Prediction and prevention of problematic game use in South Korea
Start Date
21-2-2025 2:15 PM
End Date
21-2-2025 2:45 PM
Description
In the current digital era, video game has become one of the most popular forms of entertainment. The widespread use of smartphones and the growth of the mobile gaming industry have led to increased variety and accessibility to video games for individuals of all age groups. Although video game playing may be benign for most people, others may show patterns of problematic game use (PGU), which is characterized by over-prioritization of gaming in daily life and inability to control game use despite negative consequences such as compromised physical and psychological health, academic and professional performance, and interpersonal relationships. According to the 11th Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) published by the World Health Organization (WHO), if these behaviors persist over an extended period, a Gaming Disorder diagnosis may be considered. It has also been suggested that, as a form of behavioral addiction, Gaming Disorder tends to become more resistant to treatment over time, highlighting the need to early identify and prevent PGU before it follows a chronic course. To achieve this goal, it is essential to identify risk factors and reveal how they may conjointly have varying effects on individuals with PGU vulnerability. In this presentation, I will review a line of research from my lab focusing a) identifying individuals at higher risk for developing PGU, and b) revealing mechanisms in which multiple individual and contextual factors may become associated with PGU, based on studies with diverse samples in South Korea. Clinical implications will also be discussed based on major findings from my lab.
Speaker
Prof CHANG Hye In
Professor, Department of Psychology, Sungkyunkwan University, South Korea
Hyein Chang, Ph .D., is a Professor of Psychology in the Clinical Psychology area at Sungkyunkwan University, South Korea. She earned her B.A. and M.A. in psychology from Yonsei University in South Korea. While working on her doctorate in clinical psychology at The University of Michigan in the U.S., she became interested in better understanding the development of conduct problems in children and adolescents, with a particular focus on the interplay between individual and contextual factors that accumulate over time. She worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the department of psychology at The University of Pittsburgh in the U.S., where she, in addition to research on basic processes to psychological problems, focused on examining long-term effects of a preventive program for high-risk families using a randomized controlled design. At Sungkyunkwan University, she conducted multiple research projects on diverse high-risk populations such as individuals living in poverty, adolescents with behavioral addiction (e.g., game overuse), children of depressed mothers, and young women with pathological eating behavior. Much of her work addresses risk mechanisms that may lead to diverse psychological outcomes among populations with limited financial and psychological resources. Based on her work on individuals in the face of adversity, she aims to inform not only the existing literature but also clinical practice and social policy.
Document Type
Keynote speech
Recommended Citation
Chang, H. I. (2025, February 21). Prediction and prevention of problematic game use in South Korea. Keynote speech presented at the International Conference and Workshop on Health and Well-being in the Digital Era. Lingnan University, Hong Kong.
Prediction and prevention of problematic game use in South Korea
In the current digital era, video game has become one of the most popular forms of entertainment. The widespread use of smartphones and the growth of the mobile gaming industry have led to increased variety and accessibility to video games for individuals of all age groups. Although video game playing may be benign for most people, others may show patterns of problematic game use (PGU), which is characterized by over-prioritization of gaming in daily life and inability to control game use despite negative consequences such as compromised physical and psychological health, academic and professional performance, and interpersonal relationships. According to the 11th Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) published by the World Health Organization (WHO), if these behaviors persist over an extended period, a Gaming Disorder diagnosis may be considered. It has also been suggested that, as a form of behavioral addiction, Gaming Disorder tends to become more resistant to treatment over time, highlighting the need to early identify and prevent PGU before it follows a chronic course. To achieve this goal, it is essential to identify risk factors and reveal how they may conjointly have varying effects on individuals with PGU vulnerability. In this presentation, I will review a line of research from my lab focusing a) identifying individuals at higher risk for developing PGU, and b) revealing mechanisms in which multiple individual and contextual factors may become associated with PGU, based on studies with diverse samples in South Korea. Clinical implications will also be discussed based on major findings from my lab.