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The Effect of Online Game Addiction on Children and Adolescents’ School Success

Supervisor’s Name: Dr.John McAlaney

Faculty of Science and Technology

MSc Foundations of Clinical Psychology

Student’s Name: Nazlım Aybüke Yalçın

Student Number: 5121666

JULY 2019

Word Count: 14934

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Dissertation Declaration

I agree that, should the University wish to retain it for reference purposes, a copy of my dissertation may

be held by Bournemouth University normally for a period of 3 academic years. I understand that once the

retention period has expired my dissertation will be destroyed.

Confidentiality

I confirm that this dissertation does not contain information of a commercial or confidential nature or

include personal information other than that which would normally be in the public domain unless the

relevant permissions have been obtained. In particular any information which identifies a particular

individual's religious or political beliefs, information relating to their health, ethnicity, criminal history or

sex life has been anonymised unless permission has been granted for its publication from the person to

whom it relates.

Copyright

The copyright for this dissertation remains with me.

Requests for Information

I agree that this dissertation may be made available as the result of a request for information under the

Freedom of Information Act.

Signed :

Name: Nazlım Aybüke Yalçın

Date: 8 July 2019

Programme: Msc Foundations of Clinical Psychology

Original Work Declaration

This dissertation is my own work, except where stated, in accordance with University regulations.

Signed:
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Acknowledgement
First of all I would like to express special gratitude to my supervisor Dr. John McAlaney for his supports.

It was great privilege and honor to write a dissertation under his guidance.

I am thankful to my family for their endless support and help. Also I would like to thank my friends who

supported me.

Lastly, I am extremely grateful to my parents. But most to my mother, for her love, caring and sacrifices

for educating and preparing me for my future. Also she give me opportunities and experiences that have

made me who I am. I can’t thank her enough, she encouraged me to explore new directions in life. I

dedicate this dissertation to my mother.

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Abstract
While children, young individuals may often be hard to motivate to commit time, energy, and

other resources to academic affairs. Adolescents are none the more different in this regard, especially

when far more interesting alternatives emerge. Online games that are the product of dynamic modern

technologies become too enticing an entertainment type to be ignored. However, the interaction of many

young people with these software products becomes intensive, so much so that there comes a point when

they would skip lessons before they would miss the chance of plunging into the vibrant, super realistic

world of online games. Absenteeism and excessive game time lead to the procrastination of scholastic

tasks, which reduces the probability of academic success. Different success-enabling factors are affected,

including student engagement that consists in relations among students and between students and the

teacher who struggles to connect with detached gamers who grow increasingly isolationist by forfeiting

social contacts and support that could help them recuperate from the addictive habit and put themselves

back on track in the academic regard. The dissertation examines the studies centered on the correlation

between such principal variables as addiction to online games and scholastic performance/success. A

focus was made on Turkey based studies due to their prevalence in the recent scientific discourse and an

interest in gaming addiction and its effect in a region characterized by lesser technological penetration.

Keywords: academic, scholastic, success, gamer, student, teacher

The Table of Contents

1. Introduction.............................................................................................................................................4
2. Literature Review....................................................................................................................................5
2.1. How Studies Were Compiled...........................................................................................................5
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2.2. Recent Studies on the Academic Effect of Online Game Addiction.................................................6

Study 1: Motives and consequences of online game addiction: A scale development study................6
Study 2: Relationship among internet addiction, academic motivation, academic procrastination and
school attachment in adolescents.......................................................................................................10
Study 3: Video games use among schoolchildren and its impact on the study habits........................13
Study 4: Relationship between internet addiction, gaming addiction, and school engagement among
adolescents.........................................................................................................................................18
Study 5: The impact of heavy (excessive) video gaming students on peers and teachers in the school
environment: A qualitative study.......................................................................................................21
2.3. How Studies Compare....................................................................................................................25
3. Discussion.............................................................................................................................................28
3.1. General Discussion Points..............................................................................................................28
3.2. Relation to Other Studies................................................................................................................31
3.3. Literature Gaps/Weaknesses...........................................................................................................36
3.4. Recommendations..........................................................................................................................38
4. Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................45
References.................................................................................................................................................47

1. Introduction

Scholastic or academic performance is an essential factor in the lives of young individuals and the

nation overall as it determines how both will fare. Now that the world has gone increasingly digital, such

performance has been put to the test, with games being developed and made accessible in the internet.

This tempts school students of whatever age to test the attractive products of software developers setting

the young audience amazed with the quality of reality reproduction or ephemeral worlds that materialize

the artistic vision of creative developers. While many students turn out able to balance between online

games and education, some students do not match others in this ability, which leads them to commit more

of their time to online games instead of education. This results in procrastination or the postponement of
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academic tasks and the loss of studying motivation, which bids fare to affect the likelihood of such

students securing optimal academic results.

Unfortunately, this addiction falls under the category of gaming disorder that, according to

Lopez-Fernandez (2019), is a pattern of recurrent or persistent gaming conduct (video-gaming or digital

gaming), which may be offline or online. The disorder can present itself through the escalation or

continuation of gaming despite the occurrence of adverse circumstances, a rising priority given to

gaming, such that daily activities and other life interests become marginal, and impaired control over

gaming, including its context, termination, duration, intensity, frequency, and onset (Lopez-Fernandez,

2019). If the disorder does affect the academic success of many students, qualified labor may be in short

supply that is needed to keep national economies going to ensure national security and social welfare;

therefore, the danger posed to the economy, society, and national security by excessive gaming is the

chief reason for the topic to have been chosen.

To examine the relationship between addiction to online games and the academic success of

children and adolescents, a sample of empirical studies was put together. The choice fell on five articles

in the sample for a number of reasons, such as the focus of the dissertation on recent scientific

publications, the idea being to present the most up-to-date state of the research opinion. This led to the

search scope being narrowed down more to studies based in Turkey, which is the region richly

represented in the latest studies. Besides, the country posed an interest to the study, for it was important to

identify the effect of gaming in what is a yet-developing nation with less sufficient technology

penetration, with India chosen for the same reason.

Research question: Does addiction to online games affect the academic performance and eventual

scholastic success of children and adolescents?

Thesis statement: addiction to online games can tell negatively upon the academic performance

and success of students, be they children or adolescents.

2. Literature Review

2.1. How Studies Were Compiled

Being proceeding to the compilation of sources, library research methods were studied the better

to perform the search that would yield recent and reputed empirical studies. Princeton University Library
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(2019) offered an excellent insight into library research methods reporting there to be different

approaches, including but not limited to keyword searches, citation searches in scholarly sources,

searchers through published bibliographies, and searches through people. All of these were applied to

varying degrees. Thus, for example, the search through people sources that implies verbal contacts

allowed approaching fellow students and mentors to gain a better understanding of where it is that one

should look for recent studies centered on the problem in question. This gave the names of two important

databases, such as National Center for Biotechnology Information and the Institute of Education Sciences

that were applied in addition to the Google search engine that helped find the remaining studies. The

search via published bibliographies allowed browsing through bibliographic entries in studies that

contained links to original research articles. Citation searches also proved useful by enabling the search of

original studies via the copied fragments of article contents, which gave access to otherwise largely

inaccessible studies that were hard to find, since the keyword search often would not return sought-after

results. The keyword search method made the use of extra techniques like searchers through published

bibliographies relevant over its periodic instability despite diverse keyword variations being used, such as

“online game addiction effect on school success/grades/academic performance” and “effect of online

game addiction on children and adolescents’ school success.”

2.2. Recent Studies on the Academic Effect of Online Game Addiction

Study 1: Motives and consequences of online game addiction: A scale development study.

The following study aimed to design OGAS or the Online Game Addiction Scale, in addition to studying

its properties. The goal was for the researchers to identify if the scale was a reliable and valid instrument

with adequate psychometric properties.

Başol, G., and Kaya, A.B. (2018). Motives and consequences of online game addiction: A scale

development study.

Study sample. Study authors compiled a sample numbering 465 students involving the residents

of Sivas and Corum Provinces based in Central Anatolia interviewed in the 2012-2013 academic year.

This notwithstanding, the sample was later reduced to 327 participants due to questionnaire completion

quality issues. Although addicted to gaming to varying degrees, the young individuals did not fall under

the category of diagnosed patients with online game addiction. Although the sample is not homogenous in
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gender terms, the two sexes are not proportionally represented, with 302 and 25 boys and girls

respectively selected for the study. Percentage-wise, the numbers are equivalent to 92% and 8% of boys

and girls respectively (see the assessment of the legitimacy of the gender-based sample composition in

the limitation & weaknesses subchapter). Study sample description offers a more elaborate breakdown of

the school students involved, reporting there to be 55 or 17% of 12 th graders, 70 or 21% of 11th graders,

46 or 14% of 10th graders, and 156 or 48% of 9th graders (Başol and Kaya, 2018).

Methods. As far as sample assembly methods are concerned, purposive sampling was applied

(Başol & Kaya, 2018), which is understood to imply the purposeful or intentional selection of participants

(Macnee & McCabe, 2008). The shared characteristic justifying the selection of the current research

sample members is, apparently, addiction to online games as well as their age. Apart from sample

assembly methods, the study also does well to list the approaches to getting its validity verified. A 69-

item draft scale was reported to have been employed for the evaluation of study reliability and validity.

Test-retest reliability, Spearman-Brown split-half reliability, and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient were

applied to evaluate reliability, while construct validity was subject to assessment via the exploratory

factor analysis (Başol & Kaya, 2018).

