ArticlePloS one2024
Hikikomori in the Middle East: The role of problematic gaming, social media use, and loneliness.
Article in PloS one, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Association Between Loneliness and Hikikomori Symptoms. A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.International journal of methods in psychiatric research · 2026Pooled it
- Failure to Launch (FTL): A Narrative Review and Call for Research.Clinical child and family psychology review · 2026Review
- Gaming disorder: Prevalence and association with psychosocial outcomes in the German general adult population.Addictive behaviors reports · 2026Article
- Hikikomori tendencies and belongingness in Turkish university students: the roles of online social comfort, interpersonal sensitivity, and hopelessness.BMC psychology · 2026Article
- Exploring the Cognitive and Behavioral Risks and Maintenance Factors of Hikikomori: Protocol for an Ecological Momentary Assessment Study.JMIR research protocols · 2026Article
- Diagnostic Performance and Subcategorization of Hikikomori Cases in Oman: A Cross-Sectional Study and Comparative Analysis of the HQ-25 and HiDE-I Assessment Tools.TheScientificWorldJournal · 2026Article
- Extreme social isolation risk is associated with story-driven, strategic and cooperative-first gameplay preferences.PLOS mental health · 2026Article
- From pixels to isolation: Exploring the relationship between technological addiction, depression, hikikomori risk factors, and hikikomori tendencies among young adults.The International journal of social psychiatry · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
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.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.