Problematic Facebook use and problematic video gaming as mediators of relationship between impulsivity and life satisfaction among female and male gamers

Over the past few decades, many new technologies have emerged, such as portable computers, the internet and smartphones, which have contributed to improving the lives of individuals. While the benefits of these new technologies are overwhelmingly positive, negative consequences are experienced by a minority of individuals. One possible negative aspect of new technologies is their problematic use due to impulsive use which may lead to lower life satisfaction. The present study investigated the mediating role of problematic video gaming (PVG) and problematic Facebook use (PFU) in the relationship between impulsivity dimensions and life satisfaction as well as the relationship between impulsivity dimensions and problematic behaviors. Additionally, the potential impact of gender differences was also examined. The study comprised 673 gamers (391 females) aged 17–38 years (M = 21.25 years, SD = 2.67) selected from 1365 individuals who completed an offline survey. PFU was assessed using the Facebook Intrusion Scale, and PVG was assessed using the nine-item Internet Gaming Disorder Scale–Short-Form (IGDS9-SF). Impulsivity dimensions such as attention, cognitive instability, motor, perseverance, self-control, and cognitive complexity were assessed using the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11), and life satisfaction was assessed using the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS). Depending on the specific impulsivity dimension, findings showed both positive and negative relationships between impulsivity and life satisfaction. Attention and perseverance subtypes of impulsivity were primarily associated with problematic behaviors. Additionally, cognitive complexity was associated with PFU among female gamers, whereas cognitive instability was associated with PVG among male gamers. Additionally, PVG was primarily associated with lower life satisfaction. However, there was no mediation effects between impulsivity dimensions and life satisfaction via PFU or PVG. These findings provide a better understanding of the relationship between problematic behaviors, life satisfaction, and impulsivity among gamers and the differences between male and female gamers

Journal of African Christian Biography: v. 8, no. 2 (April 2023) A quaterly publication of the Dictionary of African Christian Biography (www.DACB.org)

[This issue of the Journal of African Christian Biography, introduces readers to the concept of uMuntu theology— “a reflective life-dancing with God in the cosmos and through time … a celebrative reflection on our being with God.” This is how it is described by our featured theologian, Augustine Chingwala Musopole, author of uMuntu Theology: An Introduction (Mzuni Press, 2018). Exceptionally, his biography is the only article in this issue that describes the life of a historical figure. Next, the stories of two living theologians out of Malawi illustrate the “life-dance” Musopole describes, both in their lives and their writing. Isabel Phiri, a larger-than-life educator-mentor-academic-advocate, is an influential figure among African women theologians and a past leader of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians who has “centered the voices of women in Africa.” Klaus Fiedler is a scholar missionary who has made his home in Malawi for many decades. His scholarship focuses on bringing into the light figures, movements, and issues that are “off the beaten track.” He does this by “inviting us to take a second look at those who have been discounted, (…) excluded, pushed to the margins, not taken seriously.” The excitement of the “life dance with God” also comes through the lines of the report on the church history workshop that took place in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, in March. Sixteen men and women from three Mennonite churches participated in an intensive course in global and African Christian history as well as oral history methodology. The purpose was to equip them to write biographies for a book to be published by Langham on African Christian biography—hopefully the first of a DACB series.

Usage automata

Usage automata are an extension of finite stata automata, with some additional features (e.g.\ parameters and guards) that improve their expressivity. Usage automata are expressive enough to model security requirements of real-world applications; at the same time, they are simple enough to be statically amenable, e.g.\ they can be model-checked against abstractions of program usages. We study here some foundational aspects of usage automata. In particular, we discuss about their expressive power, and about their effective use in run-time mechanisms for enforcing usage policies