Video-game play and social anxiety in university students

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate different gaming habits and whether a link exists between these patterns of play and social anxiety. These factors included the relative amount of time spent gaming, with whom, behaviour patterns associated with addiction, and how players felt expressing themselves online and in physical social exchanges. An online questionnaire was distributed to 1000 university students, with 49 responses. When analysed, the data showed that no significant difference in social anxiety scores was found between gamers and non-gamers. However, people with higher scores for social anxiety were found to seek to play games as much as possible, and felt significantly less comfortable expressing their 'real' selves in both online and offline settings.