An investigation of the relationship between level of aggression, communication skills and computer game addiction among secondary school students: Structural equation modeling

Computer game addiction is a very common problem especially among children and adolescents. In order to prevent or minimize computer game addictions, it is thought that it is necessary to understand why they became addicted to computer games. The reason for computer game addiction will also direct the intervention work to be done. Therefore, the research is based on these variables, considering that communication skills and aggression may cause computer game addiction. The aim of the research is to examine the relationship between computer game addiction and aggression levels and communication skills in secondary school students by using structural equation modeling. According to the constructed structural equation model, it was expected that students' communication skills would be effective on aggression in computer game addictions. The method of the research was determined as a correlational pattern from quantitative research methods. The sample of the study consists of 1123 secondary school students (5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grade) who are studying in six public schools in the Serdivan, Sakarya in the 2019-2020 academic year. Data from students were collected using personal information form, Computer Game Addiction Scale for Children, Aggression Scale and Communication Skills Evaluation Scale. The collected data were analyzed with SPSS 22.0 and AMOS. Since there are more than 1000 data, the normality assumption has not been checked. The data was assumed to be normally distributed. Therefore, parametric tests (independent sample t-test, ANOVA) were used. In order to find answers to the problem sentence of the research, firstly, the relationship between the variables of the research was analyzed in the SPSS. Then, structural equation model was tested in AMOS. As a result of the analysis, it was seen that the middle school students who participated in the research had low computer game addiction levels and their communication skills affected computer game addiction through aggression. Also, according to the findings, communication skills directly affected the aggression; aggression directly affected computer game addiction. According to the findings, there is a differentiation in computer game addiction according to age, gender, grade level, perceived socioeconomic status, the person who stayed together when the mother or father is at work, the location of the computer game, the time spent for the computer game playing and the time interval of the computer game playing; however, there is no differentiation according to the working status of the mother. According to the findings, there is a differentiation in computer game addiction according to age, gender, class level, perceived socioeconomic status, the person who stayed together when the mother or father is at work, the place where the computer game is played, the time of the computer game and the time interval of the computer game; however, there is no differentiation according to the working status of the mother. It was obtained that the students who participated in the research played the most action and adventure games, played the games for the most fun and felt the most happy while playing the computer games. Keywords: Computer game addiction, Aggression, Communication skills, Structural Equation Modeling