Effects of the Internet Game Addiction Prevention Educational Program on Self-control and Time Spent on Internet Games by Elementary School Students

인터넷게임중독 예방교육프로그램이 초등학생의 자기통제성과 인터넷게임 사용시간에 미치는 효과

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of EP-IGAP(Internet Game Addiction Prevention Educational Program) on increasing the self-control and decreasing the time spent on internet games. Method: The research design was a quasi-experiment, repeated measures design with non-equivalent control group. Participants in this study were 269 elementary school students of elementary school(134 for the experimental group, 135 for the control group). The instruments used in this study were the Self-control of Internet Game Scale and Time spent on internet games per week. The experimental group participated in the EP-IGAP for 6 weeks. Results: After the intervention, the experimental group showed a significant increase in self-control related to internet games. But, there was no statistical difference in the time spent on internet games between the two groups. Conclusion: These results suggest that EP-IGAP is effective in increasing the self-control related to internet games in elementary school students. Further research is needed to modify the EP-IGAP.