ALTERATIONS IN SOCIAL BEHAVIOR AND QUALITY OF LIFE IN INDIVIDUALS WITH VIDEO GAME ADDICTION: THE ROLE OF ATTACHMENT STYLES AND SOCIAL COMPETENCE

Video game addiction has increasingly been recognized as a behavioral disorder with significant consequences for social functioning and overall quality of life. This literature review synthesizes theoretical perspectives from John Bowlby’s attachment theory and Hinsch and Pfingsten’s social competence model to examine the psychosocial factors contributing to the development of video game addiction and subsequent alterations in social behavior. Attachment theory posits that insecure attachment styles—avoidant, anxious/ambivalent, and disorganized—predispose individuals to difficulties in forming and maintaining close interpersonal relationships. The social competence model emphasizes the interpersonal skills required for effective social interaction; deficits in these skills may lead individuals to seek alternative forms of social engagement, such as online gaming environments, which offer lower social demands and greater controllability. This paper explores how the interplay between attachment insecurity and low social competence can serve as a vulnerability pathway toward excessive gaming. Prolonged engagement in video games may further exacerbate social withdrawal, reduce offline communication skills, and negatively affect life satisfaction. By integrating these frameworks, the review provides a comprehensive perspective on the psychosocial mechanisms underlying video game addiction and outlines implications for prevention and intervention, such as early attachment-based interventions and social skills training. While attachment theory and social competence have been individually applied to interpersonal difficulties, their combined use in explaining behavioral addictions remains limited. This review addresses this gap by proposing a unified framework highlighting how interaction between attachment insecurity and social competence deficits shapes vulnerability to excessive gaming.