線上遊戲動機、問題網路使用與心理健康： 大學生玩家的長期追蹤與分群研究

Online gaming motives, problematic internet use and mental health: Longitudinal and profile studies in college gamers in college gamers

常善媚(Shan-Mei Chang)

指導教授 ： 林珊如

國立交通大學/人文社會學院/教育研究所/博士(2019年)

摘要

為什麼線上遊戲吸引這麼多玩家? 因為「玩」不僅是一種內在驅力 (Caillois, 1961) 還是一種跨物種的本能 (Huizinga, 1949)。網路遊戲成癮 (Internet gaming disorder)是否該成為精神醫學診斷，在2013年成為修訂DSM-5時爭論不斷的議題。本論文以遊戲動機為主軸、大學生遊戲玩家為對象，進行了三個長期追蹤、系列性的研究。
研究一檢驗大學生玩家的追成就、社交、與逃避三種遊戲動機，哪種動機能成功中介遊戲投入與問題網路使用。過去研究發現遊戲投入的程度和問題網路使用之間有相關，但作者認為兩者間的關係可能夾帶了其他因素的力量。參與者共389位大學生玩家，蒐集大一到大三的自陳問卷資料。研究測試的模型同時包含三個動機，分析在遊戲投入預測問題網路使用之間，哪一個動機跨兩年期間，仍然具備強有力的中介力量。結果顯示，「追成就動機」與「逃避動機」可以成功中介遊戲投入與問題網路使用，「社交動機」無法成功中介。也就是說，遊戲玩家從投入在虛擬世界可獲得極大的樂趣，並且可能發展出成癮症狀。當遊戲玩家投入遊戲的主要動機為追成就動機時，比較可能成癮。這種現象稱為「拉」力(pull effect)；另一方面，現實生活中的挫折或其他負面體驗也可能帶「推」力(push effect)，將玩家推進遊戲中，若玩家在遊戲中體驗到暫時的幸福感，或許有助於宣洩玩家在現實生活中的挫敗感。當玩家在遊戲中出現「社交動機」時 (如參與遊戲玩家社群並與其他人合作)則可能是一種社會支持、或一種跨虛擬與真實世界與人互動的模式，而玩家彼此的社交和合作，也是遊戲的設計元素之一，因此社交動機對玩家的影響，有待進一步研究來釐清。由於本研究三個動機都來自Yee (2006)設計的遊戲動機量表之子構念，遊戲動機彼此之間都有一定程度的相關性，這也暗示了玩家很可能同時擁有多種的遊戲動機。以作者的觀察，玩家持續多年玩遊戲，大多不僅存在單一動機，因此進行研究二。
研究二採取以人為中心的統計取向 (person-centered approach)，對多個動機組合的玩家進行分群，分群的統計技術為「潛在剖面分析」 (latent profile analysis, LPA)。將遊戲玩家分成幾群不同遊戲動機組合的人群，並測試不同群的玩家在五個時間點的問題網路使用、憂鬱、學業成就、學業壓力以及同儕關係壓力是否不同。結果將387位遊戲玩家分出四個群體，命名為：高度投入，中度投入，低度投入以及健康投入。以二因子混和設計變異數分析進行檢驗，顯示從第一個時間到第五個時間，高度投入遊戲玩家群體比其他群體具有更高的憂鬱和問題網路使用得分。在自陳學業成就方面，四群玩家在五個追蹤的時間點都沒有顯著差異。對比「高度投入群體」與「健康投入群體」，主要的差異在於「高度投入群體」有較高的逃避動機，長時間來看有較大的風險產生憂鬱、問題網路使用、壓力等負向心理症狀。然而，當健康投入玩家與低投入玩家群體比較，在憂鬱和PIU中沒有顯著差異。這意味著逃避動機很可能是大學遊戲玩家憂鬱、問題網路使用及其他幸福指標的內在危險因子。
