Examinating the mediating role of critical thinking dispositions in the relationship between digital game addiction and loneliness among middle school students

This study examines the extent to which digital game addiction and loneliness predict critical thinking tendencies among middle school students. The participants consisted of 7th and 8th-grade students from middle schools in the central district of Edirne, selected through stratified sampling based on socio-economic status. Data was collected using the Digital Game Addiction Scale for Children, the Critical Thinking Dispositions Scale for Middle School Students, the UCLA Loneliness Scale - Short Form, and a Personal Information Form developed by the researcher to gather demographic data. Correlation analyses were conducted to analyze the relationships between digital game addiction, loneliness, and critical thinking tendencies, followed by multiple regression analysis to test the mediating role of critical thinking tendencies. Furthermore, descriptive statistics, independent samples t-tests, one-way ANOVA, and Kruskal Wallis H were employed to assess whether the levels of digital game addiction, loneliness, and critical thinking tendencies differed significantly according to demographic variables such as grade level, gender, socio-economic status, daily game time, game type, book reading habits, and reading time. The data were analyzed using the Jamovi 2.4.12 software. The findings indicated that digital game addiction was weakly and positively correlated with loneliness, while it was weakly and negatively correlated with critical thinking dispositions. Additionally, it was found that critical thinking dispositions had a weak negative relationship with loneliness. The multiple regression analysis has revealed that critical thinking dispositions partially mediated the relationship between digital game addiction and loneliness, although this mediation was not statistically significant. İn addition, it has been observed that significant differences in digital game addiction based on grade level, daily game time, and game type; in loneliness based on gender and daily game time; and in critical thinking dispositons based on socio-economic level, book reading status, and reading time.