Findings. It was found that OGAS or the Online Gaming Addiction Scale was a reliable and

valid instrument with adequate psychometric properties. Since the addiction scale has been found reliable

in terms of addiction diagnostics based on psychological metrics or parameters, excessive online gaming

does lead to psychological health impairment. As such, the diagnostic tool will be able to gauge the extent

of the psychological effects of gaming addiction that is associated with psychopathological conditions,

such as impulsivity, anxiety, depression, and hyperactivity disorder. Psychological factors are considered

the strongest risk factors for online gaming addiction, as follows from Başol and Kaya (2018). While no

apparent link is built by Başol and Kaya (2018) between adverse psychological effects and academic

performance in the context of the study, the tool found by the researchers to be reliable examines the

degree of psychological impact of excessive gaming that does lead to poor academic performance, as

follows from Colomer, et al. (2017) that confirmed the correlation between impulsivity/hyperactivity and

lower academic achievement and Ruz, Al-Akash, and Jarrah (2018) who confirmed a role of depression

and anxiety in academic achievement reduction and absenteeism.

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Strengths. The scholars sought to ensure research accuracy and ensure they did, based on a

number of study characteristics, one being that a large number of scales were found valid. To be more

precise, 327 of 465 questionnaire forms qualified as valid based on the quality of their completion by

students. Furthermore, the sample was kept clean in the sense that any ambiguous elements found

themselves dropped. As acknowledged by the researchers, they thought fit to remove the scale with the

excessive number of repetitive, contradictory, and missing answers from the final data set. The expert

opinion of two academicians was sought who studied online gaming and who consulted the study authors

as regards the relevance of rendering individual items excluded, which led to 34 scale items being

removed and the number of items in the final draft being brought down to 69. Furthermore, the sample

size adequacy was measured via Kaiser-Mayer-Olkin (KMO) test and confirmed with the value of 0.92,

which means that the sample size was adequate (Başol & Kaya, 2018). Overall, the study features the

application of multiple reliability-measuring tools, which makes for their greater accuracy.

The value of the study and its ability to contribute to the existing knowledge depended much on

the addictive nature of gaming, which the selected students were expected to show. That many students

have provided a definitive answer regarding the number of hours a day they spend gaming is an accuracy-

boosting strength showing that researchers achieved a measure of precision. Thus, for example, as many

as 58% of participants disclosed that they played for upwards of 2 hours per day; an estimated 46% of

those taking part acknowledged they were gaming for 6 hours running, that is, without putting their

activity on hold, whereas a remaining 61% of respondents suggested that it sometimes could be that they

played for 4 straight hours. This is to suggest that research authors proved able to get respondents to

specify what could be a critical study variable in the form of the time committed to online games. When it

comes to other approaches to ensuring proper accuracy, the researchers admittedly abided by the Helsinki

Declarations (Başol & Kaya, 2018) that is a range of ethical principles concerning human

experimentation developed for the medical community (Ng, 2014). By having the study guided by the

ethical considerations of the document, the study authors kept participation voluntary and looked to it that

interviewees might not have to face personal questions or participation stimuli, which, undoubtedly,

further ensured accuracy, since, when not pressed, respondents tend to provide well-though-out answers

and fill in the whole form, without leaving a question unanswered. Such accurate answers are key to the
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production of results that reflect the genuine gaming addiction status quo rather than a distorted state of

affairs delineated by respondents who are quick to answer if only to make quick work of the

questionnaire form.

Limitations & Weaknesses. The study authors reported no limitations encountered in the course

of study performance. This is not to imply that the study is flawless, which it is not due to there being

potential weaknesses, of which one may be its geographic focus. The scholars may have been wrong to

target Turkey as a focus country as it may seem technologically inferior to many other states. As per

Statista (2019), it has 56 million users. Relative to the population data put at 81,3 million as of 2018 by

the CIA (2019), only two thirds are internet users, which is the share of those exposed to the technology.

On the other hand, the country of sample origin cannot be deemed a weakness, since the technology

penetration factor cannot influence the outcome of the research that is aimed at the identification of how

gaming addiction correlates with academic results displayed by participants rather than the measurement

of the proportion of addiction to online gaming for the subsequent comparison of the result with the ones

obtained in other countries. The same holds good for the size of the sample that is below five hundred

subjects. While a comprehensive, reliable research may be that, which puts together large samples, the

focus of the researchers was to identify the causative-consecutive link between addiction to online games

and academic performance deterioration rather than the addiction scope; still, if larger, the sample, could

indicate more accurately whether the adverse effect is more characteristic of an individual age or gender.

Unjustifiable can be a weakness consisting in the demographic complexion of the sample. The

study did not pick an equal number of participants in the way of gender, which likely demonstrates the

failure of researchers to access both genders in equal measure, and which cannot be justified by the

greater prevalence of the male gender in the demographic composition of Turkey (since the nation enjoys

a gender parity, as seen in female society section standing at 50,78% as of 2016 (Trading Economics,

2019) and since genders are rather equally represented in children and adolescents’ age groups in the

Turkish society, with 10,085,558 males and 9,627,967 females in 0-14 age cluster and 6,589,039 males

and 6,311,113 females in 15-24 age group (CIA, 2019)), although it can be by the blockade of females

from an access to education opportunities due to Turkey’s moderate, albeit persistent conservatism and

Islam influence. Demiray (2015) confirmed that the country sat 108 th on the 135-country list ranking
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nations based on access to education by women. For the researchers to have focused on the male gender

may be down to such a factor as a greater access to computer games determined by social roles that leave

females laden with household chores and offer little room for entertainment. Dedeoglu (2012) believes

the conservative social order in Turkey to have been historically keeping the gendered division of labor

alive, which holds males accountable for the breadwinning function and females responsible for domestic

work (as cited in Kazanoglu, 2019). Still, lesser access to games cannot justify a very mediocre segment

of female students in the sample any more than the social distribution factor can. Neither has it been

found across many reviewed sources that online games are tailored predominantly to the male audience,

with developers catering to both genders while developing gaming products.

Study 2: Relationship among internet addiction, academic motivation, academic

procrastination and school attachment in adolescents. The goal of the study was to examine the

correlation between the internet (online gaming) addiction of adolescents and school attachment levels,

academic procrastination, and academic motivation.

Demir, Y., and Kutlu, M. (2018). Relationship among internet addiction, academic motivation, academic

procrastination and school attachment in adolescents.

Study sample. Study sample is composed of high school students residing within the physical

confines of the Elazığ province. An aggregate of 689 students was chosen. The gender breakdown shows

that the sample contains 306 and 383 male and female students, which is otherwise equivalent to 44,4%

and 55,6% of males and females respectively. These students do not belong to the same age group as 134

or 19,4% are 12th graders, 205 or 29,8% are 11 th graders, 169 or 24,5% are 10th graders, and 181 or 24,3%

of students are 9th graders. The composition of the sample based on the addiction extent shows that 41 or

6,6% of students use internet for 7-plus hours, 65 or 9,4% for 5-6 hours, 199 or 28,9% for 3-4 hours, and

237 or 34,4% for 1-2 hours (Demir & Kutlu, 2018).

Methods. The sampling phase of the study involved the use of the stratified sampling technique,

with the population split into three sublayers based on school types and the consideration of population

characteristics. The measurement of procrastination, motivation, and addiction required the use of

specific approaches, such as School Attachment Scale for children and adolescents (SAS), Academic
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Procrastination Scale (APS), Academic Motivation Scale (AMS), and Young Internet Addiction Test-

Short Form (YIAT-SF). AMOS 18.0 and SPSS 21.0 package programs were utilized at the stage of study

data analysis. In Amos package program, the maximum likelihood method was employed. Confirmatory

Factor Analysis (CFA) was used to test the measurement models of school attachment, academic

procrastination, academic motivation, and internet addiction variables at the stage of data analysis (Demir

and Kutlu, 2018).

Findings. As a result of the research, it was concluded by Demir and Kutlu (2018) that internet

addiction was a generic addiction that comprised other internet dependencies, including online gaming

and social media addiction types. More specifically, the standardized regression coefficient between

academic motivation and internet addiction was found to be -24, which demonstrates that internet

dependence tends to influence academic motivation in a negative way and serves as significant and

negative predictor of the motivation. The standardized regression coefficient between academic

procrastination and internet addiction was identified as equal to .36, which implies that the procrastination

is positively influenced by dependence on the internet that acts as its considerable and positive predictor.

Furthermore, the standardized regression coefficient between school attachment and academic motivation

was estimated as .20, which indicates the positive influence of academic motivation on school

attachment. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2009) clarified that school

attachment referred to the conviction by students of school peers and adults caring about them as

individuals as well as their learning (as cited in Furlong, Gilman, & Huebner, 2014). It was further found

via the standardized regression that the coefficient between school attachment and academic

procrastination amounted to -.31, which implies that school attachment is negatively influenced by

academic procrastination.

Strengths. There are no apparent strengths allowing the study to stand out except that, apart from

documenting its findings, Demir and Kutlu (2018) linked them to previous studies (see the discussion

chapter for information on relation to other studies), which allows gaining a deeper understanding of the

research subject through the consultation of earlier researches. This link does much to add credibility to

the study and show readers the mainstream scientific opinion.

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Weaknesses. Only a small segment of the sample includes heavy internet users. Adolescents

using the internet for 7 and 5-6 hours constitute only 6,6% and 9,4% of study participants respectively

(Demir & Kutlu, 2018). Furthermore, it is impossible to tell for certain how much time is committed to

different types of internet activities, since the use of the world web may involve standard browsing, social

media communication, online gaming, and a range of other activities. Thus, the study is overly

generalized in the way of internet activities, in which young respondents may engage.

Limitations. Being a cross-sectional study that it is, the research is restricted to a single period,

which may affect the examination of the impact of internet addiction on school attachment that may best

manifest itself when examined over a long period.

