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Reasons for playing video games for boys and girls. Agreement percentages for questions followed by asterisk (*) significantly larger for males at p Ͻ .001 by Fisher’s Exact Test. Agreement percentages for questions in all capitals significantly larger for M-rated game players at p Ͻ .001 by Fisher’s Exact Test. (n ϭ 1137).
Source publication
To compare the video and computer game play patterns of young adolescent boys and girls, including factors correlated with playing violent games.
Data collected in November/December, 2004 from children in grades 7 and 8 at two demographically diverse schools in Pennsylvania and South Carolina, using a detailed written self-reported survey.
Of 1254...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... among different games in that series. In these cases, a rating was assigned to the game based on the least violent version of the game available across platforms, or within the game series, during the previous 2 years. (Games in the following series were rated either T or M by the ESRB: Dead or Alive, Forever, Quake, Resident Evil, and Tom Clancy . Prince of Persia games were rated E, T, or M.) We collapsed titles from series with similar content and mode of play (e.g., The Sims , NCAA sports games) into single categories for analysis. The resulting list comprised roughly 500 unique titles of games or game series. Over half of these were listed by no more than one child; 119 were listed by 5 or more children. Tables 1 and 2 list the most popular games or game series for boys and girls, along with the age-based ratings and content descriptors. (In the case of game series, the table lists descriptors for the most recent game in that series as of October 2004.) In our sample, 48.8% of children had at least one M-rated title on their “five most played” list (67.9% for boys, 29.2% for girls), with no pattern by age level. Boys were more likely than girls to play at least one M-rated game (OR ϭ 5.1, CI ϭ 4.0 – 6.7). Ten percent of children played predom- inantly M-rated games (i.e., at least half of the games they listed were rated M). The top five M-rated game series (based on the number of children who had at least one game in that series on their five-most-played list) were: Grand Theft Auto (listed by 359 children), Halo (185), Def Jam (52), True Crime (37), and Driver (34). The mean number of M-rated games played did not differ significantly by school. Table 3 presents the phi correlations between a variety of dichotomous demographic and video game playing characteristics. The relationships between these and other variables are discussed in more detail below. Respondents estimated how much time they usually spend playing electronic games, in categories of hours and days per week. One third of girls (32.1%) played for less than 1 hour per week. Nearly two thirds of girls (64.0%) played for 2 hours or less, and 14.4% played for 6 ϩ hours per week. Boys spent much more time on electronic games. Only 8.4% of boys played for less than 1 hour per week, and 28.1% for 2 hours or less; 44.6% of boys played 6 ϩ hours per week. Boys were ten times as likely as girls to play 15 ϩ hours per week (12.6% vs. 1.5%) (OR ϭ 10.12, CI ϭ 3.8 –26.9). The two middle schools did not differ significantly in the percentage of students playing 15 ϩ hours per week ( p ϭ .13) or 6 to 7 days per week ( p ϭ .41). Figure 1 shows the number of days per week children played electronic games. One third of boys (33.4%), com- pared to 10.7% of girls, reported that they typically played games almost every day (6 or 7 days a week) (OR ϭ 3.7, CI ϭ 2.7–5.0); 8.8% of boys and 23.0% of girls reported playing only 1 day per week. Many children who played electronic games typically did so only on weekends (37.8% of boys and 43.5% of girls). Children who listed any M-rated games were more likely to play 15 hours or more per week (11.2% vs. 2.9%) (OR ϭ 4.1, CI ϭ 1.9 – 8.6) and to play almost every day (33.4% vs. 13.5%) (OR ϭ 3.2, CI ϭ 2.2– 4.8) than children who listed no M-rated games. Many children report having electronic games and other media in their bedrooms, where play is presumably less subject to supervision by parents: 67.2% of children reported a television, 31.0% a computer, and 46.2% a video game console. We found that 18.2% of children had a computer, game console and television in their bedroom. These children were more than twice as likely to play 15 ϩ hours per week (OR ϭ 2.5, CI ϭ 1.6 – 4.2) and to play M-rated games (OR ϭ 2.4, CI ϭ 1.7–3.2). We asked children how often they played games alone, and with various types of companions. Few boys (5.1%) or girls (6.0%) reported playing electronic games “often” or “always” with a parent, step-parent, or foster parent; 79.5% of boys and 77.8% of girls played with parents “rarely” or “never.” Boys were more likely than girls to play often or always by themselves (62.8% vs. 45.6%) but also to often/always play with multiple friends in the same room (33.4% vs. 12.5%). Children who reported playing M-rated games were more than twice as likely as children who listed no M-rated games to play often or always with multiple friends in the same room (31.8% vs. 16.0%) (OR ϭ 2.4, CI ϭ 1.8 –3.4) and to play with older siblings (21.5% vs. 11.6%) (OR ϭ 2.10, CI ϭ 1.34 –3.27). Regarding online game play, 