagement among Chinese college students to investigate the relationships between the three variables.

Methods

The study used convenience sampling to recruit Chinese university students to participate voluntarily. A total of 443 valid questionnaires were collected through the Questionnaire Star application. The average age of the participants was 18.77 years old, with 157 males and 286 females. Statistical analysis was conducted using SPSS and AMOS.

Results

(1) Chinese college students’ online game addiction negatively affected their behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement (the three dimensions of learning engagement); (2) behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement negatively affected their reduced academic achievement motivation; (3) learning engagement mediated the relationship between online game addiction and reduced academic achievement motivation.

Keywords: college students, online game addiction, learning engagement, reduced academic achievement motivation, online games

1. Introduction

Online games, along with improvements in technology, have entered the daily life of college students through the popularity of computers, smartphones, PSPs (PlayStation Portable), and other gaming devices. Online game addiction has recently become a critical problem affecting college students’ studies and lives. As early as 2018, online game addiction was officially included in the category of “addictive mental disorders” by the World Health Organization (WHO), and the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) was updated specifically to include the category of “Internet Gaming Disorder” (IGD). Prior research investigating Chinese college students’ online game addiction status mostly comprised regional small-scale studies. For example, a study on 394 college students in Chengde City, Hebei province, China showed that the rate of online game addiction was about 9% (Cui et al., 2021). According to the results of an online game survey conducted by China Youth Network (2019) on 682 Chinese college students who played online games, nearly 60% of participants played games for more than 1 h a day, over 30% stayed up late because of playing games, over 40% thought that playing games had affected their physical health, over 70% claimed that games did not affect their studies, and over 60% had spent money on online games. This phenomenon has been exacerbated by the fact that smartphones and various portable gaming devices have become new vehicles for gaming with the development of technology. The increase in the frequency or time spent on daily gaming among adolescents implies a growth in the probability of gaming addiction, while an increase in the level of education decreases the probability of gaming addiction (Esposito et al., 2020; Kesici, 2020). Moreover, during the COVID-19 pandemic, adolescents’ video game use and the severity of online gaming disorders increased significantly (Teng et al., 2021).

A large body of literature on the relationship between problematic smartphone use and academic performance has illustrated the varying adverse effects of excessive smartphone obsession (Durak, 2018; Mendoza et al., 2018; Rozgonjuk et al., 2018). These effects are manifested in three critical ways: first, the more frequently cell phones are used during study, the greater the negative impact on academic performance and achievement; second, students are required to master the basic skills and cognitive abilities to succeed academically, which are negatively affected by excessive cell phone use and addiction (Sunday et al., 2021); third, online game addiction negatively affects students’ learning motivation (Demir and Kutlu, 2018; Eliyani and Sari, 2021). However, there is currently a lack of scientifically objective means of effective data collection regarding online game addiction among college students in China, such as big data. Hong R. Z. et al. (2021) and Nong et al. (2023) suggested that the impact of addiction on students’ learning should be explored more deeply.

Since the 1990s, learning engagement has been regarded as a positive behavioral practice in learning in Europe and the United States, and plays an important role in the field of higher education research (Axelson and Flick, 2010). Recently, studies on learning engagement among college students have also been a hot topic in various countries (Guo et al., 2021). According to Fredricks et al. (2004), learning engagement includes three dimensions: behavioral, emotional, and cognitive.

The concept of behavioral engagement encompasses three aspects: first, positive behavior in the classroom, such as following school rules and regulations and classroom norms; second, engagement in learning; and third, active participation in school activities (Finn et al., 1995). Emotional engagement refers to students’ responses to their academic content and learning environment. The emotional responses to academic content include students’ emotional responses such as interest or disinterest in learning during academic activities (Kahu and Nelson, 2018), while the emotional responses to the learning environment refer to students’ identification with their peers, teachers, and the school environment (Stipek, 2002). Cognitive engagement is often associated with internal processes such as deep processing, using cognitive strategies, self-regulation, investment in learning, the ability to think reflectively, and making connections in daily life (Khan et al., 2017). Cognitive engagement emphasizes the student’s investment in learning and self-regulation or strategies.

According to Yang X. et al. (2021), learning engagement refers to students’ socialization, behavioral intensity, affective qualities, and use of cognitive strategies in performing learning activities. Besides, Kuh et al. (2007) argued that learning engagement was “the amount of time and effort students devote to instructional goals and meaningful educational practices.” Learning engagement is not only an important indicator of students’ learning process, but also a significant predictor of students’ academic achievement (Zhang, 2012). It is also an essential factor in promoting college students’ academic success and improving education quality.

As one of the crucial components of students’ learning motivation (Han and Lu, 2018), achievement motivation is the driving force behind an individual’s efforts to put energy into what he or she perceives to be valuable and meaningful to achieve a desired outcome (Story et al., 2009). It can be considered as achievement motivation when an individual’s behavior involves “competing at a standard of excellence” (Brunstein and Heckhausen, 2018). Students’ achievement motivation ensures the continuity of learning activities, achieving academic excellence and desired goals (Sopiah, 2021). Based on the concept of achievement motivation, academic achievement motivation refers to the mental perceptions or intentions that students carry out regarding their academic achievement, a cognitive structure by which students perceive success or failure and determine their behavior (Elliot and Church, 1997). Related research also suggests that motivation is one variable that significantly predicts learning engagement (Xiong et al., 2015).

Therefore, it is worthwhile to investigate the internal influence mechanism of college students’ online game addiction on their reduced academic achievement motivation and the role of learning engagement, which is also an issue that cannot be ignored in higher education research. The present study explored the relationship between online game addiction, learning engagement, and reduced academic achievement motivation among college students by establishing a structural equation model (SEM) to shed light on the problem of online game addiction among college students.

2. Research model and hypotheses

2.1. Research model

Previous research usually regarded learning engagement as a variable of one or two dimensions, and scholars tend to favor the dimension of behavioral engagement. However, other ignored dimensions are inseparable parts of learning engagement (Dincer et al., 2019). In a multi-dimensional model, the mutual terms of each dimension form a single composite structure. Therefore, the present study took the structure proposed by Fredricks et al. (2004) as a reference, divided learning engagement into behavioral, emotional, and cognitive dimensions as mediating variables, and explored the relationship between online game addiction, learning engagement, and reduced academic achievement motivation. The research frame diagram is shown in Figure 1 .