Study 3: Video games use among schoolchildren and its impact on the study habits. The

current study looked to examine the prevalence of video game use by schoolchildren along with the effect

it has on their study habits, which can come in the form of mental health problems (Navaneetham &

Chandran, 2018).

Navaneetham, J., and Chandran, J. (2018). Video games use among schoolchildren and its impact on the

study habits.

Sample. To put together the audience of study, Navaneetham and Chandran (2018) targeted high

schools in the city of South Calicut that has an estimated 88 schools that are aided or otherwise. Two

aided non-boarding schools following English medium of instruction were used for students’ selection,

with 8th and 9th graders chosen whose age ranged from 13 to 16 years. A more detailed age-based

breakdown shows that there were 0,5%, 4%, 38,5%, and 57% of those aged 16, 15, 14, and 13 years.

Around a fifth of participants or 21% lived in single-child families, whereas a remaining 79% had

younger or elder sibling(s). The researchers saw fit to do so much as look into the birth order of students

involved in the sample, with it being found in the process that 29% of students were a last child in the

family, 11% were middle-born, and 47% were first-born children. One of the selection criteria was the

ability to read and write in English. The initial sample composed of 210 students who proved willing to

participate had to be reduced to 200 students over the varying extent of questionnaire form completion by

the interviewees (Navaneetham & Chandran, 2018).

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Methods. Each participant was provided with an anonymous questionnaire to complete, which

inquired about family details, personal details, study habits, leisure time, and video game use. A

researcher interacted with students in the classroom in the course of the first session. After rapport being

established, the researcher proceeded to clarify the purpose and outcome of the study and received

students’ participation consent. Teachers helped split student volunteers into small groups and provided

questionnaire forms to fill. To process students’ interview input, the researchers utilized a video game

addiction scale with 10 questions in an effort to evaluate the attitude towards and nature of video games,

leisure time activities, video game use frequency, and the length of engagement with the video gameplay,

which were reportedly evaluated on a 4-point scale. Used was also a study habits checklist adopted from

the “Student Enrichment Programme.” The checklist composed of 20 closed-ended questions with two

exact response variations of “yes” or “no,” which allowed evaluating students’ study habits. The

application of descriptive analysis enabled the description of participants’ gaming conduct, demographic

and social information, and the prevalence of probable gaming addiction, as gauged by the video game

addiction scale (Navaneetham & Chandran, 2018).

Findings. Navaneetham and Chandran (2018) found that 44,5% of sample members did not play

video games. An estimated 18% of students used video games for entertainment. Gaming pathology

applies more or less to 20% and 17,5% of students who committed excessive time to gaming or qualified

as gaming addicts respectively. In terms of playtime, 23,5% of students played for half an hour on a daily

basis; 31% were found to play between 1 and 2 hours daily; 19% were playing for video games for over 3

hours. It was clearly found that students who played excessively and who were addicted had more issues

associated with study habits, unlike children who used games with control.

Strengths. Since many a study focuses on Turkey presenting the findings of the game/internet

addiction on local school students, the scrutiny of the correlation between dependence and scholastic

success in India is a proper attempt at the ethnic diversification of the focus group. Another strength

relates to the efforts to boost study accuracy, as seen in the decision of its authors to scrap as many as 10

forms that were found incomplete following their submission by students. Last but not least, legality

detailed elaborately by its authors is characteristic of the study. Navaneetham and Chandran (2018)

reported to have received ethical approval from the Department of Psychiatric Social Work of the
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National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences. Both schools obtained the letter of permission.

Parents were also informed about the study along with its implications and provided with consent forms,

which they sent to school headmasters (Navaneetham & Chandran, 2018). It follows therefrom that one

of the strengths is the legality of results that are unlikely to be delegitimized, which can follow the

submission of a complaint by parents if its organizers fail to elicit consent for children’s involvement.

Weaknesses & Limitations. Since students knew about the upcoming tests, which likely

prompted some of them to prepare “less compromising” answers to what could expose their harmful

gaming hobby and leave them gameless for weeks, the lack of spontaneity may have interfered with the

veracity of answers that would reflect a precise status quo in terms of gaming habits, which is key to the

establishment of how exactly a certain amount of gaming time influences scholastic performance. Student

had research purpose and outcomes explained by the interviewer before questionnaire forms being handed

out, which gave them to understand that questions may yield answers that can have entertainment-

affecting and disciplinary outcomes back at home, which may have led to a truth concealment strategy or

the question-skipping participation behavior that led to 10 forms being incomplete, which required their

removal from the final sample. Informing participants about research purpose and implications is, by far,

an inevitable limitation that no study can avoid that expects to obtain results in an ethical and legal way.

Researchers have no way of implementing interviewing, without securing the consent of participants

and/or their related guardians. There is more to study weaknesses than this.

Different sample characteristics compiled by interviewers had different research opportunities to

offer that seem to have been overlooked though. The study identified the age group of fathers, the income

characteristics of families, from which children came, and even the extent, to which families were nucleus

or complete. While these may seem but background details, there are deeper implications therein in that

they can give an insight into the affordability of computers and games even despite India having the

piracy rate estimated by Kelly and Williams (2014) at 63%, since richer users can be expected to buy

licensed products. The more expensive games are, the more realistic and popular they should be, which

makes them more conducive to addictive habit formation ability, which is what the mentioned

background details could have revealed if studied properly by the scholars. This can allow verifying the

veracity of the relationship between addiction and access to gaming-enabling computers and show if the
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identified level of addiction prevalence correlates with the socioeconomic status and the general academic

success of the selected group of sample students.

Furthermore, the researchers themselves made study limitations known reporting that it was on

video and internet gaming in general rather than internet gaming that the focus lay (Navaneetham &

Chandran, 2018). There is a good reason for the study authors to be skeptical about the novel nature of

their research, inasmuch as they have unique features that relate directly to the probability of addictive

gaming behavior formation. Matz (2013) explained that the best part of online games was multiplayer in

nature, which presupposes the availability of competition. Many an individual is driven to secure victories

and become the best while gaming. There is social recognition and pride at being at the top of the “high

scores” leaderboard (Matz, 2013). Thus become games a compensatory mechanism that allow users to

make up for the lack of classroom recognition by peers and teachers that may be the case prior to the

acquisition of an interest to gaming and its pathological evolution into a psychological addiction as a

result of excessive routine game experience. Addiction, in turn, can lead to the complete loss of control of

the academic affairs and withdrawal from the familiar social circle. Yet again, online games can offer an

escape avenue. Matz (2013) explained that multiplayer games can be a social experience regardless of

whether one puts together cooperative teams or squares off against other players. For some individuals,

games are a causal way to while away the time and share social experiences with family and friends

(Matz, 2013). Moreover, plenty of online games launch the online communities of their own, while others

may come to integrate the existing real-life communities of players into the virtual world (Kopia, 2019).

Since users get to socialize with the likeminded, fellow gamers will not reject them until probably beaten

in a competition-driven game, yet the percentage of gamers who will not suffer others to overcome them

is unlikely to be significant. Addicted gamers can develop friendship bonds with their peers, since the

game topic dominating their conversation themes is unlikely to scare them off. Standard computer or

console games not equipped with the multiplayer option do not have benefits like the sense of

competition, recognition, or social contact with the likeminded to offer. Online games seem to recreate a

virtual reality that may be hard to leave to commit any portion of time to academic endeavors. Therefore,

online games with their multiplayer formats are a far better focus than standard games that may not
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prompt the comparable extent of dependence on the part of students due to the mentioned benefits, which

is reason to enough to think the generalized focus of the researchers a limitation and a study weakness.

As further acknowledged by the researchers, the current study does not rest upon structured

psychiatric interview and diagnostic criteria for internet gaming disorder (Navaneetham & Chandran,

2018). Nordgaard et al. (2012) defined a structured interview as that, which is composed of

predetermined questions that are presented in a fixed sequence and that generate diagnostic information

based on the observations of interviewers and the responses of patients. Interviews lay visible syndromes

and symptoms that meet certain diagnostic criteria (Nordgaard et al., 2012). While the study authors deem

the non-use of the diagnostic tools a limitation, it may not necessarily be so, for the study was oriented

towards the identification of games’ effect on study habits, which means that it was interested primarily

on the exploration of the second element of the causative-consecutive correlation between computer

games and their scholastic impact, without it being equally important to make a study-based attempt at

delving into the manifestation of addiction, still less its etiology or origin. As for other perceived

limitations, Navaneetham and Chandran (2018) acknowledged that the standardized scales with good

psychometric properties had not been employed. Some of the parametric tests like Scheffe multiple range

test, goodness of fit test, and post hoc test were not utilized as the data were not skewed. Cross-sectional

studies did not have the data needed to understand the amount of time spent on video games previously

(Navaneetham & Chandran, 2018).

Study 4: Relationship between internet addiction, gaming addiction, and school engagement

among adolescents. The following study seeks to establish the link between internet/gaming addiction

and students’ school engagement. Vijayakumari and Manikandan (2013) referred to school engagement

as the relationship of students with rules, peers, and teachers as well as their involvement in extra-

curricular activities, instruction, and curriculum. School engagement can make itself observed in the

willingness to obtain skills and complete tasks, response to the environment and people, and participation

in school activities.

Taş, I. (2017). Relationship between internet addiction, gaming addiction, and school engagement among

adolescents.
 18

Study sample. Adolescents visiting high schools in Gaziantep province shape the research

population of the study while the sample is constituted by 365 adolescents who studied at an Anatolian

high school in Gaziantep in the academic year 2015-2016. In terms of gender, 140 and 225 students were

males and females, which is equivalent to 38,4% and 61,6%. The twelfth grade was represented by 20 or

5,5% of students, while the eleventh, tenth, and ninth grades were by 201 or 55,1%, 67 or 18,4%, and 77

or 21,1% of students (Taş, 2017).

