Hikikomori in the Middle East: The role of problematic gaming, social media use, and loneliness

Hikikomori, a form of severe social withdrawal has been found to be associated with behavioral addictions such as gaming addiction and problematic social media use (PSMU). Since literature related to hikikomori is lacking in the Middle East, this study aimed to determine whether there are significant differences in hikikomori-like traits between two different types of social media users and gamers and investigate loneliness as a potential mediator between hikikomori and the two types of problematic behaviors. A cross-sectional, correlational design was employed, collecting a final sample of 220 participants residing in Middle Eastern countries using a mixture of convenience and snowball sampling. Results showed that passive social media users demonstrated significantly greater hikikomori-like traits compared to active users. Furthermore, hikikomori-like traits exhibited significant positive associations with problematic gaming, PSMU, and loneliness. Two separate mediation analyses, the first with PSMU and a second with problematic gaming as predictors, revealed that loneliness acted as a significant mediator between both these problematic behaviors and hikikomori-like traits.