Factors Affecting Computer Game Addiction And Mental Health

Journal of Public Health, September-December 2008 Vol. 38 No. 3Factors Affecting Computer Game Addictionand Mental Health of Male Adolescentsin Mueang District, Si Sa Ket ProvincePrakaipetch Supaket* Chokchai Munsawaengsub**Sutham Nanthamongkolchai** Suporn Apinuntavetch***ABSTRACTThis survey research aimed to study the factors affecting computer game addiction, mentalhealth status, and the association of computer game addiction with the mental health of male adolescentsin Mueang District, Si Sa Ket Province. The samples were 333 Mathayomsuksa One to Three studentsin Si Sa Ket municipal school selected by stratified random sampling to classify the schools andthe grade. Data were collected by self administered questionnaires and Thai General Health Questionnaire28 (Thai GHQ 28) during August 28, 2007 to September 28, 2007 and analyzed by frequency,percentage, means, Chi-square test and Multiple logistic regression.The study found that 23.1% of the adolescents were computer game addicted and 76.9%were not. The factors with a statistically significant (p-value < 0.05) effect on the computer gameaddicted were the availability of Internet-connected PCs in house and the inclination of friends. Thoseadolescents with home internet had a 2.3 times higher chance of being addicted than those withouthome internet and those with higher friend inclination had a 2.2 times higher chance of being addictedthan those with lower friend inclination. On the mental health status of the male adolescents, thestudy revealed that 61.0% of adolescents who were addicted had poor mental health and computergame addiction was associated with weakened mental health status; a higher proportion of those whowere addicted had poor mental health than those who were not addicted.The study suggests that the family should set up the computer in a common room so thatthe parents can observe and participate; in order to interrupt their children from playing unwholesomegames. The family should make friends with their child’s peer group and be familiar with them inorder to suggest and observe the game content to help preventing computer game addiction in theirchild.Key words:Computer game addiction, mental health, male adolescentsJ Public Health 2008; 38(3): 317-330.Correspondence: Assistant Professor Dr. Chokchai Munsawaengsub. Family Health Department, Faculty of Public Health,Mahidol University 420/1 Rajvithi Road, Rajchathewi, Bangkok 10400, Thailand* Department of Public Health Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Thammasat University** Department of Family Health, Faculty of Public Health, Mahidol University*** Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University

318 «“√ “√ “∏“√≥ ÿ¢»“ µ√åIntroductionAt present, the national developmentfocuses on human development. This was firststated in the 8 th National Economical and SocialDevelopment Plan (Year 1997-2001), continuedin the 9 th National Economical and SocialDevelopment Plan (Year 2002-2006), and wasfollowed up to the 10 th National Economical andSocial Development Plan (Year 2007-2010). Theconcept “human is the center of development” hasbeen inserted in all dimensions. The developmenthas focused on human, social, economic andenvironmental aspects, especially the forming ofa good internal management system at all levels,which will lead to the sustainable developmentunder human-centered concept 1 . From the 10 thNational Economical and Social Development Plan(Year 2007-2010) 2 , the strategy on sufficiencytakes emphasis on human development, both inethical and knowledge dimensions, in order toenhance “society of sustainable happiness” underthe direction of sufficiency economics. In thisPlan, educational reform is accelerated, andteaching and learning will be based on “studyingto learn”, Learning new technologies allowsthese students to have good knowledge andunderstanding in using the computer, which is avery efficient and essential tool during the presentage. Although children and youths’ learning isconveniently done through new technologies thatmakes their learning easy, since the materials andteaching techniques can interest the learners, suchlearning simultaneously leads to both benefits andproblems. The adolescent is quite free from theirguardians’ control, is curious and enjoys both joysand challenges. The critical problem is that theadolescents use the computer for