The Comparison of Social Intelligence, Sexual Identity, Violence, and Addiction Tendency in Adolescents Dependent on Playing Online Grand Theft Auto Video Game and Normal Ones: A Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: The purpose of this study is to compare social intelligence, sexual identity, violence, and addiction tendency among adolescents dependent on playing online Grand Theft Auto (GTA) video game and normal cases.Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study based on the comparison between a playing group and a control group. The target population consisted of all adolescents playing online GTA video game among whom ۶۰ adolescents were recruited using convenience and purposive sampling method and filled questionnaires about sexual identity, social intelligence, violence, and addiction tendency. Besides, ۶۰ adolescents who had never played any online games were considered as the control group. Data were analyzed using the analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) method.Results: It seems that the social intelligence and addiction tendency to play video games were effective on adolescents dependent on playing video games in accordance with their sexual identity (P ≤ ۰.۰۱۸). However, addiction to play video games did not have a significant effect on male and female identity (P ≤ ۰.۸۰۹).Conclusion: Although playing GTA video game online did not have significant effect on adolescents’ sexual identity, it probably significantly affect their social intelligence and addiction tendency.

Keywords:

Online playing , Social intelligence , Psychological index , Sexual identity