Methods. The article by Taş (2017) described the interview method as applied for data collection,

with the scale forms applied to students in the high school chosen based on the accessibility criteria. The

study lists a number of data collection instruments, including personal information form containing a

range of variables, including internet use longevity, parental attitude, and students’ academic achievement

and socio-demographics. To measure gaming addiction, the scale designed by Lemmens, Valkenburg,

and Peter (2009) and adapted to the Turkish language by Ilgaz (2015) was utilized (as cited in Taş, 2017).

The scale is composed of 21 items and 7 factors. For scoring in the scale, 5-point Likert type grading was

applied. the grading is provided with the choices of “very often,” “often,” “sometimes,” “scarcely,” and

“never.” The researcher claimed to have utilized first- and second-level confirmatory factor analyses for

testing the construct validity of the scale. In order to measure school engagement for children and

adolescents, the study made use of the scale designed by Hill (2015) and adapted into Turkish by Çakar

and Karataş (2014). The scale is made up by 3 factors, such as friend, teacher, and school engagement,

and 15 items (as cited in Taş, 2017). For construct validity of the scale, confirmatory factor analysis was

executed.

Findings. The study identified a weak negatively significant correlation between internet

addiction and school engagement among adolescents (Taş, 2017). Student engagement is understood to

be the major element of a positive school climate that is associated by most of the researchers with

academic achievement. The concept is also defined as strong relations between teachers, students,

families, and schools as well as the strong ties between schools and the wider community (National

Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments, 2019). What the finding goes to demonstrate is that

the levels of engagement decline as internet addiction mounts. However, the link between school

engagement and gaming addiction was not established. This put the scholar in a position to maintain that
 19

gaming addiction was unable to predict school engagement considerably, unlike internet addiction that

could serve as a predictor (Taş, 2017).

Weaknesses & Limitations. As posited by Taş (2017), gaming addiction could not predict school

engagement considerably. Stated otherwise, the predictor is only of a very limited utility, or, rather,

children abusing online games largely engage in school activities and perform academically as

enthusiastically as peers not addicted to games. This may run counter to logic, since the addictive nature

of the “excessive” habitual gaming activity implies the commitment of a large amount of time to games

that could otherwise be spent studying, which cannot but affect the quality of subject mastery that

requires that students be engaged in off-hour or extracurricular studies when back home. This logic is

confirmed by different researchers, including Demir and Kutlu (2018) who agreed that the internet

covered an essential part of the daily life of adolescents using preoccupation on the internet. This leads

youngsters to de-prioritize their academic duties and work and place the internet on the foreground

(Demir & Kutlu, 2018).

Therefore, the gaming addiction is very likely to make its impact felt in the way of academic

success; thus, it must be a potent predictor. However, if one should consider internet addiction as such

that integrates all other types of internet dependencies, it should likely become obvious that addiction to

internet-based online games does influence academic engagement as a subtype of internet addiction. Still,

the formulation of the researcher clearly draws a dividing line between internet and gaming addiction

types, without it being suggested that the latter can be a part of the former. In any case, the study result

questioning the utility of the gaming predictor may lay evident limitations faced by the study authors that

may have something to do with measures applied for data collection and even sample size. When it comes

to limitations, the researcher reported the ones encountered, including the sample size of 365 adolescents

or high school students. As acknowledged, the study can be performed in more different and bigger

samples, such as the ones involving university students, secondary school students, and primary school

students. While Taş (2017) did not regard the lack of studies that would attribute excessive gaming to the

willingness to participate in educational or academic activities as a limitation, it is still one.

Strengths. On the other hand, the deficit of studies observing the connection between school

engagement and internet addiction acknowledged by Taş (2017) means that this study is inaugural in that
 20

it has the empirically achieved evidence of the relationship between online gaming addiction and school

engagement in young students. Another study strength consists in the prioritization of accuracy by its

authors, as seen in the non-inclusion of 11 of 376 data sets, since as many students chose to leave some of

the boxes vacant in spite of having been briefed about study importance before questionnaire forms being

distributed. The author tried to achieve accuracy by making the provision of credentials by students

unnecessary and emphasizing the importance of sincerity, which should be expected to have improved the

level of accuracy. How the study also managed to achieve greater accuracy was by employing the grading

that offered great variability, as seen in the inclusion of rich answer variations or options, including but

not limited to “very often” “often,” and “sometimes,” which allowed the study to identify different shades

or degrees of dependence on internet-based or online gaming, thereby ensuring accuracy. In other words,

if the researcher had included more categorical answer options, such as “yes” or “no,” he would have

likely failed to measure the precise relationship between variables on the dependence scale.

Study 5: The impact of heavy (excessive) video gaming students on peers and teachers in the

school environment: A qualitative study. As per Yilmaz, Yel, and Griffiths (2018), to explore the effect

of heavy gaming students on peers and teachers is what the study seeks, yet the focus seems to lie more

on the effect of excessive gaming on addicts in terms of scholastic success and the quality of

communication.

Yilmaz, E., Yel, S., and Griffiths, M.D. (2018). The impact of heavy (excessive) video gaming students

on peers and teachers in the school environment: A qualitative study

Sample. The sample is composed of 20 individuals, of whom 2 are teachers (an English teacher

and a classroom teacher) and 18 are fourth-grade students whose median age equals 9,4 years. The three

heavy games identified in the sample are all males. Another 15 classmates are rather equally split gender-

wise, with 7 boys and 8 girls chosen. As for the teaching contingent involved, the classroom teacher is

male with 10 years’ worth of experience. He was known to have been teaching sample students for 4

years running, that is, from the 1st to the 4th grade. By contrast, the English teacher is female as well as

being a parent of one of the gaming addicts. Working at the school since 2002, she had accumulated 18

years of experience by the time of the study (Yilmaz, Yel, & Griffiths, 2018).
 21

Methods. A multistage sampling approach was applied for recruiting the study group. The first

stage witnessed the use of convenience sampling, which was done for practical reasons as it has the

timesaving benefit, which proved useful when it came to setting a choice on a public school in the second

stage. The application of criterion sampling allowed identifying three participants who met the criterion

of spending four or more hours a day playing video games and who, therefore, ranked as heavy gamers.

As for other methods, study authors developed two different interview forms, such as the Teacher-Student

Association Form and the Peer Association Form. After the authors were done designing draft interview

forms, they sent them to four field specialists, such as a researcher specializing in videogames, a

qualitative researcher, a measurement and assessment researcher, and a linguist, which they did in hopes

of ensuring language fluency and clarity and providing the face validity. Once received, the feedback of

the experts was employed to revise the draft interviews. To ensure that the fourth-grade students can

understand questionnaire form contents, study authors arranged for two different classroom teachers to

inspect the final version of the forms (Yilmaz, Yel, & Griffiths, 2018).

Findings. Yilmaz, Yel, and Griffith (2018) suggested that the findings of the qualitative study

based on focus groups and interviews generated four principal themes, including selective social

relationships, classroom issues, communication issues, and low scholastic performance. As per the

findings listed in the discussion chapter of the study, a low scholastic performance is characteristic of

heavy gamers, with some students having even attempted to offer such under-achieving peers a helping

hand in a desire to boost academic achievement. It was also found what could be responsible for such a

scholastic failure as heavy gamers were said to prefer home stay and video games to school activities. The

classroom teacher was found struggling to get gaming addicts focusing on the material in the course of

lessons. However, the English teacher’s remark communicated some positive implications of gaming as it

suggested that playing video games had a potential for helping students master English words, which

contributes positively to their foreign language learning by enhancing motivation towards the English

course. Overall, as was acknowledged by its authors, the study found that gaming could be an excessive

activity even for individuals who are still to reach their puberty. The study demonstrated that videogames

were able to influence the conduct of children 10 years and younger and that their conduct could have

adverse effects on people around them.

 22

Weakness. The weakness of the study manifests itself in the confusing research focus that is ill

interpreted or poorly defined. On the one hand, it posits that in the focus of researchers is the impact of

heavy gamers on peers and teachers in the school environment; therefore, it seems as though the study

had watched gaming addicts influencing peers and teachers, with the toxic contagious effect leading to

the adoption of the gaming behavior. This may well occur, seeing that people adopt behaviors while a part

of the social environment (Crawford & Novak, 2018), especially at the formative stages that are far from

finished when they are in their teens, which follows from Rodić, Pisla, and Bleuler (2014) explaining that

behaviors were a part of personality that, according to Harvard psychologist William James, is shaped

only by the age of 30 (Solis, 2019). In truth, anything more than a cursory glance gives one to understand

that the study is about eliciting the evidence of gaming impact on a selected group of students based on

what their peers and teachers have to say following a period of observation. The closest it comes to

examining the effect on peers and teachers is when the study presents the observed negative effect on

communication; however, the finding has more to do with the communication-related impact on gaming

abusers than it does with peers and teachers, since it is gaming addicts who place themselves in a vacuum,

according to Yilmaz, Yel, and Griffith (2018), by discouraging social contacts via the boring

homogeneity of their conversation contents laden with gaming themes and other factors shaping their

communication personality.