wrong purposes;they spent so much time playing computer gamesthat they ignore their study or other importantactivities.From the survey of the National StatisticsOffice 3 on the use of computer among childrenand youths in 2002, around 3 million children andyouths across the country at ages of 11-24 usedthe computer for playing computer games. Theactivities during leisure time by children andyouths were also surveyed 4 and it was found thataround 1.4 million children and youths at agesof 6-24 (6.8%) played the computer/video gamesduring their leisure, which accounted for 8%for male children and 5.5% for female children.In addition, Hongsa-nguansri S et al. 5 studied, in2003, behavior concerning playing computergames and problems derived from computergame addiction among secondary school students;about 16.6% of them fell in the criteria thatthey were addicted to computer games, whichaccounted for 31.5% for male students and 12.7%for female students. In the United Kingdom thestudied discovered that about 7.5% of adolescentsat ages of 11-16 who played computer gameswere addicted to those games and in anotherstudied found that 19.9% of adolescents at agesof 12-16 were addicted to computer games 6 .Such computer game addiction duringadolescents arose after their recent learning ofnew technologies. Up to now, there have not yetbeen formulated the standard diagnosis criteria 7to identify the computer game addiction ofadolescents. The behavior about playing computergames is that the adolescents are able to limit andcontrol themselves so that they can stop playingat anytime or when they are interrupted by anyevent in the real world, they can stop playing thatgame. For children and adolescent addicted tocomputer games, Hongsa-nguansri S et al. andKetmarn P 7 conducted a study in Game Addictionthat the game addiction was similar to the substancedependence and pathological gambling, that is,the players felt satisfied when they won games.

ªï∑’Ë 38 ©∫—∫∑’Ë 3 ª√–®”‡¥◊Õπ°—𬓬π-∏—𫓧¡ 2551 319The adolescent wants to play games at all time(craving). A report mentioned that some computergame players in Thailand and other countriesplayed game continuously without going to bedor having food and drinking so little water thatthey expired 8 . The above behavior of computergame addicts affected both the physical body andthe mind. The article by Phapoom P 9 proposedthat playing game for a long period made theyouths face the risk of mental health problems.The player usually ignored his personal healthcare,his relationship with his family and other persons,studying, working and endured loss of economicstatus. This article was consistent with that ofNanthamongkolchai S 10 who found that sitting toplay computer games for long periods causedtension, frustration, anger and aggressiveness.As mentioned above, playing computergames is widespread now. However, the studiesabout the mental health of adolescents playingcomputer games are few if compared to that ofother influential media. Male adolescents likeplaying computer games more than female onesince most games contain the contents that aremore suitable for male adolescents 7, 10 . Si Sa Ketis a province standing on the beginning stage ofeconomic and social development, especially inIT and computers. It is obvious that a lot ofcomputer shops have been established. From thedata regarding game & Internet shops located inMueang District area in 2003 11 , there werediscovered to be only 10 shops there. But in2006, a new survey revealed that there were 57computer-game & Internet shops, or an increaseof 5 times. These adolescents in Mueang Districtfeel the critical power of learning to move into“era of constantly updated hardware and software”and they feel interested in IT, but the subsequentproblem is the adolescents computer-gameaddiction. Therefore, the Researcher was interestedin studying the factors influencing the computergameaddiction and mental health of maleadolescents in Mueang District of Si Sa KetProvince. The obtained information may beimplemented by all related parties to set up theplanning and precise solution of the problems aboutcomputer-game addiction in male adolescentsand the mental health of computer-game addicts.Material and MethodsThis study was the cross-sectional surveyresearch conducted to examine the factorsinfluencing the computer-game addiction andmental health of male adolescents in MueangDistrict of Si Sa Ket Province. The populationsof