Relationship between emotional self-regulation and online game addiction with the mediating role of loneliness in elementary school children.

The purpose of this research was to investigate the mediating role of loneliness in the relationship between emotional self-regulation and online games addiction in students.

the present study statistic population included the second grade elementary students of Qazvin city In 2022-2023, and 218 of them were selected through available sampling. The measurement instruments included the emotional self-regulation questionnaire of Larsen and Prizmike (2004), the loneliness questionnaire of Russell et al. (1980) and the online game addiction questionnaire of Wang and Chang (2002). Path analysis was used to analyze the casual model and the results showed a perfect fit of the model with the data.

the results showed a direct and significant effect between emotional self-regulation (p<0.01 and β=0.39) and loneliness (p<0.01 and β=0.57) with online games addiction. Also, the analysis of the mediator's role showed that the feeling of loneliness plays mediator role in the relationship between emotional self-regulation and online games addiction.

In formulating psychological interventions to control and treat online games addiction in students, special attention should be paid to the role of emotional self-regulation and loneliness.