ABSTRACT
During the Covid-19 pandemic, WeChat has gradually become an indispensable social media interaction tool in the life of Chinese people. More than 90 percent Chinese people would log into WeChat every day in the first-tier cities of China. Due to the rising number of WeChat users, it is worth investigating the addiction of WeChat among young adults and to what extent, WeChat is able to create addiction among Chinese young adults. It is also imperative to understand which aspects of WeChat that users are addicted to. This study examines the addiction of WeChat among young adults. In-depth interview is used in this study to understand ten WeChat users' addictive behaviour. By using the Time Perspective Theory, the findings indicate that Present Fatalistic orientations tend to have addiction behaviour while Present Hedonistic orientations also have chance to be addicted. The findings suggest user's addiction behaviour is related to the following four categories: WeChat friendship/relationship addiction, WeChat activity addiction, WeChat information addiction, and miscellaneous WeChat addiction. As a conclusion, users' with Present Fatalistic orientations and Present Hedonistic orientations tend to have WeChat addiction behaviour and they are more likely to have WeChat friendship/relationship addiction and WeChat information addiction.
ABSTRACT
Objective: The objective of this study is to explore the association of problem gambling with demographics, psychological distress, and gaming behavior in young adult gacha gamers in Hong Kong. Materials and methods: Cross-sectional data was collected in the first and fifth waves of COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong online. Participants who aged 18-25 years and had been playing gacha games over the past 12 months were recruited. Stepwise multiple regression was used to explore the association among risk of problem gambling, gaming behavior, participation in gaming activities and psychological distress. A two-sided p-value <0.05 was considered as statistical significance. Results: Three hundred and thirty-seven completed questionnaires were received with no missing data. 34.7% (n = 117) of the participants had non/low-risk of problem gambling. About 40% (n = 136) of them had moderate-risk and the remaining 25% (n = 84) were at high risk of problem gambling. A higher proportion of female participants (78.6%) were found in high-risk group as compared to 39.7% and 55.6% only in the non/low-risk and moderate-risk groups, respectively. The regression model (R 2 = 0.513, F = 71.895, p < 0.001) showed that 51.3% of the variance of the total problem gambling score could be explained by stress, anxiety, monthly expenses on gacha purchases, number of motives for gacha purchase and number of gambling activities engaged. Conclusion: The present study provides empirical evidence to support the association between problem gambling and microtransaction especially for gacha which is the most popular type of video game microtransaction in Asia. The established regression model suggests that gacha gamers with higher risk of problem gambling tend to have greater stress, higher anxiety level, spend more on gacha purchase, have more motives for gacha purchases and engage in more gambling activities. In contrast to the extant literature, higher proportion of female participants in high-risk group indicates that female gacha gamers are also at very high risk of becoming problem gamblers.
ABSTRACT
Survey-based research has provided us with breadth regarding perceived benefits and barriers to COVID-19 vaccination among Chinese people. Most such research has been conducted within hypothetical COVID-19 vaccine contexts, and few studies are specific to young adults aged 18-40, a pivotal target population for COVID-19 vaccination. Now that the Sinopharm and Sinovac COVID-19 vaccines have been conditionally approved in China, qualitative investigation of young adults' perceptions of benefits and barriers to taking them is warranted. Such research may suggest potential candidate themes in the COVID-19 vaccination promotional messages targeting this population. Through in-depth interviews with 55 Chinese young adults and thematic analysis guided by the health belief model, social benefits and worry reduction emerged as significant positive factors in young adults' intention to vaccinate. Several novel barriers emerged as well, including perceptions that the vaccines' advantages are weak relative to non-medical preventions and beliefs regarding Ti Zhi (the individual human constitution), which confused some participants about their suitability for vaccination. The study also identified two modifying factors, trust in the government and perceived vaccine information insufficiency, both of which appeared to be indirectly associated with vaccination intention by augmenting the perceived barriers. The results suggest that more attention could be paid to young adults' cultural background when developing relevant health communications.