this study included the male adolescentsstudying in Mathayomsuksa 1-3 in the EducationalYear 2007 at schools located in the municipalarea, Mueang District of Si Sa Ket Province.These schools included Si Sa Ket VittayalaiSchool, Satree Siriket School, Maha BuddharamSchool, Ruamsin Vittaya School and Wat LuangSchool. These schools were located in themunicipal area and close to computer-game shops.In addition, most students had the PCs in theirhomes; so they had a high risk of computer-gameaddiction. The size of populations, from calculatingthe size of sample group, consisted of 297 subjects.To obtain more reliable data for this study, thecalculated size of the sample group was enlargedby 12%; as a result, the sample group comprised333 students. After that, the proportional stratifiedrandom sampling was done by school and classlevel by calculating the proportion based on thenumber of students in each school. The datacollection was done from 28 August - 28September 2007 by using the self-responsequestionnaire as the instrument of this study. Eachquestion in the questionnaire had alternative

320 «“√ “√ “∏“√≥ ÿ¢»“ µ√åanswers. The questionnaire comprised seven mainparts: general information about male adolescence,computers games, self-esteem, parents’ caring,family relationship, incline to friends and questionsabout mental health screening. These seven partsof the questionnaire were checked for thecontent relevance and language appropriatenessby three qualified experts and thesis advisorsof this study. The questionnaire validity wasinitially tested with 30 male adolescents who hadsimilar characteristics to the sample group. Thequestionnaire reliability was also calculated byusing Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficient and its resultswere: 0.75 for self-esteem, 0.78 for questions aboutparents’ caring, 0.75 for questions about familyrelationship and 0.72 for questions about mentalhealth screening. The data was analyzed bydescriptive statistics, including frequency,percentage, mean, median, standard deviation,maximum and minimum values in order to explainabout general characteristics of the sample group.The factors influencing the computer-gameaddiction of male adolescents were analyzed bythe Logistic regression analysis. Finally, therelationship between computer-game addiction andmental health of male adolescents was analyzedby the Chi-square test.ResultsGeneral characteristics of male adolescenceMale adolescent at the ages of 14, 13 and15 accounted for 41.1%, 39.6% and 19.2%,respectively, and the average age was 13.80. Forthe level of education, about 33.3% of theseadolescents were studying in Mathayomsuksa 1,2 and 3. Most subjects (69.1%) received a dailyincome of over 42 Baht while 30.9% of themreceived the daily income lower than 41 Baht orthe mean of daily income was 42.20 Baht. Forthe adequacy of expense, over a half of samplegroup (54.4%) had the adequate income while37.8% had the adequate income and saving and7.8% did not have adequate income. Regardingtheir educational proficiency results, 47.1% hadhigh proficiency, 46.2% had medium proficiencyand 6.6% had low proficiency. About the selfesteem,85.3% had the high self-esteem, 14.7%had the low-esteem. In part of incline to friends,79.0% of male adolescents had a high inclinationto friends and 21.0% had a low inclination tofriends.Family characteristics of male adolescenceThe survey revealed that, regarding themonthly income of the family, most subjects(83.8%) had the adequate monthly income while16.2% of them did not have sufficient income.About 58.3% of male adolescence’s family hadsufficient income and saving while 28.2% hada sufficient income without any savings, 10.2%had insufficient income and debts, and 3.31%had insufficient income without debts. Regardingthe type of family, most subjects stayed in thenuclear family (63.1%) while 20.7% lived in anextended family and 16.2% lived in a single-parentfamily. With regard to parents’ caring, about58.6% of male adolescence received thecombined-method caring while 25.5% receiveda democratic caring, 13.2% received the ignorancecaring, 1.8% received the dictatorial caring and0.9% received the self-indulgent caring. Withrespect to family relationship, most subjects(63.1%) had a good balance within their familyrelationships, while 27.3% had a quite balancerelationship, 8.7% came out from the relationshipbalance and 0.9% stayed at the edge of balance.

