A cross-sectional study to explore the association of peer pressure with Internet gaming.

Background: Gaming is a new phenomenon and there are increasing concerns over its negative impact. After the official recognition by diagnostic and statistical manual-5 and International Classification of Disorder-11, much of the research is directed toward understanding the different constructs of the gambling disorder. Peer influence is an established factor in substance use but less researched in gaming. Aims of the Study: The aim of this study is to explore and understand the influence of peer pressure on Internet gaming. Materials and Methods: Individuals between 15 and 35 years were asked to participate after explaining the study objectives and assessed on the Peer Pressure Scale and Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) Scale. Responses were analyzed using the R language with R studio as the integrated development environment. Generalized additive model was used to identify the best-fit model. The Akaike information criterion was used to select the best model. Results: Battle Ground Mobile India is the most played game. Peer pressure alone accounts for 46.2% of the variability in Internet gaming and along with factors such as student; real friends; strategy games; online mode of playing, night time playing; and hours spent playing, increasing it to 56%. Peer pressure is positively correlated with IGD (P < 0.001, R = 0.65). Conclusions: Peer pressure is directly associated and plays a role in developing Internet gaming along with factors such as being a student; playing with real friends; strategy game genre; online mode of playing games; and nightly playing. Substance use such as tobacco may influence peer pressure and Internet gaming, acting as a co-factor for both. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]