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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Addictive Behaviors
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1500800
This article is part of the Research Topic An Integrative Proposal in Addiction and Health Behaviors Psychosocial Research: Overview of New Trends and Future Orientations Volume II View all 7 articles
Explanatory Model of Behavioral Adaptation in Video Game Addiction among Adolescents in Urban and Rural Peru: The Mediating Role of
Provisionally accepted
Julio Cesar Huamani-Cahua 1
Estefany Cecilia Ojeda Flores 2*
Norma Roxana Medina Arce 3
Leslie Emilia Villanueva Kuong 4
Michael Antony Ojeda Flores 3- 1 Cesar Vallejo University, Herrera, Peru
- 2 Continental University, Huancayo, Junin, Peru
- 3 Catholic University of Santa María, Arequipa, Arequipa, Peru
- 4 Technological University of Peru, Lima, Peru
The study aimed to determine the relationships between behavioral adaptation and video game addiction mediated by anxiety in Peruvian adolescents from urban and rural areas using a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach. This explanatory, cross-sectional study employed a convenience sampling method comprising 606 students aged 11 to 13 years of both sexes, with 62.4% from urban areas and 37.6% from rural areas. The instruments used were the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (STAIC) for measuring state and trait anxiety, the Behavioral Adaptation Inventory (IAC), and the Video Game Dependency Test (TDV). These instruments demonstrated appropriate validity and reliability for the sample through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), ensuring their relevance in the Peruvian context. SEM results confirmed that behavioral adaptation influences video game addiction mediated by anxiety, with good model fit indices (χ²/df = 4.836; TLI = .945; CFI = .964; GFI = .950; RMSEA = .080, 90% CI [.068, .092]). Regarding anxiety types, state anxiety showed a stronger negative mediating effect (β = -0.31; β = 0.20) compared to trait anxiety (β = -0.22; β = 0.16). Significant differences were found between rural and urban students, with rural adolescents exhibiting lower behavioral adaptation and higher levels of state and trait anxiety (p < .001) than their urban counterparts.
Keywords: behavioral regulation, Video game dependency, Anxiety, mediation. Variables studied Anxiety: state anxiety, trait anxiety Behavior adaptation Video game addiction Area: Urban (1), rural (2)
Received: 23 Sep 2024; Accepted: 27 Jan 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Huamani-Cahua, Ojeda Flores, Medina Arce, Villanueva Kuong and Ojeda Flores. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Estefany Cecilia Ojeda Flores, Continental University, Huancayo, Junin, Peru
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