研究三以半結構訪談20位從長期資料中篩選出的高危險群大學生玩家，了解他們的遊戲動機、遊戲歷程、以及日常生活，以內容分析進行兩個循環的資料分析。結果包括兩部分。第一部分從訪談資料提出28個編碼來建立6個範疇（子範疇）：追成就（遊戲升級和玩家日常）、社交（線上遊戲社交和SNS的社交）、逃避（逃避原因和逃避行為）、現實生活的重心、遊戲成癮症狀和日常網路活動。這六個範疇進一步集結成「遊戲動機」和「其他後果」兩個主題。第二部分，以第一人稱方式描述四個具代表性個案的生活故事，藉以再現高危險群遊戲玩家的遊戲動機、遊戲歷程與大學生活。本研究共有三個主要發現: 第一，玩家的主要遊戲動機為追成就、社交、與逃避，並且沒有歸納出其他遊戲動機，這與過去遊戲動機與遊戲成癮文獻結果相吻合。第二，作者以遷徙(migration)理論中「推-拉-繫住力」(push-pull-mooring)的概念來詮釋高危險群大學生遊戲玩家跨「現實世界」與「虛擬遊戲世界」間的遷徙，以及影響遷徙的動機因素。最後，作者建議玩家找到生活重心與生活目標是脫離成癮危機的關鍵；且當玩家經評估發現憂鬱或寂寞等情緒困擾時，需優先處理低落的情緒，線上遊戲對憂鬱的玩家來說，或許是暫時可棲身的世界。
本論文將三個遊戲研究以「推-拉-繫住力」的概念聚焦在人內在心理歷程，並找出實證證據，作者發現這世代的年輕人「在遊戲中追成就的樂趣」是一種拉力；「逃離現實生活中的壓力」而玩遊戲，是一種推力；而「社交」是一種具有社會支持的遊戲拉力。繫住力是推力與拉力交互影響的綜效，這有可能是追成就動機、逃避動機、社交動機，其中二者或三者綜合的結果，把玩家繫住停留在遊戲世界或真實世界。此現象或許是在生命發展中的一個片段，而遷徙在人生的各個階段都可能發生，此模式或許可遷移到不同人生階段的玩家。
最後，本研究分別就學校教育、臨床醫學、以及父母提出建議。在學校教育的部分，建議可設計課程靈活性，增加學生在學習過程自主與探索的機會，以增加學習過程的內在動機，並技巧性的運用外在動機的獎賞，讓學生能從中了解自己的興趣、能力、與強項，。在臨床醫學的部分，建議在評估個案是否有遊戲成癮時，建議須先排除個案是否有其他精神醫學診斷 (如: 憂鬱)，若個案有其他精神疾患，則須優先處理，另外針對遊戲成癮的個案，建議可採用推-拉-繫住 (PPM)的概念來進行介入措施，逐步調整生活作息、改變個案的生活重心。在父母的部分，建議可從孩子年紀還小的時候，培養孩子電腦、手機等產品是工具而非玩具的概念，並且實際運用在每日的生活中，而這觀念的轉變，也仰賴父母本身對3C產品使用的方式，不因逃避動機而使用3C，另外，限制孩子使用3C的時間並不是一個好方法，那可能讓孩子將3C當成獎賞或玩樂的工具，讓孩子學習自主安排自己的時間才是根本之道。

