Risk factors associated with online game addiction: A hierarchical model

Online gaming addiction has been increasingly recognized as a mental disorder. However, the predictive factors that lead to online gaming addiction are not well established. The aim of this study was to identify factors that may influence the development of online gaming addiction. A total of 263 patients with problematic online gaming addiction (255 males (97%) and 8 females (3%), age: mean = 20.4 ± 5.8 years) and153 healthy comparison subjects (118 males (77%) and 35 females (23%), age: 21.2 ± 5.5 years, range) were recruited for participation in the current study. Hierarchical logistic regression analyses among each set of variables were conducted. Individual factors (sex and age), cognitive factors (IQ and perseverative errors), psychopathological conditions (ADHD, depression, anxiety, and impulsivity), and social interaction factors (family environment, social anxiety, and self-esteem) were evaluated in a stepwise fashion. All four factors were associated with online gaming addiction, with psychopathological conditions being the strongest risk factors for the addiction. Individual factors, psychological factors, and social interactions were associated with the development of pure online gaming addiction. As before, psychological factors (attention, mood, anxiety and impulsivity) were the strongest risk factors for online gaming addiction in patients with pure online gaming addiction. Psychopathologies, including ADHD and depression, were the strongest factors associated with the development of online gaming addiction in individuals.     

On keys' meanings and modes: the impact of different key solutions on children's efficiency using a mobile phone

The present study investigates the impact of different key solutions of mobile phones on users' effectiveness and efficiency using the devices. In the first experiment, 36 children (9 - 14 years) and in the second experiment 45 young adults (19 - 33 years) completed four common phone tasks twice consecutively on three simulated phones that had identical menus, but different key solutions. An approach was undertaken to quantify the complexity of keys in three models, incorporating different factors contributing to the keys' complexity (number of key options, number of modes and number of modes with a semantically dissimilar meaning), in order to predict users' performance decrements. As a further main factor, the degree of the users' locus of control (LOC) was measured and interactions with performance outcomes were studied. As dependent measures, the number of inefficient keystrokes, the number of tasks solved and the processing time were determined. Results showed a significant effect of control key solutions on users' efficiency and effectiveness for both children and young adults. Moreover, children's LOC values significantly interacted with performance: children with low LOC values showed the lowest performance and no learnability, especially when using keys with a high complexity. From the three factors contributing to the complexity of keys, keys exerting different functions with semantically inconsistent meanings had the worst effect on performance. It is concluded that in mobile user interface design keys with semantically inconsistent meanings should be generally avoided.     

Reading Motivation: Multidimensional and Indeterminate.

The Motivations for Reading Questionnaire (MRQ) contains 54 items that are posited to tap 11 dimensions of reading motivation. The structural validity of the MRQ was investigated with 2 samples: (a) 328 students in Grades 3-5 from 2 suburban mid-Atlantic elementary schools and (b) 735 students in Grades 3-5 in 2 suburban southwestern elementary schools. With confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs), the theoretical 11-factor structure did not adequately fit the data in either sample. Subsequently, exploratory factor analyses found 8 factors for each sample with 6 factors defined by only 3 or 4 common items. However, a double CFA cross-validation found an inadequate fit for both samples. Given these results, the authors suggest that the MRQ be revised. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sociotechnical systems, risk management, and public health: comparing the North Battleford and Walkerton outbreaks

Accidents in different complex sociotechnical systems are rarely compared using the same theoretical framework for risk management. We conducted a comparative analysis of two Canadian public health disasters involving drinking water distribution systems, the North Battleford Cryptosporidium parvum outbreak in April 2001 and the Walkerton E. coli outbreak in May 2000. Both accidents resulted from a complex interaction between all levels of a complex sociotechnical system. However, the low-level physical and individual factors differed in the two cases, whereas, the high-level governmental and regulatory factors tended to be the same. These findings may have implications for the design of public policies to minimize risk in complex sociotechnical systems.     