ªï∑’Ë 38 ©∫—∫∑’Ë 3 ª√–®”‡¥◊Õπ°—𬓬π-∏—𫓧¡ 2551 321Behavior about computer game playing andcomputer game addiction of male adolescenceConcerning the ownership of a PC, almostmale adolescents in the sample group had PCsat their houses (94.0%) and only 6.0% did nothave PCs at home. Over half of PCs could notbe connected to the Internet (59.8%) while 34.2%of male adolescents could connect their PCs tothe Internet and 6.0% of subjects did not havePCs at home. Regarding the computer settinglocation, most subjects (83.2%) set the PCs at thecommon room while 10.8% set the PCs in thepersonal room, 6.0% of male adolescents did nothave the PCs at home. As for the time of playingcomputer games, most adolescents (45.3%)played computer games in the afternoon (12.01-18.00 o’clock) while 36.3% played games beforemidnight (18.00-00.00 o’clock), 14.4% playedgames in the morning and 3.9% played gamesafter midnight (00.01-06.00 o’clock). Regardingthe game playing place, over half of them playedgames at the game shops (55.9%) while 41.1%played games at home, 29.1% at schools, 25.2%at friends’ houses, 22.8% at relatives’ housesand 0.3% at other places (community healthcenter). Regarding the adequacy of game shops,84.7% thought that the game shops were sufficientwhile 15.3% of them thought that the game shopswere insufficient. For the types of computer games,48.6% played the on-line games while 23.7%played action games, 12.9% played strategicgames, 9.3% played simulation games and 5.4%played language games. With respect to theexpenses of game playing, 74.8% of the samplegroup paid for the computer game playing at 15Baht per hour, 10.5% paid at 10 Baht per hour,9.6% had no expenses and 0.3% paid at 30 Bahtper hour.Computer game addiction of male adolescenceThe sample group covered 333 maleadolescents. From studying the factors influencingthe game-computer addiction in male adolescence,it was found that 256 male adolescents (76.9%)were not addicted to computer games. For thoseaddicted to computer games, they would playcomputer games for more than 3 hours a day andhad at least one of 8 addiction conditions. It wasfound that 77 male adolescents (23.1%) wereaddicted to computer games. Regarding theaddiction conditions, about 63.6% of them playedcomputer games more than the determined overusetime while 33.8% paid less attention to othermatters and 16.9% thought only about computergames.Factors influencing to the computer gameaddiction1. Bivariate Analysis by way of SimpleLogistic RegressionPredisposing factors: it was found that thefactors significantly influencing the computergameaddiction of male adolescence(p-value < 0.05) were: age of 13, that is, ifcompared to the age 15, those at the age of 13were more likely to be addicted to computer games1.9 times more often than at the age of 15, gameplaying expenses and self-esteem. If comparingthe age of 13 with the age of 14, the educationalproficiency and game-playing time did notinfluence the computer game addiction.Enabling factors: it was found that thefactors significantly influencing the computergameaddiction of male adolescence(p-value < 0.05) included the family relationshipand Internet-connected PCs in houses. However,types of family, types of parents’ caring andmonthly income of the family did not influencethe computer-game addiction.

322 «“√ “√ “∏“√≥ ÿ¢»“ µ√åReinforcing factors - it was found that thefactors significantly influencing the computergameaddiction of male adolescents (p-value