11.4% of boys and 12.2% of girls played often or always with friends over the Internet; however, boys were twice as likely as girls to play with strangers over the Internet (9.8% vs. 4.9%) (OR ϭ 2.23, CI ϭ 1.2– 4.1). M-rated gamers were more likely to play with friends (13.9% vs. 10.7%) (OR ϭ 1.28, CI ϭ 1.02– 1.59, p ϭ .004) and with strangers (10.7% vs. 4.1%) (OR ϭ 1.67, CI ϭ 1.29 –2.16) over the Internet. Figure 2 displays the percentage of students responding “somewhat agree” or “strongly agree” (on a four-point scale) to the question, “I play electronic games because . . ..” Children were offered 17 possible reasons for play. (A write-in option attracted few responses.) The top five reasons cited by boys were “it’s just fun” (97.3%), “it’s exciting” (88.3%), “it’s something to do when I’m bored” (87.9%), “I like the challenge of figuring the game out” (86.9%), and “I like to compete with other people and win” (84.4%). For girls, the most common motivations for play were “it’s just fun” (92.4%), “it’s something to do when I’m bored” (90.2%), “I like the challenge of figuring the game out” (71.8%), “it’s exciting” (71.3%), and “there is nothing else to do” (68.3%). Over half of children endorsed creative reasons for play, such as “I like to create my own world” and “I like to learn new things.” Many children seem to use games to manage their emotions, particularly boys; 61.9% of boys played to “help me relax,” 47.8% because “it helps me forget my problems,” and 45.4% because “it helps me get my anger out.” As noted in Figure 2, four reasons for play were endorsed significantly more often by M-rated gamers: to compete and win (81.4%), to get anger out (43.2%), liking “to ’mod’ games (change the game using computer code)” (38.5%), and liking “the guns and other weapons” (52.1%). These differences existed in both genders, and across both schools. This study describes patterns and correlates of M-rated electronic game use in a sample of middle-school boys and girls, and highlights aspects that could serve as markers of risk for behavioral or psychological problems. We found that playing M-rated games is common among children aged 12 to 14. Although 44% of boys and 20% of girls had played one or more games in the intensely violent, satirical Grand Theft Auto series, boys were five times more likely than girls to have played at least one M-rated game “a lot in the past 6 months.” This suggests that frequent M- rated game play could be a risk marker for girls. Many children reported spending only a brief amount of time on electronic games. However, one third of boys played games nearly every day; about 1 in 8 boys played 15 hours or more per week. Given that more hours of play was correlated with greater use of M-rated games, the combina- tion of heavy, violent play warrants watching (again, espe- cially among girls). Boys who rarely or never play video games are unusual; because game play is often a social activity for boys, this could also be cause for concern. Notably, M-rated game use was linked to playing with friends, and was not significantly associated with solitary play. Parents should be alert to the risks of having game consoles and computers in children’s bedrooms, as this is linked to greater amounts of play in general and more M-rated game play in particular. Parents should be particularly careful that older siblings do not introduce inappropriate content to younger ones; we found that children who played M-rated games were twice as likely to play often or always with an older sibling. Also, two in five boys and one in five girls like to “mod” games, e.g., by downloading new characters, weapons, clothing, or story lines from the Internet. While this creative activity is not bad in itself, parents should be alert for exposure to inappropriate, unrated content. The finding that many children use games for emotional regulation—to help them relax, to forget problems, or to feel less lonely— deserves further study. The use of violent games to cope with anger may be healthy or unhealthy for particular children; a discussion of reasons for play might provide useful clinical insights. Although many boys (55.7%) agreed with the response “I like the guns and other weapons,” this result is difficult to interpret; it could measure enjoyment of action, explosions and colorful graphics, or enjoyment of using weapons against other characters. Comments from teachers and students indicated that many had real-world experience with guns through hunting. The prevalence of M-rated game play among young adolescents may indicate a need for greater awareness and monitoring by parents. However, parents should not over- rely on ratings to assess game content. M-rated games can vary considerably in terms of social context and goals; a player may be rewarded for avoiding bloodshed, or may be required to act violently to advance in the game. Clinicians can play an important role in promoting media literacy among parents [14,15] and encouraging them to monitor children’s game time and game choices. A survey conducted at a single point in time can only demonstrate correlation, not causation; for example, we cannot state that having a game console in the bedroom causes a child to spend more time playing games. It is also not possible to assess trends by comparing our results to older studies, because of differences in ...
