• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.20 no.8
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• pp.298-314
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• 2020

This study was conducted for the purpose of empirically analyzing the effects of the adolescents' relationships with major adults as the protection factors for their game addiction. Specifically, the discriminatory effects of adolescents' relationships with their parents, school teacher, and educational institute teachers on game addiction among elementary, middle, and high school students were compared. Analyzing the data from "2019 Korean Children and Youth Happiness Index" (N=7,454), it was found that adult relationships are significant factors explaining the level of game addiction even after controlling the influence of adolescents' demographic and social characteristics, game use behavior, and friend relationship factors. In the case of elementary school students, the relationship with their mothers reduces the risk of game addiction, while for middle and high school students, the relationship with fathers acts as a protection factor for game addiction. Meanwhile, the protection effects of the relationship between teenagers and school teachers on game addiction was found only in middle school students, and contrary to expectations, the relationship with the educational institute teacher did not have a significant impact on the game addiction of teenagers. Based on the above major research results, this study discussed on the development of programs and policies for the prevention and intervention of youth game addiction and provided suggestions for the follow-up research in the future.