This is not all there is to potential study weaknesses. Enlisting the support of school students may

downgrade the quality of the study, since some of the teachers was related to one of the heavy gamers

through a parental bond, which may give the study a bias factor. The quality of the study or accuracy of

results may arguably be lower than it could be, since negative sentiments entertained towards fellow

students like envy or interpersonal conflicts may have interfered with the ability to provide truthful,

unbiased information by students to have volunteered to participate in the study as information providers,

therefore, the evidence may lack due accuracy. Still, it is unknown if the study authors made an effort to

verify the health of classroom relations and/or the availability of conflicts in the pre-study period when

the sample was being put together, since this aspect goes undisclosed, as follows from the lack of the

respective comments on all the sample assembly details.

 23

Strength. The strength of the study in question consists in it being novel due to no effort having

been made previously of performing qualitative studies exploring what seems to be the effect of gaming

addiction from the perspectives of teachers and peers in the school environment. The corroborating

evidence from parents about heavy gamers is also believed by study authors to be a novel aspect that adds

to the validity of study findings. Study focus as regards participants’ age in and of itself adds to its

strength, with 9-year-olds studied. Since the majority of studies discriminate in favor of adolescents, this

study offers a unique observational evidence by focusing on a smaller age group. The two teachers

involved in the study as its subjects have both sufficient experience with the study group and the overall

teaching experience of 10 and 18 years, which ensures the provision of in-depth data.

Limitations. Study authors themselves acknowledged that their research was not devoid of

limitations. Despite sample members’ responses to interview questions having been presumed candid and

frank, self-report is open to plenty of well-known biases, including memory recall and social desirability

biases, which may affect the veracity of the findings. The presence of actively and productively

contributing participants in the sample is not what it otherwise could be. Only three participants are heavy

gamers. Furthermore, as few as two teachers partook in the study, since some of the heavy gamers’

teachers claimed not to know enough about their students (for example, the ethics teacher and the

religious culture teacher). On the positive side, teachers lacking awareness of students did not participate

in the study, which would have led to results being inaccurate if they had. Lastly, some studies may yield

results applicable to a larger segment of the population if not the entire country; however, this study does

not fall under the category. Since the qualitative study includes only a small number of Turkey-based

participants, it has a possibly weak generalizability to other cultures and classes. In other words, if more

diverse, the sample would make the study more representative. As such, it would be projectable on a

larger section of the society and/or other cultures.

2.3. How Studies Compare

Despite the research focus or study subjects differing, the studies analyzed examine the effect of

gaming on students in terms of their academic success, whether directly or otherwise. Taş (2017)

examined the relationship between gaming addiction and school engagement; Demir and Kutlu (2018)

looked into the relationship between internet addiction and a range of dependent variables that are
 24

influenced thereby, including school attachment levels, academic procrastination, and academic

motivation; Navaneetham and Chandran (2018) examined the impact of video games on study habits,

apart from studying the prevalence of this entertainment type; Yilmaz, Yel, and Griffiths (2018) studied

the impact of excessive gaming on the scholastic success and communication quality of those addicted;

Başol and Kaya (2018) successfully tested OGAS or the Online Gaming Addiction Scale as a reliable and

valid instrument with adequate psychometric properties, which showed the negative psychological impact

of excessive gaming on school students with direct, albeit unconfirmed academic implications.

The sample characteristics of the five studies under scrutiny share many similarities, although

they seem different in individual dimensions, which could have influenced the representational or

accuracy-related nature of the results that they yielded. Taş (2017), Demir and Kutlu (2018), and Başol

and Kaya (2018) targeted the same age groups of adolescents (9 th-12th grade) and country (Turkey),

although the provinces chosen are different, with Gaziantep, Elazığ, and Corum and Sivas respectively

chosen for three studies. While Yilmaz, Yel, and Griffiths (2018) did not specify the exact location of

sampling, it was likely Turkey, based on journal and two authors’ workplace details, with the two said to

be working in Aydin and the capital city of Ankara. By contrast, the study by Navaneetham and Chandran

(2018) is the only India-based research across the set of articles handpicked for the dissertation. Unlike

the earlier mentioned Turkish studies, the age group involves 8 th and 9th graders. The Turkey-based study

by Yilmaz, Yel, and Griffiths (2018) is the farthest from all four other studies, since it involves 4 th graders

aged around 10 along with much older teachers, as seen in their 10 and 18 years of experiences. The

young age group makes the study the only one to target children rather than adolescents across the entire

set of selected studies.

Gender-wise, Başol and Kaya (2018) assembled a predominantly male sample, as against Taş

(2017), Demir and Kutlu (2018) and Yilmaz, Yel, and Griffiths (2018) that were rather close to gender

equality in their respective samples, although addicted gamers are 100% male in the study by Yilmaz,

Yel, and Griffiths (2018). Navaneetham and Chandran (2018), by comparison, did not differentiate

between genders while describing its sample composition. Unlike other studies, Yilmaz, Yel, and

Griffiths (2018) included teachers in the sample, which is also incomparably small, which may reveal it

as the least representative of all the five studies. Since three Turkish studies are close to achieving the
 25

equal gender division of samples, unlike the study by Başol and Kaya (2018) that is not, there is no

reason for the discriminate sample assembly principle favoring male subjects; otherwise, all other three

Turkish studies would have assembled similar largely all-male samples. The decision to target mostly

males by Başol and Kaya (2018) may be induced by a presumption of females enjoying lesser access to

modern technologies, which could make them less prolific as research subjects. Still, neither the earlier-

performed study of the female section of the Turkish population and its rights in the country nor rather

equal gender-wise contents of three other samples compiled in the same country justify the selection-

related discrimination.

Not all the studies focused on a dyadic relationship between variable as their research subject

seems very diversified. For example, while Taş (2017) identified a correlation between addiction and

another academic variable, such as school attachment, Demir and Kutlu (2018) looked into three

dependent variables, including school attachment, academic procrastination, and academic motivation

that are shown as connected in quite a complex way. Addiction leads to academic motivation decline and

procrastination or the postponement of academic tasks waiting to be fulfilled, yet the interrelation is not

that simple. Dependent variables are also shown as interconnected as the study indicates that motivation

is the enemy of procrastination as well as a driver of school attachment, while attachment found to be

adversely influenced by procrastination. Thus, some research subjects perform the dual function of

dependent and independent variables. In any case, addiction is the chief independent variable that gives

rise to all other variables, whether directly or otherwise. It causes procrastination that, in turn, affects

school attachment, which means that postponement acts as an intermediary between addiction and school

attachment and as one of the negative effects of gaming dependence.

When it comes to findings, they reflect a common understanding of the validity of the negative

association between extreme gaming and academic performance deterioration, although not all the studies

showed the connection clearly. While Başol and Kaya (2018) did not link the study directly to academic

performance focusing on the psychological side of excessive gaming instead, the finding does indicate the

negative influence on academic success, albeit indirectly, that is, by listing psychological effects that, in

turn, affect the ability of students to focus on tasks and otherwise perform in the academic context. Taş

(2017), by contrast, did not so much as link the two variables indirectly having failed to establish the
 26

relationship between gaming addiction and school engagement that is one of the key success

determinants. Still, what the finding suggests is that excessive gaming cannot predict the extent, to which

children participate in curriculum activities, and that significantly, which means that the prediction ability

gaming addiction still has, although it is a minimal one. However, since Demir and Kutlu (2018)

explained that the internet addiction was a broad term, there is still a firm link between addiction and

declining school engagement as Taş (2017) found that internet dependence was a strong predictor.

Yilmaz, Yel, and Griffiths (2018) were more unambiguous, since their efforts led to the

identification of a clear link between school performance degradation and excessive gaming that induced

absenteeism by tempting them to stay at home and spend time gaming in lieu of going to school. The

same is true of Demir and Kutlu (2018) that tested a range of variables and found that addiction to the

internet, including online games, affected academic motivation. Auxiliary findings only reinforce this link

with their causal implications, as addiction erodes school attachment key to academic performance and

stimulates procrastination, which does not contribute to the swift completion of academic tasks. The study

by Navaneetham and Chandran (2018) that also found a clear relationship between excessive gaming and

school also produced a finding with a causal implication suggesting that academic results decline over the

commitment of a considerable amount of time to games instead of learning.

3. Discussion

3.1. General Discussion Points

The scrutiny of five studies looking into the potential effect of gaming addiction on the academic

performance of students, whether directly or otherwise, has led to a variety of findings that have academic

implications regardless of the extent of study focus relation to scholastic success. Even the finding that

the Online Gaming Addiction Scale shows that gaming addiction can be a negative influence on academic

success by causing mental issues that the scale has been found to measure successfully is related to

academic performance whose quality should be understood to depend on psychological stability. Neither

hyperactivity/impulsivity nor depression can translate into academic success. If depressed, a student

cannot be expected to show the studying enthusiasm; thus, the decision to skip lessons leads to the loss of

vital educational information that often needs explaining in the classroom settings for its digestion and

further application, since the portions thereof can be too difficult for students to master them unassisted.
 27

More unambiguous findings show that addiction to the internet, which is a reportedly broad

concept interpreted as such that includes online gaming, lowers the motivation to study, which may lead

to procrastination, which is when tasks are de-prioritized or moved to the back of the queue, although

both are identified as separate addiction products. That students decide to put off their academic affairs

shows that they experience too strong a temptation to resist it, which may be a clear sign of the formation

of psychological dependence. Since the curriculum does not move temporally in favor of such students

and since tasks assigned in a certain sequence require the commitment of sufficient time resources, the

students addicted to online games will be sure to be behind schedule, which they will have no way of

gaining on due to the now-addictive nature of their hobby, which bodes ill for subsequent academic

success that requires timeliness and discipline. Procrastination, in turn, erodes school attachment. If such

attachment is defined as the conviction by students of school peers and adults caring about their learning

as well as them as individuals, the loss of such understanding, apparently, leads to self-marginalization in

students’ self-perception and the loss of confidence, which cannot but interfere with academic

performance. Student suspecting of the teacher thinking small of them may possibly get paranoid while in

quest of how to prove themselves competent and diligent. This may lead to the loss of time and

procrastination not induced by video games. One of the studies generalized the academic variable by

referring thereto as study habits. Although left unspecified, these habits can imply the mentioned

procrastination when studies are put on hold, which can be an acquired academic habit of completing

tasks late that assumes shape when the playing hobby becomes a pathological anomaly that is out of

acceptable proportions.