Context 2
... Boys were more likely than girls to play at least one M-rated game (OR ϭ 5.1, CI ϭ 4.0 – 6.7). Ten percent of children played predom- inantly M-rated games (i.e., at least half of the games they listed were rated M). The top five M-rated game series (based on the number of children who had at least one game in that series on their five-most-played list) were: Grand Theft Auto (listed by 359 children), Halo (185), Def Jam (52), True Crime (37), and Driver (34). The mean number of M-rated games played did not differ significantly by school. Table 3 presents the phi correlations between a variety of dichotomous demographic and video game playing characteristics. The relationships between these and other variables are discussed in more detail below. Respondents estimated how much time they usually spend playing electronic games, in categories of hours and days per week. One third of girls (32.1%) played for less than 1 hour per week. Nearly two thirds of girls (64.0%) played for 2 hours or less, and 14.4% played for 6 ϩ hours per week. Boys spent much more time on electronic games. Only 8.4% of boys played for less than 1 hour per week, and 28.1% for 2 hours or less; 44.6% of boys played 6 ϩ hours per week. Boys were ten times as likely as girls to play 15 ϩ hours per week (12.6% vs. 1.5%) (OR ϭ 10.12, CI ϭ 3.8 –26.9). The two middle schools did not differ significantly in the percentage of students playing 15 ϩ hours per week ( p ϭ .13) or 6 to 7 days per week ( p ϭ .41). Figure 1 shows the number of days per week children played electronic games. One third of boys (33.4%), com- pared to 10.7% of girls, reported that they typically played games almost every day (6 or 7 days a week) (OR ϭ 3.7, CI ϭ 2.7–5.0); 8.8% of boys and 23.0% of girls reported playing only 1 day per week. Many children who played electronic games typically did so only on weekends (37.8% of boys and 43.5% of girls). Children who listed any M-rated games were more likely to play 15 hours or more per week (11.2% vs. 2.9%) (OR ϭ 4.1, CI ϭ 1.9 – 8.6) and to play almost every day (33.4% vs. 13.5%) (OR ϭ 3.2, CI ϭ 2.2– 4.8) than children who listed no M-rated games. Many children report having electronic games and other media in their bedrooms, where play is presumably less subject to supervision by parents: 67.2% of children reported a television, 31.0% a computer, and 46.2% a video game console. We found that 18.2% of children had a computer, game console and television in their bedroom. These children were more than twice as likely to play 15 ϩ hours per week (OR ϭ 2.5, CI ϭ 1.6 – 4.2) and to play M-rated games (OR ϭ 2.4, CI ϭ 1.7–3.2). We asked children how often they played games alone, and with various types of companions. Few boys (5.1%) or girls (6.0%) reported playing electronic games “often” or “always” with a parent, step-parent, or foster parent; 79.5% of boys and 77.8% of girls played with parents “rarely” or “never.” Boys were more likely than girls to play often or always by themselves (62.8% vs. 45.6%) but also to often/always play with multiple friends in the same room (33.4% vs. 12.5%). Children who reported playing M-rated games were more than twice as likely as children who listed no M-rated games to play often or always with multiple friends in the same room (31.8% vs. 16.0%) (OR ϭ 2.4, CI ϭ 1.8 –3.4) and to play with older siblings (21.5% vs. 11.6%) (OR ϭ 2.10, CI ϭ 1.34 –3.27). Regarding online game play, 11.4% of boys and 12.2% of girls played often or always with friends over the Internet; however, boys were twice as likely as girls to play with strangers over the Internet (9.8% vs. 4.9%) (OR ϭ 2.23, CI ϭ 1.2– 4.1). M-rated gamers were more likely to play with friends (13.9% vs. 10.7%) (OR ϭ 1.28, CI ϭ 1.02– 1.59, p ϭ .004) and with strangers (10.7% vs. 4.1%) (OR ϭ 1.67, CI ϭ 1.29 –2.16) over the Internet. Figure 2 displays the percentage of students responding “somewhat agree” or “strongly agree” (on a four-point scale) to the question, “I play electronic games because . . ..” Children were offered 17 possible reasons for play. (A write-in option attracted few responses.) The top five reasons cited by boys were “it’s just fun” (97.3%), “it’s exciting” (88.3%), “it’s something to do when I’m bored” (87.9%), “I like the challenge of figuring the game out” (86.9%), and “I like to compete with other people and win” (84.4%). For girls, the most common motivations for play were “it’s just fun” (92.4%), “it’s something to do when I’m bored” (90.2%), “I like the challenge of figuring the game out” (71.8%), “it’s exciting” (71.3%), and “there is nothing else to do” (68.3%). Over half of children endorsed creative reasons for play, such as “I like to create my own world” and “I like to learn new things.” Many children seem to use games to manage their emotions, particularly boys; 61.9% of boys played to “help me relax,” 47.8% because “it helps me forget my problems,” and 45.4% because “it helps me get my anger out.” As