Article written by George Hale, Texas A M University, via https://techxplore.com
The goal of this analysis was to see how social support, sense of community and symptoms of depression affect social connections over time.
The study found that social support, sense of community and depressive symptoms played a role in changes to the game’s social structure over time.
The researchers observed that people who reported more social support online, and those who reported less real-life support, were more likely to reach out to other members.
This study’s findings reinforce existing research on connections between mental health, social support and online gaming and point to the need for more research into the complicated relationships in these areas.