Seventeen teens (mean age = 11.71. SD = 1.26) who had experiences in playing online games participated in the focus group interviews of Study 2. Their responses were collected in order to develop comprehensive scales to measure cyber-victimization and cyberbullying, so as to better understand the differences between online and real life friendship and also to reveal the reasons behind playing online games. Studies 3 and 4 were based on the same sample of six hundred twenty-six grade 5 and 6 students (mean age =10.81, SD = .83), but with different purposes. In Study 3, two scales, both ultimately (following test analyses) comprised of eight items were developed for measuring cyber-victimization and cyberbullying, They demonstrated satisfactory reliabilities and criterion validities. In Study 4, the relative quality of best friendship in online games versus in real life, as well as the relative importance of friendship, victimization, and bullying in real life and in online games in relation to early adolescents' overall psychosocial adjustment were examined. Online victimization and online bullying were negatively related to psychological well-being of early adolescents. After controlling demographics, computer gaming habits, school victimization and real life friendship, online victimization still significantly and negatively explained additional variance in friendship satisfaction, while online friendship still positively and significantly explained additional variance in social competence, friendship satisfaction, self esteem and life satisfaction after demographics, computer gaming habits, school victimization, and real life friendship were statistically controlled. Gender moderated the relationship between real life friendship and social competence and friendship satisfaction, but it did not moderate the relationship between online friendship and the other psychological constructs. This research demonstrated the theoretical and practical importance of investigating social experiences (both negative, i.e. being cyber-bullied, and positive, i.e. building up online friendship) in the online context. / The present research comprised four studies to investigate the relation of online game playing and correlates of three important aspects, namely friendship, victimization and bullying, of social development of Hong Kong Chinese grade 5 and 6 students. Comparisons of these correlates across two contexts, the real life and internet experiences, were also made. Four hundred ninety-four grade five and six students (mean age = 11.54, SD = .91) participated in Study 1. Average times spent on different types of different type of computer games and the importance of social functioning of online games were determined. Average time spent per day on Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs), solitary computer games, handheld video games e.g. NDS, PSP, and home video consoles (e.g., Wii) were 2.38 hours (SD =2.21), 1.66 hours (SD =1.86), 1.25 hours, (SD =1.54), and .67 hours (SD =1.15), respectively. Social functioning of online games was positively correlated with life satisfaction of early adolescents. / Leung, Nga Man. / Adviser: Catherine McBride-Chang. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 72-04, Section: B, page: . / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 109-119). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese.
Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:cuhk.edu.hk/oai:cuhk-dr:cuhk_344558 |
Date | January 2010 |
Contributors | Leung, Nga Man., Chinese University of Hong Kong Graduate School. Division of Psychology. |
Source Sets | The Chinese University of Hong Kong |
Language | English, Chinese |
Detected Language | English |
Type | Text, theses |
Format | electronic resource, microform, microfiche, 1 online resource (ix, 137 leaves : ill.) |
Coverage | China, Hong Kong, China, Hong Kong, China, Hong Kong, China, Hong Kong, China, Hong Kong |
Rights | Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons “Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International” License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) |
Page generated in 0.0025 seconds