noted in Figure 2, four reasons for play were endorsed significantly more often by M-rated gamers: to compete and win (81.4%), to get anger out (43.2%), liking “to ’mod’ games (change the game using computer code)” (38.5%), and liking “the guns and other weapons” (52.1%). These differences existed in both genders, and across both schools. This study describes patterns and correlates of M-rated electronic game use in a sample of middle-school boys and girls, and highlights aspects that could serve as markers of risk for behavioral or psychological problems. We found that playing M-rated games is common among children aged 12 to 14. Although 44% of boys and 20% of girls had played one or more games in the intensely violent, satirical Grand Theft Auto series, boys were five times more likely than girls to have played at least one M-rated game “a lot in the past 6 months.” This suggests that frequent M- rated game play could be a risk marker for girls. Many children reported spending only a brief amount of time on electronic games. However, one third of boys played games nearly every day; about 1 in 8 boys played 15 hours or more per week. Given that more hours of play was correlated with greater use of M-rated games, the combina- tion of heavy, violent play warrants watching (again, espe- cially among girls). Boys who rarely or never play video games are unusual; because game play is often a social activity for boys, this could also be cause for concern. Notably, M-rated game use was linked to playing with friends, and was not significantly associated with solitary play. Parents should be alert to the risks of having game consoles and computers in children’s bedrooms, as this is linked to greater amounts of play in general and more M-rated game play in particular. Parents should be particularly careful that older siblings do not introduce inappropriate content to younger ones; we found that children who played M-rated games were twice as likely to play often or always with an older sibling. Also, two in five boys and one in five girls like to “mod” games, e.g., by downloading new characters, weapons, clothing, or story lines from the Internet. While this creative activity is not bad in itself, parents should be alert for exposure to inappropriate, unrated content. The finding that many children use games for emotional regulation—to help them relax, to forget problems, or to feel less lonely— deserves further study. The use of violent games to cope with anger may be healthy or unhealthy for particular children; a discussion of reasons for play might provide useful clinical insights. Although many boys (55.7%) agreed with the response “I like the guns and other weapons,” this result is difficult to interpret; it could measure enjoyment of action, explosions and colorful graphics, or enjoyment of using weapons against other characters. Comments from teachers and students indicated that many had real-world experience with guns through hunting. The prevalence of M-rated game play among young adolescents may indicate a need for greater awareness and monitoring by parents. However, parents should not over- rely on ratings to assess game content. M-rated games can vary considerably in terms of social context and goals; a player may be rewarded for avoiding bloodshed, or may be required to act violently to advance in the game. Clinicians can play an important role in promoting media literacy among parents [14,15] and encouraging them to monitor children’s game time and game choices. A survey conducted at a single point in time can only demonstrate correlation, not causation; for example, we cannot state that having a game console in the bedroom causes a child to spend more time playing games. It is also not possible to assess trends by comparing our results to older studies, because of differences in methodology and sample composition. To maximize validity of responses, we asked children to simply list five games that they had “played a lot” in the past 6 months—not all games they had played in the past 6 months, nor how much time they spent with each game. We also did not ask if they had ever played a particular game. This means that children’s exposure to best-selling games (such as the Grand Theft Auto series) is probably greater than indicated here—as suggested by results of the 2005 Kaiser Family Foundation survey, which found that 77% of 7th to 12th grade boys had ever played a Grand Theft Auto game. Overall exposure to games is also underestimated because we focused on commercially available ESRB-rated games; we excluded arcade games, unrated Web-based games, and games played on mobile telephones. Further, there is no consistent definition of “violence” in the research literature on children and media [5]; one could argue that by focusing on M-rated games, we have substantially under- reported children’s exposure to game violence [16]. The large sample size, the socioeconomic and racial diversity of the sample, the ...