ªï∑’Ë 38 ©∫—∫∑’Ë 3 ª√–®”‡¥◊Õπ°—𬓬π-∏—𫓧¡ 2551 323Table 1Logistic regression coefficient (B) and Odd Ratio (OR) of predisposing factors, enablingfactors and reinforcing factors influencing the computer game addiction of maleadolescence analyzed by the Simple Logistic RegressionFactors B OR 95%CIPredisposing FactorsAge (1)-14 -.261 .771 (.455-1.304)Age (1)-15 619 * 1.858 (1.020-3.382)Obtained income (2)- Lower than 41 Baht .762 * 2.143 (1.264-3.633)Educational proficiency (3)- Low 089 1.093 (.655-1.822)Self-esteem (4)- High 551 * 1.735 (1.034-2.912)Time of playing computer games (5)- At night .348 1.416 (.847-2.366)Enabling FactorsType of family (6)- Single parent -.477 .621 (.288-1.335)Types of family (6)- Extended -.208 .812 (.423-1.558)Type of caring (7)- Democracy .225 1.253 (.681-2.303)Type of caring (7)- Ignorance .007 1.007 (.472-2.150)Family relationship (8)- Unbalanced .743 * 2.102 (1.253-3.525)Family income (9)- Insufficient .182 1.200 (.614-2.346)Owning PC in house and Internet-connected (10)- Yes .891 * 2.437 (1.43-4.147)Reinforcing FactorsInclination to friends (11)- Little inclination to friends .726 * 2.067 (1.160-3.686)Number of computer-game shops (12)- Insufficient .391 1.478 (.760-2.875)Game playing expense (13)- Lower than 14 Baht -.249 .780 (.389-1.562)Types of computer games (14)- Crucial .960 2.611 (1.134-6.010)* Significantly at a statistic level < 0.05, the reference group was ‘computer game addiction’Note: (1) The reference group was ‘13’ (2) the reference group was ‘more than 42 Baht’ (3) the reference group was ‘higheducational proficiency’ (4) the reference group was ‘low self-esteem’ (5) the reference group was ‘day time’(6) the reference group was ‘nuclear family’ (7) the reference group was ‘combined-method type’ (8) the referencegroup was ‘balance’ (9) the reference group was ‘sufficient’ (10) the reference group was ‘no’ (11) the referencegroup was ‘high inclination to friends’ (12) the reference group was ‘sufficient’ (13) the reference group was ‘high’(15 Baht up) (14) the reference group was ‘not crucial’.

324 «“√ “√ “∏“√≥ ÿ¢»“ µ√åTable 2Logistic regression coefficient (B) and Odd Ratio (OR) of predisposing factors, enablingfactors and reinforcing factors influencing the computer game addiction of maleadolescents analyzed by the Multiple Logistic RegressionFactors B OR 95%CIPredisposing FactorsAge (1)-14 -.479 .619 (.288-1.333)Age (1)-15 .341 1.407 (.599-3.306)Obtained income (2)- Lower than 41 Baht .569 1.766 (.934-3.340)Educational Proficiency (3)- Low .261 1.298 (.694-2.428)Self-esteem (4)- High .306 1.359 (.725-2.545)Time of game playing (5)- At night .081 .085 (.579-2.032)Enabling FactorsType of family (6)- Single parent -.424 .655 (.256-1.676)Type of family (6)- Extended -.469 .626 (.290-1.350)Type of caring (7)- Democracy .188 1.207 (.582-2.503)Type of caring (7)- Ignorance .118 1.125 (.463-2.734)Family relationship (8)- Unbalanced .597 1.817 (.968-3.410)Family income (9)- Insufficient .447 1.563 (.662-3.690)Owning PC in house and Internet-connected (10)- Yes .820 * 2.271 (1.183-4.359)Reinforcing FactorsInclination to friends (11)- Little inclination .785 * 2.192 (1.078-4.454)Number of computer game shops (12)- Insufficient .221 1.247 (.586-2.653)Game playing expense (13)- Lower than 14 Baht -.306 .737 (.307-1.767)Type of computer game (14)- Crucial .763 2.145 (.873-5.275)-2 Log likelihood 284.353 a Significance < .003 df 17 * Significantly at astatistic level < 0.05Note: The reference group was ‘computer game addiction’ (1) The reference group was ‘13’ (2) the reference group was‘more than 42 Baht’ (3) the reference group was ‘high educational proficiency’ (4) the reference group was ‘lowself-esteem’ (5) the reference group was ‘day time’ (6) the reference group was ‘nuclear family’ (7) the referencegroup was ‘combined-method type’ (8) the reference group was ‘balance’ (9) the reference group was ‘sufficient’(10) the reference group was ‘no’ (11) the reference group was ‘high inclination to friends’ (12) the reference groupwas ‘sufficient’ (13) the reference group was ‘high’ (15 Baht up) (14) the reference group was ‘not crucial’.

