| NSF Org: |
BCS Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | November 16, 2015 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | May 9, 2016 |
| Award Number: | 1600448 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Deborah Winslow
BCS Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences SBE Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences |
| Start Date: | January 1, 2016 |
| End Date: | December 31, 2017 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $33,522.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $39,522.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
601 S HOWES ST FORT COLLINS CO US 80521-2807 (970)491-6355 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
200 W. Lake St Fort Collins CO US 80521-4593 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | Cultural Anthropology |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.075 |
ABSTRACT
This project, directed by Dr. Jeffrey Snodgrass of Colorado State University and Dr. Henri Dengah of Utah State University, will investigate effects of intensive internet activity on mental and physical health. People around the globe spend increasing amounts of time online, sometimes in alternative "virtual worlds" where they learn a common culture and come to share beliefs and practices. Online communities may become so important to participants that they eclipse offline social commitments. The researchers wish to investigate the possibility that such "internet addiction," characterized by excessive or poorly controlled behaviors, preoccupations, and urges regarding computer use and internet access, leads to psychological distress or impairment and that this is discernible not only in behavior but also in the genome. Previous scientific research on internet addiction has focused on human neurobiology, giving little attention to sociocultural and environmental factors. In contrast, the present research will combine cross-cultural anthropological methods with methods from functional genomics to examine whether cultural learning and social involvement (in virtual worlds or elsewhere) can reach deep down to shape fundamental health processes. Findings from this research will complement neurobiological approaches and contribute critical information to public debates about addictive behaviors, a pressing public health and social problem.
The researchers will combine cultural consonance, social network, and functional genomic analyses to examine how online environments become embodied in the minds and bodies of internet users. They will focus on young adults (18-32 years of age), a group known to be active virtual world participants and susceptible to addictive behaviors. In the first phase of the study, researchers will collect dried blood spot data to assess whether intensive internet use, as measured by responses to an earlier online survey, is associated with altered functional genomes, and if their gene expression profiles mirror profiles of other psycho-socially distressed populations. The blood spots will be analyzed via microarrays of RNA up/down transcription regulation in leukocytes. This will provide insight into the biological reality of internet-related stress and addiction processes previously documented culturally and psychologically via ethnographic methods and informant self-reports. In the second phase, the researchers will expand the context of this investigation to Brazil and India to explore whether culture-specific offline norms and practices might shape problem internet use patterns in ways that impact individual users' mental and physical health. Together, these two phases will combine to produce a radically interdisciplinary, innovative, and potentially transformative approach to understanding the appeal and effects of online virtual worlds, problematic internet use, and health differences. The research will produce a deeper understanding of how sociocultural and biological processes combine in these technological contexts to shape human health and well-being. This exploratory project will also set the stage for future collaborative research between social scientists and molecular biologists to answer basic questions about how culturally mediated worlds become literally embodied.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
Directed by Dr. Jeffrey Snodgrass of Colorado State University and Dr. HJ François Dengah of Utah State University, and in association with Steve Cole from UCLA, this project combined cultural approaches with social genomics in order to expand understandings of the somatic health dynamics of online gaming, including in the controversial nosological construct of Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD).
People around the globe spend increasing amounts of time online, sometimes in alternative "virtual worlds," where they learn a common culture and come to share beliefs and practices. Online communities may become so important to participants that they eclipse offline social commitments. The researchers investigated the possibility that such internet or gaming "addiction"--characterized by excessive or poorly controlled behaviors, preoccupations, and urges regarding computer use and internet access--might be associated with psychological distress or impairment discernible not only in behavior but also in the genome. Previous scientific research on internet addiction has focused on human neurobiology, but given little attention to sociocultural and environmental factors. In contrast, this research combined cross-cultural anthropological methods with methods from functional genomics to examine whether cultural learning and social involvement (in virtual worlds or elsewhere) can reach deep down to shape fundamental health processes.
Our initial "cultural consensus" analysis of collected observational and then survey data (N=672) allowed us to validate from North American players' own points of view the meaning of intensive online involvement and the potential positive and negative consequences of such involvement. This resulted in our development of the Positive and Negative Gaming Experiences Scale (PNGE-42)--21 positive gaming experiences, and 21 negative ones--which served as the primary predictor variable in our later genomic research phase. Framed in terms familiar to cultural insiders, our scale items have more chance of appearing acceptable to respondents, thus possessing greater face validity, or what anthropologists would refer to as ethnographic validity. This helped ensure the subsequent validity of our genomic analysis.
Analysis of additional survey data (N=2990) showed among other things that loneliness and social isolation strongly predict problematic online gaming (both according to our own cultural insider measures and standard “online gaming disorder” scales), as do self-reported negative social judgments about online gaming. In concert with that survey data finding, in analysis of social network interviews (N=53), we identified in a more fine-grained manner associations between gamers' social networks and problem play patterns. This helped us refine our understanding of the relationship between social relations--including the experience of isolation and loneliness--and problem gaming. These analyses led us to additional hypotheses related to social connection and disconnection to be tested in our genomic phase of research.
Our genomic (RNA transcription) analysis, the culmination of our study, yielded several important results. In blood samples from 56 U.S. gamers, we examined expression of the conserved transcriptional responses to adversity (CTRA), a leukocyte (i.e. white blood cell) gene expression profile activated by chronic adversity. We compared positively engaged and problem gamers, as identified by our ethnographically developed measure (the PNGE-42), and also by a clinically derived internet gaming disorder scale (IGDS-SF9).The CTRA profiles showed a clear relationship with PNGE-42, with a substantial linkage to offline social support, but were not meaningfully associated with disordered play as measured by IGDSSF9.
These results advance understanding of the psychobiology of play, demonstrating via novel cultural meets transcriptomic methods the association of negatively experienced internet play with biological measures of chronic threat, uncertainty, and distress. Our findings are consistent with the view that problematic patterns of online gaming are a proxy for broader patterns of biopsychosocial stress and distress such as loneliness, rather than a psychiatric disorder sui generis, which might exist apart from gamers’ other life problems. By confirming the biological correlates of certain patterns of internet gaming, culturally-sensitive genomics approaches such as this can inform both evolutionary theorizing regarding the nature of play, as well as current psychiatric debates about the appropriateness of modeling distressful gaming on substance addiction and problem gambling.
Finally, preliminary analysis of ethnographic and survey data collected from Brazil, China, France, and India is helping us refine our understandings of the way culture shapes internet use patterns, including problem online gaming. This ongoing analysis importantly sets the stage for future planned biocultural research related to the social genomics of internet use in settings other than North America.
Overall, findings from this research complement neurobiological approaches and contribute critical information to public debates about addictive behaviors, a pressing public health and social problem.
Last Modified: 05/18/2018
Modified by: Jeffrey Snodgrass
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