Abstract

This study used a latent growth curve models(LGCM) to examine longitudinal changes in youth’s game usage, self-control and the longitudinal mediation effect of adaptive game use in the relationship between game usage and self-control. A four-year longitudinal data of 863 adolescents from the Game User Panel Survey, provided through participation in the 2019 Game User Panel Research Conference hosted by the Korea Creative Contents Agency, was used to verify the longitudinal mediation effect of adaptive game use. SPSS 21 was used for correlation analysis, and Mplus 6.12 was used to verify the longitudinal mediation effect. The results are as follows. First, game usage, self-control and adaptive game yielded linear temporal growth. Second, latent growth curve models showed that the direct effect of game usage on self-control was insignificant, but game usage had a significant indirect effect on self-control through adaptive game use. Continuous adaptive gaming increased self-control. Third, sobel test results showed that both the initial value and change rate of adaptive game use had a full-mediation effect, confirming the longitudinal mediation effect. This study verified the longitudinal change of self-control affected by change in game usage and adaptive game use.