ªï∑’Ë 38 ©∫—∫∑’Ë 3 ª√–®”‡¥◊Õπ°—𬓬π-∏—𫓧¡ 2551 325Mental health of male adolescenceThis study covered the sample groupcomprising 333 male adolescents. It was foundthat over a half of the sample group had goodmental health (69.1%) while the remaining (30.9%)had poor mental health. For the male adolescenceaddicted to computer games, about 61.0% hadpoor mental health while 39.0% had good mentalhealth.Relationship between computer game addictionand mental health of male adolescenceWhen considering the relationship betweencomputer game addiction and mental health ofmale adolescence, it was found that the computergame addiction was significantly related to themental health of male adolescents at a statistictest level (p-value < 0.05). About 61.0% of maleadolescents who were addicted to the computergames had poor mental health while only 21.9%of male adolescents not addicted to the computergames had poor mental health (Table 3).DiscussionFrom studying the computer gameaddiction of male adolescence in Mueang Districtof Si Sa Ket Province, the sample group consistedof 333 males adolescents. It was found that 256male adolescents (76.9%) were not addicted tocomputer games or while 77 male adolescents(23.1%) were addicted to computer games. Themale adolescents addicted to computer gameswould have at least one addiction condition:playing any computer game longer than thepre-determined period (63.6%), paying lesserattention to other matters (33.8%), lowerconcentration in learning/working (32.5%) andless concentration in reading (32.5%). Theseresults were consistent to the study of HongsanguansriS et al. 12 who showed that the samplegroup who was addicted to computer games wouldplay the computer games too long because theyinsisted playing until they could not control theplaying time. This study was also consistent tothe crucial problem that the children andadolescents were now becoming addicted tocomputer games more severely and rapidly.Globally, few studies on computer game addictionof children and adolescence have been conductedand such studies were very rare in Thailand. Themain reason was that there has not yet been anystandardized diagnosis criteria, as well as anyacceptable instruments for examining the computergame addiction in children and adolescents.The study found that the predisposingfactors (age, daily income, educational proficiency,self-esteem, game playing time) had no effect onthe computer game addiction of male adolescentsin Mueang District, Si Sa Ket Province. AgeTable 3Number and percentage of computer game playing in male adolescence addicted andnot addicted to computer gamesGood Mental Health Poor Mental HealthMental Health Number Percentage Number Percentage333 100 333 1001. Not addicted to computer games 200 78.1 56 21.92. Addicted to computer games 30 39.0 47 61.0χ 2 = 42.499 df = 1 p-value < 0.05

326 «“√ “√ “∏“√≥ ÿ¢»“ µ√åpresented the opportunity for social maturity andenhanced personal abilities. This result wasdifferent from the study of Hongsa-nguansri Set al. 12 that, among adolescents at ages of 14-16,they started playing games when they were10-13. The students in Mathayomsuksa 1-6 whowere addicted to computer games would startplaying games when they were younger withstatistical significance. Obtained income: the maleadolescents who obtained the daily income mightnot use the income to play computer games. Mostmale adolescents had Internet-connected PCsat home (34.2%); so they did not need to pay forthe hourly fee to play computer games. In addition,computer game playing was charged at 15 Bahtper hour, which did not affect their obtainedincome. Educational proficiency: computer-gameplaying was not related to the educationalproficiency. This result was not consistent toHongsa-nguansri S et al. 12 that the sample groupfalling within the criteria of computer-gameaddiction had lower average grades than the samplegroup that was not addicted to the computer games.Self-esteem: had no effect on the computer gameaddiction of male adolescents. Game playing time:This could be explained that the male adolescentsdid not have different game playing time, moststudents played games after school hours. So maleadolescents were addicted to the computer gamesindifferently.Some enabling factors influencing thecomputer-game addiction of male adolescents. Theadolescents are highly influenced by their friends,while the roles of the family relationship and childrearing practice had less effect on them accordingto the friend had more influence on the adolescents.The study found that the types of family, typesof parents’ caring, family relationship, and monthlyincome of the family had no effect on the computergame addiction of male adolescents in MueangDistrict, Si Sa Ket Province which could be dueto Types of family: According to the study, subjectswere adolescent who pay less attention to thefamily; they spent more time with their friends,so that the computer games played by maleadolescents were not related to the types of theirfamilies. Therefore, no matter what type of familythe male adolescent had, it did not