Apart from school attachment, the scientific discourse also related addiction to a decrease in

students’ engagement. Since it implies solid inter-student relations responsible for a positive school

climate, its decline can disrupt social bonds and even lead to interpersonal conflicts, which can make the

classroom environment toxic and even affect students not engaged in the addictive gaming hobby. The

decline of engagement when relations between addicted students and healthy peers degrade may be an

outcome of addicts’ greater isolation and the prevalence of gaming in their conversation themes, which

likely leads fellow students to distance themselves from such classmates. This isolation has further

adverse implications for the likelihood of addicted students’ academic success, since the loss of quality
 28

relations it would be fair to assume minimizes the willingness of non-addicted fellows to offer a helping

hand in the educational context to the students to have fallen behind over their pernicious digital hobby.

One of the studies did find that fellow students demonstrated the willingness to give addicted strugglers a

hand after their absenteeism got the best of them by as good as bringing their academic performance to a

grinding halt.

The study that found this helping enthusiasm also elicited the view expressed by an English

teacher of gaming assisting with language mastery. Thus, even excessive playing can have the English-

learning benefit to offer due to extensive exposure to the product featuring rich language reproduction

often by native speakers. Still, students may not necessarily play the English version of an online game.

The user-friendly nature of games catered to the linguistic preferences and abilities of consumers allows

choosing from among a range of language options. If they are still in the process of mastering the English

language, as seen in them visiting the respective lessons, English mastery may be at too low a level for

them to be playing a game in its default language, which is English. The product is not to be enjoyed if

their linguistic competence leaves much to be wished. Therefore, the finding that English competence

rises with game use may not necessarily be valid in relation to all students, yet this depends on the level

of English knowledge and students’ nation of origin and residence, which determines their willingness to

play the English version of an online game and the feasibility of this being done. Lastly, no age seems

immune from the addictive gaming hobby, as was found in the case of pre-puberty children who were

around 10 years of age at the time of study.

3.2. Relation to Other Studies

Article 1. That Başol and Kaya (2018) sought to develop a reliable and valid instrument with

adequate psychometric properties (the Online Game Addiction Scale or OGAS) means that it focused on

a novel approach to measuring the psychological impact of gaming addiction that, in turn, affects the

academic success of student. This may imply that no studies were performed to measure the utility of the

scale that is of the researchers’ design and that is tested by them in terms of functional utility. Still, the

focus of the study on the mental/psychological impact of excessive gaming related it to a number of

studies with a similar focus that examined different diagnostic tools. Zervopoulos (1999) reported the

American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders to have a
 29

diagnostic system for the diagnosis of game addiction under mental disorders (as cited in Başol & Kaya,

2018). The current study relates to earlier ones that look at the impact of excessive gaming through the

psychological perspective. Shen and Chen (2015), for example, found that online gaming addiction

influences the psychological and physical health of players alike (as cited in Başol & Kaya, 2018).

Article 2. The first finding documented by Demir and Kutlu (2018) is that, which shows that

internet (online gaming) addition adversely influences academic motivation needed for students to

commit to academic work. A range of studies is supportive of the finding. For example, Zhu et al. (2015)

established a correlation between academic motivation and internet dependence (as cited in Demir &

Kutlu, 2018). Tsitsika et al. (2010) identified that adolescents addicted to the internet tended to surpass

peers in terms of the number of unexcused absences from school (as cited in Demir & Kutlu, 2018). The

study by Young (1998b) is also believed to support the first finding being the first to study internet

addiction and establish the relation between academic performance and internet use. The study posited

that, when uncontrolled, internet use can lead to low academic motivation, a failure in academic life, and

ultimately expulsion from school (as cited in Demir & Kutlu, 2018).

The second finding of the study shows that addiction to the internet positively influences

academic procrastination. Speaking otherwise, it gives rise thereto. The scientific literature contains

studies, such as the ones by Ambad et al. (2017), Brate (2017), Chen et al. (2015), Demir and Kutlu

(2017), and Kandemir (2014b) that mirror the finding (as cited in Demir and Kutlu, 2018). Young

(1998b) used the concept of preoccupation to explain the prevalence of the internet in people’s lives.

Individuals tend to place responsibilities and duties related to house, career, education, occupations, and

jobs at the end of the queue as the occupation of mind is on the increase. As follows therefrom, at the

center of people’s life stands the internet, with academic duties put off. So follows from the one of the

earliest studies confirming the procrastination impact of excessive dependence on internet use that may

come in the form of disproportional online gaming (as cited in Demir & Kutlu, 2018). Chin-Li (2014) and

Öksüz, Guvenc, and Mumcu (2017) understood procrastination as a time management failure of the

addicted (as cited in Demir & Kutlu, 2018). Further findings that the research yielded also find reflection

in other studies.
 30

Based on the third study finding, academic procrastination is negatively associated with academic

motivation, which means that academic motivation losses are academic procrastination gains. Studies

performed by Cerino (2012), Dogan (2015), Kandemir (2014a), Kandemir et al. (2017), Rakes and Dunn

(2010), and Saracaloğlu and Göktaş (2016) and Stell (2007) in their time are all supportive of the finding

(as cited in Demir & Kutlu, 2018) and even earlier studies are, such as that of Beswik et al. (1998)

centered on the link between academic procrastination and motivation. Diaz-Morales, Cohen, and Ferrari

(2008) identified that individuals with higher academic motivation tended to avoid postponing the

respective duties and responsibilities (as cited in Demir & Kutlu, 2018).

The fourth finding of the study suggests the positive link between school attachment and

academic motivation as the former is driven by the latter. Studies by Hill and Werner (2006), Riley

(2013), and Trolian et al. (2016) and a range of other researchers are supportive of the finding (as cited in

Demir & Kutlu, 2018). To be more specific, Duru and Balkıs (2015) stressed that high academic

motivation coupled with interest influences students’ belonging to school in a positive way (as cited in

Demir & Kutlu, 2018). Karaşar and Kapçı (2016) established a positive link between school attachment

and academic motivation (as cited in Demir & Kutlu, 2018). Trolian et al. (2016) found that students with

the high level of academic motivation have a greater interest in school, which leads to their committing

more time to school endeavors (as cited in Demir & Kutlu, 2018). Firouznia, Yousefi, and Ghassemi

(2009) and Komarraju, Karau, and Schmeck (2009) identified the correlation between school attachment

and academic motivation explaining it via active participation in lessons and academic achievement.

Academic achievement is low in adolescents with the low level of academic motivation, while peers who

are high on academic motivation achieve more in the academic context (as cited in Demir & Kutlu, 2018).

Based on the fifth study finding, school attachment is adversely influenced by academic

procrastination, which means that academic procrastination conduct is in inverse proportion to school

attachment. There are said to be studies in the scientific literature that largely echo back the finding,

although the researchers did not come to specify, which ones do. This notwithstanding, the study authors

apparently employed them to explain the mentioned link. As suggested, adolescents with academic

procrastination conduct do not fulfill or disrupt the duties and assignments provided by their teachers,

which will make teachers develop negative behaviors and attitudes towards such adolescents. Students
 31

who are in a constant habit of not fulfilling or putting off their responsibilities may be subject to criticism

on the part of a teacher in the classroom settings, which can go on to affect the student-teacher

relationship. Subsequently, adolescents may be hard-pressed to connect to teacher deemed an essential

dimension of school attachment. What also happens is that academic achievement in adolescents with

academic procrastination moves downwards, which is why adolescents may prove unable to make

positive connection to school. To all intents and purposes, academic achievement is understood to be an

essential resource for school attachment (Demir & Kutlu, 2018).

Article 3. The study performed by Navaneetham and Chandran (2018) finds its reflection in a

variety of other studies. Hauge and Gentile (2003) that examined an identical sample involving the 8 th and

9th graders also found that 18% of children who were mostly boys, that is, by 80% fell under the category

of gaming addicts (as cited in Navaneetham & Chandran, 2018). The finding of Navaneetham and

Chandran (2018) of 17,5% of students being addicted to gaming approaches that of Gentile (2009), the

publisher of the first US study on pathological video game addiction, who identified that about 20%-25%

of gamers in Asia and the US were pathologically dependent on the respective products (as cited in

Navaneetham & Chandran, 2018). This is not to suggest that the study does not compare to earlier ones in

every way possible. The frequency aspect of gaming that is an important predictor of addiction that is

identified in the study may not correspond with earlier findings. Turner et al. (2012) found that only

18,3% of students reported playing video games on a daily basis (as cited in Navaneetham and Chandran,

2018). This somewhat disagrees with what (Navaneetham & Chandran, 2018) found suggesting that

44,5% of students did not play games, as opposed to 20% and 17,5% of those who did so excessively and

pathologically respectively. If taken end to end, these clusters give 37,5% of students who do the gaming

at least for some time per day. It may be that the study performed by Turner et al. (2012) and referenced

in the article (as cited in Navaneetham & Chandran, 2018) could not elicit an accurate enough opinion

from students who are likely to have offered distorted answers for fear of facing reprehension on the part

of teachers and having their gaming opportunities cut by parents for disciplinary purposes should the

influence of gaming addiction on scholastic success become apparent.