Citations
... Adolescents ( provide a more complete picture by examining adolescents as well as emerging adults (18-24 year-olds) and young adults (25-35 year-olds). Given that the survey was distributed to gaming influencers' audience, an over-representation of males here simply reflects the prevailing understanding that prevalence of and interest in gaming were higher in males than in females (Olson et al., 2007;Greenberg et al., 2010) which, as Shen et al. (2016) argued, could be attributed to gender expectations and peer community. Adhering to diagnostic criteria of IGD set in DSM-5 resulted in 4.6% of the study population being classified as having IGD, which closely aligned with the 5.0% observed in a multinational study conducted by Pontes et al. (PontesBruno et al., 2022). ...
The ubiquity of Internet gaming as part of the younger generation's (11-35 year-olds) lifestyle to-day warrants a deeper understanding of its impact on their mental health. In particular, there has been scant research investigating the link between Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) and suicidal behaviors in this demographic group, even though several mental health symptoms of the former are known risk factors for the latter. This paper aims to establish the presence or absence of association between IGD and each of suicidal ideation, self-harm, and suicide attempt among the younger generation. A large-scale online survey on Internet gamers in Hong Kong was conducted in February 2019. 3430 respondents were recruited through purposive sampling. Study samples were stratified into distinct age groups and multiple logistic regression was conducted for each measured suicidal behavior in each age group. After controlling for sociodemographics, Internet usage, self-reported bullying perpetration and bullying victimization, social withdrawal, and self-reported psychiatric diagnoses such as depression and psychosis, analyses revealed that adolescent (11-17 year-old) gamers with IGD were more likely than their peers who had no IGD to have had suicidal ideation, self-harm, and suicide attempt in their lifetime. These associations did not hold for 18-35 year-old gamers. Findings suggest that it may be prudent to recognize IGD as a growing public mental health priority for the young populace, particularly adolescents. Existing suicide prevention efforts can be complemented through screening adolescents for IGD, and could be expanded to online gaming platforms to reach more hidden at-risk individuals.
... Why do males play video games more than females? One possibility may be that most video games are designed to simulate male-male individual or coalitional competition , which are intrinsically rewarding and enjoyable to males (Chou and Tsai, 2007;Olson et al., 2007). For example, most first-person shooter (FPS) video games, such as Call of Duty, involve playing from the first-person view of a soldier. ...
This is a collection of 21 articles published as an eBook in Frontiers in Psychology. This Research Topic aims to demonstrate that imaginative culture is an important functional part of evolved human behavior—diverse in its manifestations but unified by species-typical sets of biologically grounded motives, emotions, and cognitive dispositions. The topic encompasses four main areas of research in the evolutionary human sciences: (1) evolutionary psychology and anthropology, which have fashioned a robust model of evolved human motives organized systemically within the phases and relationships of human life history; (2) research on gene-culture coevolution, which has illuminated the mechanisms of social cognition and the transmission of cultural information; (3) the psychology of emotions and affective neuroscience, which have gained precise knowledge about the evolutionary basis and neurological character of the evolved emotions that give power to the arts, religion, and ideology; and (4) cognitive neuroscience, which has identified the Default Mode Network as the central neurological location of the human imagination. By integrating these four areas of research and by demonstrating their value in illuminating specific kinds of imaginative culture, this Research Topic aims at incorporating imaginative culture within an evolutionary conception of human nature.
... Social motivations and the desire to establish friendly relations were among the factors that have been introduced in various texts as motivations for people to play (17,(31)(32)(33)(34). Also, Hsu and Lu (35) concluded that satisfaction of intrinsic motivations such as entertainment, curiosity, or the search for experience increases the commitment to play. Competition with others has been mentioned in some studies as the most important motivation for people to play (36). In the research by Király et al. (13), this motivation could be effective in the model of online game addiction. ...