關鍵字

線上遊戲玩家 ； 大學生 ； 青少年 ； 遊戲投入 ； 問題網路使用 ； 憂鬱 ； 壓力 ； 學業成就 ； 中介模式 ； 潛在剖面分析 ； 長期資料 ； 內容分析

並列摘要

Why are online games so popular and attractive? Because "playing" is not only an internal drive (Caillois, 1961) but also a cross-species instinct (Huizinga, 1955). The thesis focuses on gaming motives serving as the pivotal variables to conduct three studies on college gamers. The main goal was to understand the longitudinal relationship between gaming motives and problematic Internet use. The current studies neither focus on diagnostic criteria of online gaming disorder, nor to identify which gamers are of Internet gaming disorder. Although World Health Organization establishes the diagnostic criteria for Internet gaming disorder (with three symptoms and one duration, WHO 2018), more details of the symptoms are to be confirmed.
In study one, the mediation effect of college gamers’ gaming motives (advancement, socializing and escapism) between gaming involvement and PIU was examined across three time-points. In study two, gamers with different combination of motives were clustered using a person-centered approach. This study also explored whether there were differences among gamer profiles in their characteristic, problematic Internet use, depression, academic performances, academic stress and peer-relation stress across five time points. In study three, twenty high risk college gamers were selected and interviewed to collect information about what their psychological needs are, how and why they play online games. The author tries to find out the detrimental gaming motives and make suggestions for gamers with PIU.
The main objective of study one (chapter 3) was to explore which one of the three gaming motives (advancement, socialization, escapism) can successfully mediate game involvement and PIU. This is an issue about “HOW” the gamers develop through gaming. Given these three motives were found to be the most significant inner reason of game involvement. Though some studies relate these three gaming motives to PIU, comparison of the indirect effects were still needed. A sample of 389 gamers participated in the study from freshman to junior. The three motives were simultaneously included in a multiple-mediator model to compare the relative levels of their mediation effects from gaming involvement to PIU across a period of two years. The results showed that escapism and advancement were positively associated with PIU, yet socializing was not; socializing failed to significantly predict later PIU.
The finding of the study one and many other studies showed that all gaming motives were correlated and, that gamers might own multiple motives simultaneously. In the study two (chapter 4), a person-centered approach was thus adopted which was capable of distinguishing people with different combinations of gaming motives. The first aim of this study was to examine cluster effect based on the co-occurrence of three different gaming motives, using latent profile analysis. The second aim was to examine whether there were differences among gamer profiles in their characteristics, PIU, depression, academic performance, academic stress, and peer-relation stress indicators across five time points.
Panel data were collected from the same college student sample every six months for 2 years, from 2012 to 2014. At time point 1, a total of 387 freshmen (female = 109; male = 278) were recruited in Taiwan. Through latent profile analysis, four reliable clusters of gamers were identified: high-engagement, medium-engagement, low-engagement, and healthy-engagement. The validated analysis results showed that the high-engagement gamers were risky and had higher depression and problematic Internet use scores than the other gamer clusters from time 1 to time 5. Academic performances had no significant effect on the four gamer clusters from time 1 to time 5. When the high-engagement cluster was compared to the healthy-engagement cluster, the major difference was seen in the level of escapism motives and the consequent risk of developing negative psychological symptoms. However, when the healthy-engagement cluster was compared to the low-engagement cluster, there were no significant differences in their level of escapism motive or psychological outcomes in depression and problematic Internet use (PIU) scores. Taken together, these findings imply that the escapism motive might be a risky inner factor for depression, PIU, and other well-being indicators in college gamers.
In the study three (chapter 5), 20 high-risk college gamers were selected from a longitudinal data over a span of 2.5 years (5-time points, from freshman year to senior year). The author collected data with in-depth interviews, and analyzed the data by content analysis. The objective of study three was to understand the gaming motives and daily life experiences of high-risk college gamers. The results comprised two parts. The first part was based on 28 codes to create 6 categories (sub-category): advancement (level upgrades and gamer’s routine), socializing (socialization through online gaming and socialization through SNS), escapism (reason for escaping and action of escaping), the shift focus to real-life, symptoms of gaming addiction, and daily online activity. These six categories can be further drawn into two themes, gaming motives and other consequence respectively. The second part utilized a first-person narrative to describe the history of four cases in gaming and their daily life during college. There are two main findings in the study 3: first, it’s found that in terms of gaming motive, three pivotal motives of this study (advancement, socializing, and escapism) could be found from the content analysis. As for the second part, typical cases with high gaming motives (advancement, socialization, and escapism) were high risk problematic internet use (PIU). Given the finding, the author interpreted self-reports of high-risk college gamers with the concept of push-pull-moor in the migration theory proposed by humanistic geographer. Finally, the author considered that high-risk college gamers’ finding that setting up a meaningful shift focus to real-life could be the key factor to plan effective intervention for high-risk college gamers. When gamers have depression symptoms, taking care of their depression is the first priority. Once the gamers’ emotional status improves, it is likely that they won’t be heavily dependent on gaming.
The author integrated the main findings of three studies with the push-pull-mooring (PPM) concept of migration theory, which would be explained in detail in the general discussion. That is, gamers experience great pleasure from immersing themselves in a virtual world, and often to the extent of displaying addictive symptoms. This phenomenon is referred to as “pull” effect which is considered comparable to the motive of “pursuing in-game advancement” in the present study. On the other hand, frustrations or other negative experiences in real life might also bring about a “push” effect that presses players into gaming. The motive of escapism from the real-life in this study resembles the so-called “push” effect. But when gamers demonstrated social motive during game time, such as participating in a gamer community and collaborating with the others despite being socially withdrawn in real life, it would be less likely to be regarded as PIU. During game time, if gamers experience a temporary sense of well-being through social interaction, it might help to vent their real-life frustration.

並列關鍵字

online gamers ； college students ； adolescents ； game involvement ； problematic internet use ； depression ； stress ； academic performance ； mediation model ； latent profile analysis ； longitudinal data ； content analysis

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