Emergency department status boards: user-evolved artefacts for inter- and intra-group coordination

Large, easily viewed status boards are commonly used in some healthcare settings such as emergency departments, operating theaters, intensive care units, and inpatient wards. Because these artefacts were developed by front-line users, and have little to no supervisory or regulatory control, they offer valuable insights into the theories of work and hazard held by those users. Although the status boards case were locally developed over many years for within-group coordination, they have also become useful for between-group coordination across organizational boundaries. In this paper, we compare and contrast the use of such status boards in two disparate settings: a US emergency department, and a UK pediatric ward, and note striking similarities in their form and usage, despite the large differences in setting.     

An exploratory study of adolescent's perceptions of the Web

Abstract The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate the influence of two individual characteristics (Web experience and academic focus) of adolescents on the Web perception, using off-line questionnaires (a Lickert response scale) constituted on the basis of a series of interviews. Questions concerned: perceptions about the nature of information found in the Web; 'strategies' of access to the interesting Internet sites and the reliability of different information resources (libraries, television, Web, etc.). Results lead to the assumption that adolescents with high Web experience became more critical, less confident and less enthusiastic than adolescents with low Web experience and that, in some dimensions, perceptions of literature students are different to those of science students. Even if some interesting results were obtained, further research is needed to explore users' perceptions related to individuals' characteristics and to determine the generalisability of the influences identified in this exploratory study.     

Validity of Three Measures of Communication for Predicting Relationship Adjustment and Stability Among a Sample of Young Couples.

The goal of this study was to examine whether data from 3 different measures of communication (i.e., self-report, quasi-observational, and observational) can predict relationship adjustment and stability 1 year later when used conjointly in a sample of 62 young couples. The 3 measures of communication were the Communication Skills Test-Revised (CST-R), the Communication Box (CB), and the Demand/Withdraw Pattern Questionnaire (DWPQ). Through hierarchical multiple regression analyses, results revealed that the CST-R and the DWPQ predict both genders' relationship adjustment 1 year later when used conjointly. Logistic regression analyses revealed that none of the measures of communication significantly predicted relationship stability. In conclusion, the combination of the CST-R and the DWPQ appears to be useful for longitudinally predicting relationship adjustment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fodor and Pylyshyn on connectionism

Fodor and Pylyshyn (1988) have argued that the cognitive architecture is not Connectionist. Their argument takes the following form: (1) the cognitive architecture is Classical; (2) Classicalism and Connectionism are incompatible; (3) therefore the cognitive architecture is not Connectionist. In this essay I argue that Fodor and Pylyshyn's defenses of (1) and (2) are inadequate. Their argument for (1), based on their claim that Classicalism best explains the systematicity of cognitive capacities, is an invalid instance of inference to the best explanation. And their argument for (2) turns out to be question-begging. The upshot is that, while Fodor and Pylyshyn have presented Connectionists with the important empirical challenge of explaining systematicity, they have failed to provide sufficient reason for inferring that the cognitive architecture is Classical and not Connectionist.     

Differentiating anxiety and depression in older adults with generalized anxiety disorder.

To examine affect and cognition in differentiating anxiety and depression, 83 older participants with generalized anxiety disorder completed the Cognitive Checklist (CCL) and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). A 3-factor solution was found for the PANAS: positive affect (PA), anxiety and anger (Negative Affect 1 [NA-1]), and guilt and shame (Negative Affect 2 [NA-2]). A 2-factor structure was noted for the CCL. Correlations with anxiety and depression measures suggested that the CCL Depression (CCL-D) subscale showed stronger correlations with depression, whereas the CCL Anxiety subscale did not uniquely correlate with anxiety. The NA-1 subscale correlated positively with measures of depression and anxiety, whereas the PA subscale showed negative correlations. Hierarchical regression suggested that the CCL-D subscale was a significant predictor of self-reported depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)