Effects of Online Game and Short Video Behavior on Academic Delay of Gratification - Mediating Effects of Anxiety, Depression and Retrospective Memory

Ling-Ling Xia; Jun-Da Li; Fan Duan; Jing Zhang; Lin-Lin Mu; Li-Jin Wang; Chen-Yang Jiao; Xun Song; Ze Wang; Jin-Xuan Chen; Jing-Jing Wang; Yue Wang; Xiao-Chu Zhang; Dong-Liang Jiao

doi:10.2147/PRBM.S432196

Effects of Online Game and Short Video Behavior on Academic Delay of Gratification - Mediating Effects of Anxiety, Depression and Retrospective Memory

Psychol Res Behav Manag. 2023 Oct 26:16:4353-4365. doi: 10.2147/PRBM.S432196. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Ling-Ling Xia^#¹, Jun-Da Li^#¹, Fan Duan^#¹, Jing Zhang¹, Lin-Lin Mu¹, Li-Jin Wang¹, Chen-Yang Jiao², Xun Song¹, Ze Wang¹, Jin-Xuan Chen¹, Jing-Jing Wang¹, Yue Wang¹, Xiao-Chu Zhang^{1

3}, Dong-Liang Jiao¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Mental Health, Bengbu Medical College, Bengbu, People's Republic of China.
² School of Medical Imaging, Wannan Medical College, Wuhu, People's Republic of China.
³ CAS Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Disease and School of Life Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, People's Republic of China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Objective: Learner dependence on short videos has many pitfalls for learning outcomes, but the negative effects of excessive short video use have been little discussed in the learning psychology literature. Therefore, this study investigated the effects of excessive short video use on anxiety, depression, prospective memory, and academically delayed gratification (ADOG) in relation to online gaming-related behaviours, and explored the possible mechanisms by which excessive online gaming and short video use may lead to decreased ADOG, to expand our understanding of excessive short video use.

Methods: Based on the whole class random sampling method, a questionnaire survey was conducted among college students in Northern Anhui, China from May 7 to July 27, 2022. The questionnaires included the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7), Patient Health Questionnaire Scale (PHQ-9), Prospective and Retrospective Memory (PRM) Questionnaire, and ADOG Scale.

Results: A total of 1016 participants completed the survey. The study found that of all the internet behaviors, 20.8% of the college students mainly played online games, 43.9% mainly played short videos, and 35.3% conducted other online behaviors. When compared with other internet behaviors, online gaming and short video behaviors can cause more serious anxiety/depression and worse PRM and ADOG scores. As time spent playing online games and short videos increased, anxiety and depression became worse, and the scores for PRM and ADOG also declined. Anxiety, depression, and PRM mediate the relationship between time spent on online gaming/short videos and ADOG.

Conclusion: Excessive short videos behaviour may produce the same psychological problems and learning problems as online gaming disorder. Excessive short video and online gaming behaviors may affect ADOG performance through anxiety, depression, and prospective memory. These findings could be used as a basis for future studies on the improvement of ADOG.

Keywords: academic delay of gratification; anxiety; depression; online games; prospective memory; short video.

Grants and funding

This project was supported by the Health Research key Project of Anhui Province (AHWJ2022a029) Bengbu Medical College key Laboratory of Addiction Medicine 29-3. Bengbu Medical College’s innovative training Program for postgraduate students (Byycx22086, Byycx22020). Innovative training Program for Chinese College students (S202210368092, 202210367035). Anhui Provincial graduate Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship practice Project (2022cxcysj176). Anhui Provincial Education Department Humanities and Social Science Key Project (SK2021A0430).Natural Science Key Project of Anhui Provincial Department of Education (2023AH051971).All funders didn’t interfere in study design, collection, analysis, interpretation or writing of manuscript.