influence hiscomputer-game addiction, since those adolescentswere cared for by parents and guardians. Inaddition, there may be other factors influencingthe computer-game addiction of male adolescents.Types of parents’ caring: the study found that25.5% of male adolescents lived in the democraticcaring family, 13.2% were in ignorance caringfamily, and 58.6% were in combined-methodcaring family. The parents’ caring types did notdifferentiate the computer-game addiction rate ofmale adolescence. In addition, if the family givespractice guidelines to the adolescents and modelsfor them, these adolescents will learn aboutcomputer-game playing correctly. Familyrelationship: the result was consistent with thestudy of Mungfaidee T 13 which found that therelationship between students and guardians wasnot related to the attitude towards computer-gameplaying. Monthly income of the family: Theresult was consistent with the study of MungfaideeT 13 that the average monthly income of guardianswas a component not relating to the attitudetowards computer-game playing. And the studyfound that the Internet-connected PCs in househad an effect on the computer game addiction ofmale adolescents. Those adolescents with homeinternet had a 2.3 times higher chance of beingaddicted than those without home internet. Thiscould be explained by noting that although theparents decided to buy a computer, which couldbe connected to the Internet so that their adolescentchildren could study new technologies and search

ªï∑’Ë 38 ©∫—∫∑’Ë 3 ª√–®”‡¥◊Õπ°—𬓬π-∏—𫓧¡ 2551 327for information, it appeared that some “darkdanger” intruded into their house while using thecomputer and playing computer games.Sometimes, some guardians might not considerthe rising problems. If the computer was notconnected to the Internet, the computer gameswould be dull, repetitious and boring; finally, theadolescents would play games less often. Thisresult was consistent with the study of KannikaN 14 . Hence, the inclination to friends was thefactor influencing the computer-game addiction.Some reinforcing factors were influencingthe computer-game addiction of male adolescents.The adolescents were the age of learning so theirfriends had an influence on their activities, evencomputer game playing. The inclination to friendshad an effect on the computer game addiction ofmale adolescents, those with higher friendinclination had a 2.2 times higher chance of beingaddicted than those with lower friend inclination,which could be due to teenagers always needfriends and are close to their friends more thanother groups, friends will influence their ideasand actions. The teenagers usually do everythingaccording to the standard of friends and actindifferently so that they are accepted by friends.Grouping is a natural manner of change whenbecoming an adult; so a teenager will separatefrom his family and approach their friends more.The teenagers will select friends who have similarattitudes and moral values, and they want to beaccepted by friends. The number of computergameshops; had no effect on the computer gameaddiction of male adolescents. This result wasconsistent with the study of Mungfaidee T 13 thatthe near or distant locations of computer-gameshops were not related to the attitude towardscomputer-game playing of students. Game playingexpense; had no effect on the computer gameaddiction of male adolescents. Types of computergames; had no effect on the computer gameaddiction of male adolescents, the contents of thecomputer games were not different. Most of thesample group (48.6%) played on-line games,while 23.7% played action games. This result wasnot consistent with the study of Lee-anansaksiriM 15 , Senarak M 16 , Khoompool D 17 whichindicated that male students played the actiongames most often. Thus, whichever games, crucialor not crucial, were played by male adolescentsdid not influence the computer-game addictionsince the present computer games usually containnew and exotic contents. The game patterns havebeen changing, so the adolescents still like playingany games. The computer-game addiction of maleadolescents, therefore, does not come from thedifference of computer game types, but it is derivedfrom other factors as well.Regarding the relationship betweencomputer-game addiction and mental heath ofmale adolescence in Mueang District of Si Sa KetProvince. It was found that the male adolescentswho addicted and not addicted to the computergames had different mental health conditions.There were more male adolescents addicted to thecomputer games with poor mental health thanmale adolescents not addicted to the computergames at 61.0% and 21.9%, respectively. Thiscould perhaps be explained because if theadolescents were so absorbed in the computergames, they would be more aggressive, whichaffected several aspects of life and mental health.This result was consistent to Lee-anansaksiriM 15 , Chaivasu O 18 , Nirapath S 19 , Senarak M 16 ,Anderson & Bushman 20 , Bradley D 21 , and MataveeC 22 who showed that the adolescents who playedcomputer games would have the mental healthproblems.

