Extent of PUBG Addiction in South India: Influence of Select Demographic Factors

Abstract

Today, Internet gaming addiction is widespread across the world irrespective of the developmental stage of individuals. The present study attempts to find out the extent of PUBG addiction among respondents who play PUBG game. The sample consisted of a total of 323 individuals playing PUBG of which 289 were males and 34 were female students from various backgrounds and from various cities in South India. The respondents completed PUBG addiction test (PAT) developed by D’Souza, Manish and Deeksha (2019) in one session. PAT measured addiction in 7 factors– disengagement, lack of control, excessive use, obsession, distress, escapism and over enthusiasm & impulsive use. The data were analysed using Chi-square test for the extent of usage of PUBG by male and female students and Cramer’s v tests were find out the association between levels of PUBG addiction and select demographic factors. Results revealed that on Results revealed that an alarming 29.7% of the sample selected was addict prone to PUBG, and 7.4% of the sample studied was definitely addicts. Gender had significant influence over PUBG addiction; female students had higher addiction towards PUBG than male students. Respondents who were unemployed were more addicted to PUBG than students and respondents who were employed. Higher the usage of smart phone, more was the PUBG addiction among the selected sample.