Mediating roles of weight stigma and physical activity avoidance in the associations between severity of gaming disorder and levels of physical activity among young adults

Mohsen Saffari; Chi-Hsien Huang; Po-Ching Huang; Yun-Hsuan Chang; Jung-Sheng Chen; Wai Chuen Poon; Marc N Potenza; Mark D Griffiths; Chung-Ying Lin

doi:10.1556/2006.2024.00083

Mediating roles of weight stigma and physical activity avoidance in the associations between severity of gaming disorder and levels of physical activity among young adults

J Behav Addict. 2025 Jan 24. doi: 10.1556/2006.2024.00083. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Mohsen Saffari^{1

2}, Chi-Hsien Huang^{3

4

5}, Po-Ching Huang^{6

7}, Yun-Hsuan Chang^{8

9

10

11

12}, Jung-Sheng Chen¹³, Wai Chuen Poon¹⁴, Marc N Potenza^{15

16

17

18

19

20}, Mark D Griffiths²¹, Chung-Ying Lin^{5

22

23

24

25}

Affiliations

¹ 1Health Research Center, Life Style Institute, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
² 2Health Education Department, Faculty of Health, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
³ 3Department of Family Medicine and Community Medicine, E-Da Hospital, I-Shou University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
⁴ 4School of Medicine, College of Medicine, I-Shou University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
⁵ 5College of Nursing, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
⁶ 6School of Physical Therapy, Graduate Institute of Rehabilitation Science, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
⁷ 7Department of Physiotherapy, School of Nursing and Health Studies, Hong Kong Metropolitan University, Hong Kong.
⁸ 8Institute of Gerontology, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
⁹ 9Institute of Behavioral Medicine, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
¹⁰ 10Department of Psychology, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
¹¹ 11Department of Psychiatry, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Yunlin, Taiwan.
¹² 12Institute of Genomics and Bioinformatics, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan.
¹³ 13Department of Medical Research, E-Da Hospital, I-Shou University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
¹⁴ 14Sunway Business School, Sunway University, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.
¹⁵ 15Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
¹⁶ 16Connecticut Mental Health Center, New Haven, CT, USA.
¹⁷ 17Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling, Wethersfield, CT, USA.
¹⁸ 18Child Study Center, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
¹⁹ 19Department of Neuroscience, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
²⁰ 20Wu Tsai Institute, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
²¹ 21International Gaming Research Unit, Psychology Department, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK.
²² 22Institute of Allied Health Sciences, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
²³ 23Biostatistics Consulting Center, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
²⁴ 24Department of Public Health, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
²⁵ 25Department of Occupational Therapy, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.

PMID: 39853322
DOI: 10.1556/2006.2024.00083

Abstract

Background and aims: There are limited data regarding associations between gaming disorder and physical activity (PA). The present study investigated the direct association between these two variables and assessed the potentially mediating roles of PA avoidance and two types of weight stigma (i.e., internalized weight stigma and perceived weight stigma) in the association.

Methods: An online cross-sectional survey that assessed PA avoidance, two types of weight stigma, and PA level was completed in late 2023 by 884 Taiwanese young adults aged between 20 and 40 years (63.9% females). Multinomial logistic regression and structural equation modeling (SEM) were used to assess the associations between variables and perform the mediation analysis.

Results: Cognitive behavioral symptoms and negative consequences related to gaming disorder were more common among participants with lower PA than those with moderate to high PA. Individuals at risk of gaming disorder exhibited higher level of PA avoidance, internalized weight stigma, and perceived weight stigma. The SEM found a direct association between gaming disorder and PA, which was negatively mediated by PA avoidance. However, this direct effect was not present when the association was negatively mediated by serial mediations of weight stigma and PA avoidance.

Discussion and conclusions: Higher gaming disorder was associated with higher levels of PA, but this association may not be present when taking into account the mediation effect of weight stigma and PA avoidance. The findings suggest complex relationships and further research is needed to examine individual differences and relationships among clinical groups.

Keywords: addictive behaviors; gaming disorder; physical activity; videogames; weight stigma; youth.