Impact of Playing PUBG on Emotional Intelligence among Indian College Students

Covid-19 pandemic was a period of distress and witnessed a great shift in virtual entertainment use. The surge in playing online games grew out of a need to connect with friends, peer groups, and family leading to behavioral changes. In India, PUBG mobile had reached the pinnacle during this time. The current study aimed at exploring the relationship between PUBG addiction level and Emotional Intelligence. The study sample consisted of 104 college students (males 83.65%, females 16.35%, mean age 21.7) pursuing their undergraduate and postgraduate programs across India who were asked to respond to self-report measures of the study variables. Following a cross-sectional approach and through purposive & snowball sampling the data was collected using PUBG Addiction Test and Emotional Intelligence Scale. Pearson product-moment correlation and simple linear regression were employed to analyze the data using SPSS. The results of the study indicated that playing PUBG and emotional intelligence are negatively correlated (r = -.223; p<0.05). In addition, findings also indicate a negative predictive value of PUBG addiction on emotional intelligence with a 5 percent variance (p<0.05). This finding can be incorporated into planning emotional intelligence training programs to help manage and express emotions appropriately.