The Effects of Game Control Program on the mitigation of Internet Game Addiction and Self-Efficacy

게임욕구조절 프로그램이 인터넷게임 중독완화와 자기효능감에 미치는 효과

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a group training program designed to control the desire for internet games and to promote self-efficacy and alternative activities. The subjects participating in this study were 32 fifth graders, divided into the experimental group of 16 and the control group of 16, who were carefully selected from 175 children in the fifth grade in S elementary school in J city. All the subjects belong in the top 20% according to the internet game addiction level and spend more than two hours and thirty minutes a day playing computer game. And they participated in the game desire control program, which were consisted of total eight-session' treatment for six weeks. The results of the game addiction diagnosis and self-efficacy measurement were verified and analyzed by ANOVA to verify the effects of the program. As well as, data about average playing time spent on computer games and time the children spent on playing computer games alternative activities were analyzed and collected by the interview and other written materials such as letters from the parents to their children and writings of the children on their feelings about interret games. The results of this study were as follows: The internet game control program was effective in decreasing the degree of game addiction. The children participating in the internet game control program showed greater increase in self-efficacy than those of the control group. The children participating in the program showed a sharp decline in the time spent on playing computer games and greater increase in the time spent on alternative activities than those of the control group.