Investigation of the relationship between family relationships, digital game addiction, and psychological and emotional well-being in secondary school students

With the development of technology, differences occur in various areas of life. While traditional games are being replaced by new digital games, the dynamics of family relationships are also shaped by today's technology. The psychological and emotional well-being levels of children, who are at the center of all this change, also change. For this reason, the purpose of the present thesis study is to examine the relationship between family relationships, digital game addiction, and psychological and emotional well-being in children. The study group for the research consists of a total of 681 fifth, sixth and seventh grade primary school students, 287 girls and 394 boys, in Antalya in the 2023–2024 academic year. The Personal Information Form, Family Relations Scale for Children, Digital Game Addiction Scale, and Stirling Emotional and Psychological Well-Being Scale for Children were used as data collection tools in the study. Data were analyzed using the SPSS 20 package program and the Hayes Process Macro program. According to the results of the research, digital game addiction is negatively related to supportive family relationships and emotional and psychological well-being variables; it was found to be positively associated with discouraging family relationships. Students' supportive family relationships are negatively associated with discouraging family relationships; they are positively associated with psychological and emotional well-being. Disabling family relationships were found to be negatively associated with psychological and emotional well-being variables. Parallel multiple analysis results showed that supportive and discouraging family relationships mediate the relationship between digital game addiction and psychological and emotional well-being. Additionally, digital game addiction and supportive and discouraging family relationships explain approximately 41% of the variation in psychological and emotional well-being. In this context, the predictive role of digital game addiction and family relationships on psychological and emotional well-being has been revealed.