Investigation of relationship between game addiction, attachment styles, game motivation and emotion regulation

Aim of the study is to examine relationship between game addiction, attachment styles, emotion regulation strategies and game motivations. The participants were 351 students who are between ages of 12-19, studying in high schools in Erzurum province. 49.6 % (174) of participants were female and 50.4% (177) of participants were male in the study. Socio-demographic Information Form, Game Addiction Scale Short Form, Relationships Questionnaire Scale, Game Motivation Scale, Emotion Regulation Scale were given to participants. For analysis of results, Independent Samples t-test was used to compare male and female participants in terms of game addiction. One Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to compare different types of games in terms of game addiction. Multiple Linear Regression was used to understand if attachment styles predict game addiction. Linear regression was done to understand if emotion regulation strategy predicts game addiction. Pearson Correlation was used to examine correlation between game motivations and game addiction. According to analyses, preoccupied attachment style and dismissive attachment style predict game addiction. Suppressive emotion regulation strategy predicts game addiction. There was negative association between cognitive emotion regulation strategy and game addiction. Also, there was positive correlation between game motivations and game addition. Being male, playing game for long time, playing multiplayer game were risk factors for game addiction. Results of the study were mostly similar to the literature. The study presents new contribution to literature by conducting a comprehensive behavioral, cognitive and emotional model to understand game addiction.