Why can't they stop playing? Relative deprivation and problematic Otome game behavior among adult women

OBJECTIVE: To examine the associations between relative deprivation and problematic Otome game behavior among adult female players, test the parallel mediating roles of player-character attachment and maladaptive cognition, and examine the separate moderating role of trait mindfulness. METHOD: An online cross-sectional survey was conducted among 433 Chinese adult female Otome gamers recruited through snowball sampling on Xiaohongshu and Weibo. RESULTS: Relative deprivation was positively associated with problematic Otome game behavior, and both player-character attachment and maladaptive cognition showed significant indirect associations. Trait mindfulness was positively correlated with maladaptive cognition (r = 0.417) and problematic Otome game behavior (r = 0.510), whereas negative RD × TM interactions indicated that the positive RD-related associations with player-character attachment, maladaptive cognition, and problematic Otome game behavior became weaker as trait mindfulness increased. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that problematic Otome game behavior may be associated with both player-character involvement and maladaptive gaming cognition. The mindfulness interactions indicate attenuation of RD-related slopes rather than a generally protective association of higher mindfulness. Given the cross-sectional and non-probability sampling design, causal interpretations should be avoided.