Article 4. While Taş (2017) did find the inversely proportional connection between participation

in academic activities and addiction to internet along with internet-based products like online games, the
 32

researcher reported that no studies were to be found in literature that would research the mentioned link.

However, a closer inspection of the literature reviewed by the scholar does yield corresponding studies.

For example, Cao and Su (2006) found that addiction to the internet tended to have an adverse effect on

school life (as cited in Taş, 2017). Luciana (2010) correlated the internet addiction with school issues (as

cited in Taş, 2017). Such issues may relate directly to scholastic performance, which was shown by

Young and Rogers (1998) and Çetinkaya (2013) and Brunborg, Mentzoni, and Froyland (2014) reporting

low academic performance (as cited in Taş, 2017). Tanrıverdi (2012) was more specific associating it

with academic success by acknowledging that school grades grew worse (as cited in Taş, 2017), as was

Taçyıldız (2010) who virtually reproduced the finding indicating a reduced grade point average (as cited

in Taş, 2017). The decline in grades serving as school performance indicators may be down to troubles

related to homework, which Taylan, Kara, and Durğun (2017) considered hindered by the internet

addiction (as cited in Taş, 2017).

Article 5. The low academic performance outcome identified by teachers and peers chimes in

with earlier studies, including Hastings et al. (2009) and Skoric, Ching, Teo, and Neo (2009) (as cited in

Yilmaz, Yel, & Griffith, 2018). A study by Rehbein, Kleimann, and Mossle (2010) came to a similar

conclusion reporting school truancy and lower school success as such that are caused by problematic

gaming (as cited in Yilmaz, Yel, & Griffith, 2018). The finding that playing games assists students with

learning English conforms to the study of Griffith (2008) that identified the education importance of

video games suggesting that they are beneficial if assessed by teachers in the way of benefits. They may

permit students to play them in the education context (as cited in Yilmaz, Yel, & Griffith, 2018). Still,

such games may not necessarily evoke much interest in students and it is of crucial importance that there

be one; otherwise, lethargic, passive interaction with the product may not lead students to gain expected

skills. Having students playing games at school per se may not be a good idea. School hours provide an

intermission or an interval between their gaming hours, which may suppress the formation of an acute

form of dependence, else the addition of extra gaming hours can prove counterproductive given the

insertion of games with educational benefits that may be developing attention, expanding linguistic skills,

or otherwise benefitting students. Such way or another, the academic benefit of gaming related to English

mastery can be found in other studies.

 33

3.3. Literature Gaps/Weaknesses

The chief literature gap comes in the form of the shortage of studies that would be longitudinal or

such that would study the addiction problem over a long period and at an individual rather than a group

level, since studies seem rather generalized at this point, with the effect of excessive gaming considered

in the context of samples that includes several hundreds of students. Deficient is also the focus on

children rather than adolescents, the latter being more heavily featured in recent studies. The youngest age

cluster that the chosen studies often target are 9 th graders or young individuals ages 14-15 approximately.

Instead, it is rather rare for researchers to examine children or those who have yet to reach puberty or

maturation whose onset is associated with adolescence. There seems to be a dearth of studies centering on

the effect of addiction on students based on observations by peers and teachers. Furthermore, there are no

studies to be found that would compare the academic effect of games in different locations whose

economic state determines the extent of technology proliferation. Neither do researchers recognize the

importance of online games’ typology. There being different games, they can have different effects on

players. Na et al. (2017) acknowledged that there was minimal research concerning the influence of

various game genres on internet gaming addiction. If present, this research could clarify which genres are

most responsible for eroding the academic performance of children and adolescents.

Lastly, studies seem affected by the lack of clarity and a unitary addiction classification, which

makes itself seen in the following study. In the study by Navaneetham and Chandran (2018), the heaviest

gamers spend a maximum of 3 hours in front of the screen. Since close to a fifth of the sample was

defined as addicts, they spend just as much as specified earlier. Still, this finding may run counter to other

studies as it falls short of the number of hours needed to rank an individual a gaming addict. Lopez-

Fernandez (2018) identified that addicted gamers spent 30 hours a week playing, while those who did

around 20 fell under the category of highly-engaged players. Thus, 3 hours a day mean that the heaviest

Indian gamers commit just 21 hours of their week time to playing, which earns them the classification tag

of highly-engaged players who are yet to become addicts if at all if the other classification is to be trusted.

Therefore, owing to there being no identifiable or well-defined temporal borders of addiction, studies are

at liberty to use the amount of gaming time that they regard as such that signifies the dependence of

children on game products. This complicates the comparison of studies since what one group of scholars
 34

defines an addiction another one deems as high engagement, which leads to acceptable gaming habits

being classified as addiction.

More to the clarity issues encountered, it is not clear whether studies differentiated between

games and other factors contributing to a poor run of academic form, which is important, since family

issues, the disruption of social bonds, feelings that are not mutual, and other mood and studying

enthusiasm determinants do not seem factored in by any of the examined studies that tend to generalize

attributing scholastic success and/or performance quality to the gaming behavior of students. The best

they can do is differentiate between genders and among age groups to see, which one is more engrossed

in this form of nonactive entertainment. Although present, this deficiency does not seem possible to

address, since measuring the extent, to which each of the non-addiction factors influence individual

students is impossible, to say nothing of the cost and time input. At the same time, it is challenging to

identify the complex set of factors affecting the scholastic performance of students alongside the

addiction factor even if students self-report them, which would require a great deal of introspection or

self-examination on the part of students who may not be able to perform it due to yet-immature analytical

faculties.

3.4. Recommendations

Research nature change. It is like game/internet addiction researchers to point to potential future

study directions through perceived research limitations. Thus, for example, Demir and Kutlu (2018)

believed that researchers will be better off performing longitudinal research to study the effects of internet

addition on school attachment rather than stick with the cross-sectional method limited to a single period.

Truly, the longitudinal method may give researchers a better or different perspective. Institute for Work

& Health (2015) explained that longitudinal studies enabled the execution of a few observations of the

same subjects over a period of time that may span plenty of years. A longitudinal study benefit is that

scholars are well-placed to identify changes or developments in target population characteristics at both

individual and group levels (Institute for Work & Health, 2015). Therefore, what may be done in the

context of the game addiction research is to study the gaming addiction of students and children

diachronically, that is to say, over a long period, which may be useful due to the possibility of students

being at different levels of dependence at a specific point in time used in cross-sectional studies.
 35

Navaneetham and Chandran (2018) recommended that long-term studies be performed to identify the

tendency of video game use over the years. The future research recommendations made by the study

authors makes sense. A longer period of time will allow understanding how tracked addiction levels vary

and whether their peak and bottom points coincide with specific academic performance levels.

Furthermore, if studies can depart from the group focus and also look into the addiction issue through the

prism of individual stories, it can gain a deeper understanding of the problem instead of interpreting it at

generalized group level that may fail to consider individual characteristics of research subjects and their

response to or role in the formation of psychological dependence that takes its ultimate toll on academic

performance. Therefore, for further studies to be going longitudinal can offer a fresh perspective that may

discover new implications and help combat the problem of online gaming addiction development in

children and adolescents.

Diversifying the sample-based age portfolio. Speaking of children, researchers it will be fair to

presume will fare better diversifying their research focus in age terms. As matters stand presently, they

are wrong to prioritize adolescents to the detriment of younger demographic groups inasmuch as children

below 14 actively participate in curricular activities as school students who are equally exposed to

technologies, which can lead to the development of an online gaming addiction. The inclusion in

comparative studies could offer an insight into when it is that game dependence reaches a maximum level

or starts to assume pathological proportions that interfere with students’ resolve to commit time, energy,

and other resources to academic activities. Furthermore, even if not comparative in nature, the study of

younger children can disclose the evolution of the online gaming dependence over a larger period

spanning childhood and adolescence.

New research foci. Online game addiction researchers will be best served by considering new

foci. Plenty of studies target the Turkish audience, which needs to change, since technology penetration

should be greater in the western hemisphere and European countries, from which it often originates and

where people have greater economic resources to spend on the acquisition of gadgets and other hardware

facilitating the development of addiction to online games. Researchers would be wise to switch to

comparative studies by picking students from different locations to see if there is any endemic difference

in the addiction degrees and if some locations can experience a greater drop in academic performance
 36

relative to others due to the mentioned possible dependence degree variability. Likely, there will be none

except that the economic health of each location can predict the level of dependence by determining the

extent of technology penetration shaped by the personal welfare situation, that is, richer regions or

provinces can see more gadgets and computers bought by people, which increases the prevalence of

children and adolescents’ exposure to technology and, possibly, addiction when interaction with the

technology spirals out of control.

It may be the socioeconomic status along with subsequent access to monetary resources that can

determine the development of specific personalities responding to excessive gaming. Thus, for example,

greater addiction to online games in one province can be found to be an outcome of the worse economic

development of the region and subsequent welfare decline that will increase the odds of family conflicts,

to which children are exposed, which will modify their psycho-emotional health enhancing susceptibility

to online games as escape avenues or coping mechanisms allowing them to vent emotions or get

themselves distracted. Researchers can also study a single region provided that its economic situation has

altered under the influence of adverse economic developments in a bid to see if and how a change for the

worse tells upon the evolution of the scope and prevalence of gaming dependence among young residents

visiting schools. Although possibly feasible, these complex links remain to be studied. Certainly, they are

worth studying, since such causal, exploratory studies can shed light on what drives children to come

committing excessive day and, possibly, nighttime to online games and go on to display academic results

that are below par and that fail to help them achieve the respective success. At the same time, studies can

compare students and nonstudents in terms of addiction degrees and their resultant academic/professional

influence; however, their daily schedule of sample participants will need studying for there to be a

comparative workload and an important set of duties.

