Should Gaming Disorder Shoulder the Blame for Crime? Empirical Evidence of Subjective Social Status and Gaming Disorder Mediating the Effect of Adverse Childhood Experiences on Juvenile Delinquency

Abstract

Gaming disorder is increasingly viewed as a serious social issue, and its potential harm has attracted widespread concern. Research has documented a positive association between gaming disorder and adolescents’ aggressive behaviors and tendencies. Yet conclusive empirical evidence on how gaming disorder is associated with juvenile delinquency remains limited. Using a survey of students from seven juvenile training schools in in Chongqing, a centrally administered municipality in China (N = 378), we examined the association between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and juvenile delinquency, and assessed the potential mediating roles of subjective social status and gaming disorder. Adolescents reporting more ACEs also reported lower subjective social status and higher levels of gaming disorder; in turn, gaming disorder was significantly and negatively associated with juvenile delinquency. One possible mechanism is that gaming provides an outlet for negative emotions (e.g., anger) and offers feelings of achievement and self-worth that may be difficult to obtain offline, partially compensating for lower subjective social status. These findings suggest that high engagement in gaming may help explain why juvenile delinquency does not necessarily increase among adolescents with gaming disorder. Overall, the negative association observed between gaming disorder and juvenile delinquency in this sample complicates the common assumption that gaming disorder is always linked to higher delinquency and suggests the need for more nuanced and targeted gaming-related policies.