Objective: The growing popularity of computer games has attracted the attention of researchers in this field. The underlying psychological motives of gamers are important to prevention of disorders related to online gaming. This study was aimed at evaluating the psychometric characteristics of the Iranian version of the Motives for Online Gaming Questionnaire (I-MOGQ) and its association with Internet Gaming Disorders (IGD).
Method: Four hundred and fifty-two Iranian adult gamers (mean age = 21.5 years, SD = 4.14) voluntarily responded to the anonymous survey online. All participants in this study were males. The questionnaires used in this study were MOGQ and IGD Scale. We performed confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) for MOGQ. Also, the correlation between MOGQ and IGD was evaluated.
Results: CFA supports the construct validity of the questionnaire (RMSEA < 0.08). Cronbach's alpha, as an indicator of internal consistency of the questionnaire, was 0.91 (Social = 0.85, Escape = 0.84, Competition = 0.83, Coping = 0.79, Skill Development = 0.89, Fantasy = 0.85 and Recreation = 0.83). Also, the scale displayed adequate convergent validity, as shown by significant positive correlations with IGD scores. The highest correlation was found with the Escape motive (0.57) and the lowest was found with Recreation (0.15).
Conclusion: This study showed that the Iranian version of the MOGQ is a valid and reliable scale for identifying the motives for online gaming among young adults.
... Most young adolescent boys and many girls routinely play Mrated games, and increased playing hours have been correlated with greater use of M-rated games. 30 The content and goals of M-rated games can vary considerably, with some rewarding for avoiding bloodshed while others require violent acts for advancement. Parents need to identify game content and environments that may promote aggressive behavior, increase fear, or desensitize children to violence and should note content shared between siblings because often older siblings introduce M-rated games to younger ones. ...
... 29 Many children have electronic game devices and other media in their bedrooms with one study noting significant access to computers (31%) and video game consoles (46.2%). 30 In this study, children who had a computer, game console, and television in their bedroom were more than twice as likely to play 15 1 hours per week and to play M-rated games. 30 ...
... 30 In this study, children who had a computer, game console, and television in their bedroom were more than twice as likely to play 15 1 hours per week and to play M-rated games. 30 ...
Electronic sports, or esports, has a global audience of over 300 million fans and is increasing in popularity, resulting in projected revenue of over $1 billion by the end of this past year. The global pandemic of 2020 had little to no effect on these increasing numbers because athletes have been able to continue to engage in sports because of its electronic nature and fans have been able to follow them virtually. Esports has been recognized as an organized sport by the International Olympic Committee, the US National Collegiate Athletic Association, and several secondary school athletic associations within the United States. In addition, professional teams have been established in several major cities within the United States, Canada, Europe, and Australia. With the growth of esports, the necessity of incorporating esports medicine into the practice of sports medicine physicians has become paramount. Esports can be played on a monitor or screen and played using physical activity in what has become known as active video gaming. Within both of these platforms, there have emerged certain conditions unique to esports. There are also certain conditions seen in other sports applicable to esports athletes. This document will review the evaluation of the esports athlete, introduce conditions unique to these athletes and review common conditions seen in esports, discuss diagnostics used in the evaluation of esports athletes, introduce treatment options for conditions unique to esports and review those for commonly seen injuries in esports, discuss prevention of injuries in esports, and introduce a framework for the future development of esports medicine that can be introduced into the daily practice of the sports medicine physician.
... As a family consists of all the members, similarly, it also affects the growth of every member present in the family. A widely used theoretical framework presented by Olson et al. (2007) states as having three dimensions of family functioning namely "family intimacy, adaptability and communication". Family intimacy here refers to the nature and amount of relationships shared among family members whereas family adaptability refers to the family need to alter the power structure of the family and a set of family rules to deal with the environmental stressors and pressures. ...
The present study aimed to investigate predictors of online gaming addiction in adolescents. To explore the gender differences across the study variables was another objective of the present study. It was hypothesized that poor family functioning and lack of interpersonal support would lead to online gaming addiction in adolescents. Further, the study investigated poor family functioning and perceived lack of interpersonal support as predictors of online gaming addiction in adolescents. For this purpose, a correlational study with a cross-sectional research design was used. The sample was collected from 115 participants (age= M= 17.10, SD= 1.66), boys (f=69, 60%), girls (f=46, 40%), using nonprobability, purposive and convenient sampling technique. The measures used in the study were Game Addiction Scale (Lemmens et al., 2009), Family APGAR Questionnaire (Smilkstein, 1978) and the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List (Cohen et al., 1985). Results of the study showed that family functioning (r=-.25**, p< 0.01) and interpersonal support (r=-.09*, p< 0.05) were negatively related to online gaming. Moreover, poor family functioning and lack of perceived social support predicted online gaming addiction in adolescents. Conversely, no gender differences across study variables were revealed for present sample.
