A network analysis approach to understand the relationship between online problematic gaming, defense mechanisms, and psychopathological symptoms

Problematic gaming (PG) refers to a dysfunctional pattern of online gaming behaviour that negatively affects individual functioning. The present study adopted a network analysis approach to investigate the patterns of reciprocal associations between PG, defense mechanisms, and psychopathological symptoms. Participants were 1,036 adult Italian online video game players (Mage= 29.94, SD = 8.85; females = 388) who completed self-report questionnaires. We used a regularised partial correlation network analysis (EBICglasso) to investigate the network structure of the relationships among PG, defense mechanisms, and psychopathological symptoms. Centrality measures were computed. The highly influential nodes in the network concerned both psychological symptoms (anxiety and obsessive-compulsive symptoms) and defense mechanisms (projection and autistic fantasy). Furthermore, the escapism feature of PG was detected as a prominent bridge symptom in the network. Our findings suggest that negative affect and immature defense mechanisms might play a pivotal role in PG, and that withdrawal in the virtual world may also exacerbate psychological symptoms. Therefore, better understanding the role of escapism and related immature defenses in PG might have important implications for theory and clinical practice.