The Mechanism Underlying the Effect of Actual-Ideal Self-Discrepancy on Internet Gaming Addiction: a Moderated Mediation Model

With Internet games increasingly prevailing among adolescents over the last decade, Internet gaming addiction (IGA) draws more and more attention from scholars and practitioners, and a consolidating line of research has linked some psychological factors to IGA. To contribute to the understanding of the mechanism underlying the effect of self-discrepancy on IGA, this study adopted a cross-sectional design to examine the effects of actual-ideal self-discrepancy, avatar identification, and locus of control on gamers' IGA risk. Data were collected over a 1-month period using a convenience sample of 508 university student gamers from three universities in Henan Province of China. The results of structural equation modeling analyses showed that avatar identification partially mediated the relationship between actual-ideal self-discrepancy and IGA among gamers; meanwhile, locus of control moderated the effects of actual-ideal self-discrepancy and avatar identification on IGA among gamers.