ªï∑’Ë 38 ©∫—∫∑’Ë 3 ª√–®”‡¥◊Õπ°—𬓬π-∏—𫓧¡ 2551 3297. Hongsa-nguansri S, Katemarn P. GameAddiction: The Crisis and solution. in: SuvannaRuengkanchanaset, Patt Mahachoklerdvattana,Editor. Update in New Youth Problem.Bangkok: Beyond Enterprise. 2006; 125-38.8. Funk JB. Video games. Adolesc Med Clin2005; 16: 395-411.9. Phapoom P. Computer game/Internet addictionand correction plan. Journal of Thai MentalHealth, 2004; 11(1), 41-54.10. Nanthamongkolchai S. Family Role towardunwanted website and computer game.Academic Conference on Family Heath, 2002.Bangkok, Charoendee printing; 2002; 59-79.11. Si Sa Ket Police Station, Mueang District,Si Sa Ket Province. Data of internet andgame shop. 2006.12. Hongsa-nguansri S, Silapakit C,Ruengkanchanaset S. Questionnairedevelopment on Problem video game playing(PVP). Journal of the Psychiatric Associationof Thailand, 2007.13. Mungfaidee T. Factors influencing the attitudeon computer game playing of the student ofWat Pak Bor School, Suanluang, Bangkok.[M.S. Thesis in Education Psychology].Bangkok: Graduate School of SrinakharinwirotUniversity, 2005.14. Kannika N. Report on the study of the factorsinfluencing the online game addicted of thechildren and youth in Bangkok Metropolitan.ABAC Poll Research Center, AssumptionUniversity, 2005.15. Lee-anansaksiri M. Mental health status of thefirst year student of Faculty of Engineer, KhonKaen University who play the computer game[M.S. Thesis in Education]. Khon Kaen:Graduate School of Khon Kaen University,2005.16. Senarak M. Study of aggressive behavior andrational thinking effect from computer gameplay of the grade 6 and grade 9 students inBangkok [M.S. Thesis in DevelopmentalPsychology]. Bangkok: Graduate School ofSrinakharinwirot University, 2004.17. Khoompool D. Computer game playingbehavior, consequence and development planfor Thai youth [M.S. Thesis in TechnologyEducation]. Bangkok: King Mongkut’sUniversity of Technology, 2004.18. Chaivasu O. Aggressive behavior among maleGrade 10-12 students who were cartoon readeror computer game player which containingviolation [M.S. Thesis in Arts]. Bangkok:Chulalongkorn University, 2004.19. Nirapath S. The relation between computergame playing and learning efficacy andaggressive behavior among secondary schoolstudent [M.S. Thesis in CounselingPsychology]. Chiang Mai: Graduate School ofChiang Mai University, 2005.20. Anderson, CA, & Bushman, BJ. Effect ofViolent Video Games on Aggressive Behavior,Agre 420 Cognition, Aggressive Affect,Physiological Arousal, and Prosocial Behavior:a Meta-Analytic. Review of the ScientificLiterature. Psychological Science 2001; 12:353-359.21. Bradley D. Computer Game. Chemistry inBritain, 2001; 36(4): 25.22. Matavee C. Cause, outcome and trend inreducing the computer game addict behavior[M.S. Thesis in Counseling Psychology].Bangkok: Graduate School of SrinakharinwirotUniversity, 2005.

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