Clearly, researchers should know better than to ignore the diversity of online game genres.

Theoretically, different genres can tell upon brains differently, thereby influencing academic performance

and further success in different ways. Science Daily (2017) identified that playing video games could

alter brain regions responsible for visuospatial skills and attention by boosting their efficiency, based on

research findings. Research must be done to look into if and how brain regions are affected by excessive

gaming. What can also be studied is which online game genres are most preferred by students, which will
 37

offer a greater glimpse into the likely scope of excessive gaming contribution to academic decline. There

is a great research potential, as follows from the number of online game genres available. Balakrishnan

and Griffiths (2018) differentiated among 14 game genres, such as word, trivia, strategy, sports, role

playing, racing, puzzle, casual, casino, card, board, arcade, adventure, and action. This typology much

coincides with Metacritic’s classification scheme that includes wrestling, wargame, turn-based strategy,

third-person shooter, strategy, sports, simulation, role-playing game, real-time strategy, racing, puzzle,

platform, party, flight/flying, first-person shooter, fighting, extreme sports, adventure, and action genres

(Arsenault, 2009). Still, some game genres do not deserve prioritization as much as others do.

Adolescents are unlikely to have much money to spend while playing casino or card games and children

are even less so. In this case, the research worthiness of a certain student group is directly proportional to

their age; therefore, adolescents are an optimal age group to target to see the effect of online gambling

games on students’ performance in the academic settings. Unlike adolescents, children are just too young

for them to earn money as recruited temporary workers.

Furthermore, to be studying how each genre influences children and adolescents’ personality if

abused would be rational, since it may be that there are varying degrees, to which they cause dependence

in gamers and, subsequently, affect their academic success. Speaking of students’ personalities, there can

be said to be different personality traits. Based on the official classification of personality traits in the

hierarchical organization of personality, they include neuroticism, agreeableness, extraversion,

conscientiousness, and openness to experience (Bergin & Bergin, 2014). At least some of them appear

responsible for the maintenance of students studying enthusiasm. As specified by C.C. Bergin and D.A.

Bergin (2014), open people are they who are curious, creative, and smart. They like it when they are

immersed in though and new projects, when they get to express themselves, and when they explore new

situations. When it comes to neurotic people, they are insecure and anxious. They feel hurt easily, get sick

or go to pieces while under stress, and worry excessively (C.C. Bergin & D.A. Bergin, 2014). It is

important to identify if neuroticism is a fixed, innate personality trait or whether it is a developed feature

whose onset coincides with the intensification of the gaming experience, which may well be the case.

Information Resources Management Association (2019) confirmed that studies had found a link between

neuroticism and addiction to online games. This means that people find their emotional stability falling as
 38

addiction grows (Information Resources Management Association, 2019). The risk is that young students

can go from being open to new experience to being neurotic and secluded in their personal shell

abandoning former explorative enthusiasm. If they become easy to irritate, they will be quick to quit at

the first best opportunity if not drop out. The elaborate study of such students’ response to their stepping

up routine gaming can explain the alteration of their personality and dip in performance that teachers

often struggle to interpret to take any measures in efforts to reverse the situation.

Furthermore, some of the current research that tracks down personality change trajectories needs

to show the dualism of online game influence based on the amount of daily playing; however, important

is that the effect of online games on the same variable be analyzed, such as a specific personality trait.

Teng (2008), for example, found that online games players had reported higher scores in extraversion,

conscientiousness, and openness, as against nonplayers; however, the study never showed the fallout of

excessive gaming on extraversion. Although the multiplayer format online games can boost extraversion

by creating communication opportunities even for abusing players when they square off against others or

strategize with fellow gamers to gain a joint victory, single-player ones can replace the actual interaction

with peers leading to greater seclusion and personality modification, with games acting as compensatory

mechanisms making up for the loss of the peer environment. There should be no thinking human

personality fixed.

Researchers need to look into the availability of genetic or brain-based predisposition towards

introversion and its development under the influence of external stimuli, such as excessive gaming or the

replacement of the human environment that comes therewith. Professor Emerita of Psychological and

Brain Sciences Susan Whitbourne (2016) confirmed the possibility of personality adjustment towards

greater extroversion, for example. When the foundation may be laid for such adjustment may be in

childhood, as per the psychoanalytic approach resting upon the belief that childhood experiences tend to

influence the development of later personality features, as do they psychological issues and that greatly

(Plotnik and Kouyoumdjian, 2010). What this means is that online games abusing in childhood can set the

stage for introvert personality development.

However, a range of empirical studies would be essential, especially in relation to excessive

gaming as a factor in personality alteration, whether in childhood or adolescence. Such studies can find
 39

the possibility of extreme gaming in terms of rendering school students more introvert over the loss of

live communication and/or academic struggles that could cause interpersonal bonds disruption if

performance decline evokes derision on the part of fellow students. Introversion can be expected to deal a

further blow to academic success, albeit not by interfering with mental or other capabilities of extreme

gamers. Eysneck and Eysneck indicated that introverts were introspective, retiring type of people, and

quiet (as cited in Ewen, 2013). Such people may be ideal targets for school bullies. Kumar (2015)

explained that it was quiet individuals that bullies often chose in the solid belief that sensitive and quiet

people will not have the will or courage to fight back. Bullying, according to Garrett (2010), leads to fear

that, in turn, translates into truancy, absenteeism, or dropping out of school. Such is the complex

sequence of processes that the unhealthy portions of time committed to online gaming may well cause in

the student segment of the population represented by children and adolescents, yet more research is

needed to produce the firm of evidence of this presumed sequence of correlated developments.

Empirical function transition to non-researchers. It may be necessary to do something about the

presence of researchers in schools where they do the sampling and perform other study-related

operations. Researchers will stand to gain from assigning the observational duty to teachers and peers

rather than from self-insertion in the academic institution. The exclusion of independent researchers from

the institution will make for a more natural atmosphere, in which students addicted to online games of

whatever genre will be sure to put the academic effects of dependence on display, without fearing lest

they be watched. They have every reason to fear since their addiction outing can lead to gadget

deprivation at home if the word of their unhealthy online hobby has not reached the ear of parents before

the study being performed. Under this scenario, they may be wary of not showing due diligence to gain

better transitional academic results or not simulating healthy lifestyles by reporting wrong playing time

figures. Therefore, reassigning the empirical duty to the academic process participants will lead to greater

accuracy, yet confidentiality seems needed, else any leakage of a study probing under-achieving students’

performance in relation to addiction may lead to all efforts being in vain in the aftermath. Students may

fail to be keeping a low profile unless instructed to be. A risk, however, is that the microclimate

deteriorates in the time that follows the study when its details do out, which they eventually will. In any

case, Yilmaz, Yel, and Griffith (2018) recommended that future studies replicate and extend the findings
 40

that the current study generated through large samples in other jurisdictions and countries. The

researchers would do better to recommend studies comparing several locations at a time rather than just

move elsewhere. Yilmaz, Yel, and Griffith (2018) also opined that the incorporation of longitudinal

designs could improve the findings of the present study that are cross-sectional.

A unitary addiction classification. The scientific community will be better suited developing a

unitary classification of addiction, which they can supply with more detailed grading rubrics, else it runs

the risk of producing a controversial body of literature that is already assuming shape. What some studies

consider addiction others treat as adequate engagement in the cyber world of online games. This distorts

the overall picture of addiction in its different dimensions, which can downplay the urgency of the

problem and the stalling of the introduction of measures battling addiction, which will keep reducing the

number of qualified and apt talents produced by the nation that are capable of taking over unfilled

vacancies and working in their line of duty productively. Such measures can break the vicious circle

involving addiction and academic decline. To avoid disparate, contrasting visions, a synthesizing research

may be performed reviewing current studies and their findings for the production of a single vision. If

not, the American Psychological Association can offer an addiction interpretation or an international

forum can vote for an updated and universally applicable classification of gaming dependence.

4. Conclusion

Thus, academic or scholastic performance predictably suffers from the addiction of individual

students to online games or the internet that was still found to include such games despite the propensity

of researchers towards generalization and ambiguity. Although no effort is made at identifying the extent,

to which non-addiction factors are responsible for the decline in scholastic performance, the negative

correlation between the variables of performance and addiction is established in all studies, bar none.

Even if a study measures the utility of a tool measuring the psychological effects of extreme gaming on

students, it still indicates the negative academic implications of addiction, since any alteration in the

psycho-emotional health of students towards greater irritability or depression can tell negatively upon

their academic success at least through absenteeism that manifests in the desire to skip lessons, with

games likely playing as stress-relieving and mood-boosting tools. Since excessive gaming lowers

attachment, students lose a belief that others care about their learning and personalities, which,
 41

apparently, rocks their studying motivation, which is central to academic success. Student engagement

was also found to be affected in equal measure, which means that the interpersonal relations between

peers and students and teachers suffer. If a teacher loses the bond, he or she will struggle to get a message

across to a student and act a role model. At the same time, the deterioration of links between students may

reduce the likelihood of well-performing students helping strugglers to close the academic gap. In both

cases, addicted students will stand a worse chance of regaining the learning pace and achieve meaningful

results. If students become addicted, they may adopt the studying habit of procrastination causing them to

put off academic tasks instead of completing them in a timely manner, which is a prerequisite for

scholastic success. While there is no unitary classification of addiction in terms of the number of hours

played by an individual on a daily basis, the commitment of the excessive amount of time is believed to

affect school success and/or performance from every conceivable metric in different nations, be it India or

Turkey, the latter dominating scientific studies.

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