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Examining Social Anxiety And Depression Among Excessive Online Gamers, Nathan Sharer

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The main purpose of this study was to examine the correlations between social anxiety, depression, and other psychological factors among online gamers in order to better understand the differences between excessive gamers (whose habits interfere with relationship, occupational, social, or health issues) and enthusiastic gamers (who spend much of their free time playing games but do not report any significant functional impairment as a result). A literature review revealed diverse conceptualizations of excessive gaming as well as differing opinions of what classifies gaming to be excessive/addicting/problematic, suggesting a need to more specifically analyze gaming habits in terms of coexisting pathology …