Factors Affecting Internet Gaming Addiction:SNS Addiction Tendencies, Self-Esteem, and Interpersonal Relationships among Male Middle School Students

The aims of this study were to verify SNS addiction tendencies, self-esteem, and interpersonal relationships and to construct a hypothetical structural model which explains internet game addiction in male middle school students and to test the fitness with collected data. The data were collected via structural questionnaires completed by 213 male students attending a middle school located in Seoul who agreed to participate in this study. There was a statistically significant negative correlation between SNS addiction tendencies and self-esteem, and there were positive correlations among SNS addiction tendencies, interpersonal relationships, and internet gaming addiction. Also, there was a statistically significant positive correlation between interpersonal relationships and self-esteem and a negative correlation between internet gaming addiction and interpersonal relationships. AMOS 20.0 analysis was used to determine the influence of internet game addiction and to identify its correlation with SNS addiction tendencies. The overall fitness indices hypothetical model was good: (Χ2= 78.981, p<.001), Χ2//df =3.43, CFI= .962, TLI=.941, RMSEA=.080. Out of 5 paths, 5 were statistically significant. SNS addiction had the greatest impact on Internet game addiction among the male middle school students in this model.