... The connection between biological and psychological mechanisms related to exercise is a well-known fact which was shown to improve the well-being of individuals [137]. Prior research has evidence on the motivating characteristics of including game elements in physical exercising [193] [194]. Hence, future studies may explore the effects of exergaming on software professional's mental well-being during home-based working individually or in a group. ...
With the COVID-19 pandemic, strict measures have been taken to slow down the spread of the virus, and consequently, software professionals have been forced to work from home. However, home-based working entails many challenges, as the home environment is shared by the whole family simultaneously under pandemic conditions. The aim of this study is to explore software professionals’ mental well-being and work engagement and the relationships of these variables with job strain and resource-related factors in the forced home-based work setting during the COVID-19 pandemic. An online cross-sectional survey based on primarily well-known, validated scales was conducted with software professionals in Turkey. The analysis of the results was performed through hierarchical multivariate regression. The results suggest that despite the negative effect of job strain, the resource-related protective factors, namely, sleep quality, decision latitude, work-life balance, exercise predict mental well-being. Additionally, work engagement is predicted by job strain, sleep quality, and decision latitude. The results of the study will provide valuable insights to management of the software companies and professionals about the precautions that can be taken to have a better home-based working experience such as allowing greater autonomy and enhancing the quality of sleep and hence mitigating the negative effects of pandemic emergency situations on software professionals’ mental well-being and work engagement.
... Why do males play video games more than females? One possibility may be that most video games are designed to simulate male-male individual or coalitional competition , which are intrinsically rewarding and enjoyable to males (Chou and Tsai, 2007;Olson et al., 2007). For example, most first-person shooter (FPS) video games, such as Call of Duty, involve playing from the first-person view of a soldier. ...
Video games are popular and ubiquitous aspects of human culture, but their relationships to psychological and neurophysiological traits have yet to be analyzed in social-evolutionary frameworks. We examined the relationships of video game usage, motivations, and preferences with autistic and schizotypal traits and two aspects of neurophysiology, reaction time and targeting time. Participants completed the Autism Quotient, Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire, a Video Game Usage Questionnaire, and two neurophysiological tasks. We tested in particular the hypotheses, motivated by theory and previous work, that: (1) participants with higher autism scores would play video games more, and participants with higher schizotypy scores would play video games less; and (2) autism and positive schizotypy would be associated with opposite patterns of video game use, preferences and motivations. Females, but not males, with higher autism scores played more video games, and exhibited evidence of relatively male-typical video game genre preferences and motivations. By contrast, positive schizotypy was associated with reduced video game use in both genders, for several measures of game use frequency. In line with previous findings, males played video game more than females did overall, preferred action video games, and exhibited faster reaction and targeting times. Females preferred Puzzle and Social Simulation games. Faster reaction and targeting times were associated with gaming motives related to skill development and building behavior. These findings show that gaming use and patterns reflect aspects of psychology, and gender, related to social cognition and imagination, as well as aspects of neurophysiology. More generally, the results suggest that video game use is notably affected by levels of autistic and schizotypal traits, and that video games may provide an evolutionarily novel medium for imaginative play in which immersive play experiences can be decoupled from social interaction.
... Gentile et al. (2007) report that close to 70% of children aged 8-17 years play violent (M-rated) video games. Olson et al. (2007) find that among video game players aged 12-14 years, close to 70% of boys played at least one M-rated video game in the past six months compared to 30% of girls. ...
Popular media often links violent video games to real-life violence, although there is limited evidence to support this link. I analyze how adolescent boys’ violent behavior is affected by the releases of new violent video games in the U.S. Variation in children’s exposure to the releases comes from variation in video game release and interview dates and thus is plausibly exogenous. I find no evidence that child reported violence against other people increases after a new violent video game is released. Thus, policies that place restrictions on video game sales to minors are unlikely to reduce violence.
... ). Bunlar; saldırgan kişilik özelliği (trait aggressiveness;Giumetti ve Markey, 2007;Arriaga, Esteves, Carneiro ve Monteiro, 2006), psikotisizm (ör.,Markey ve Scherer, 2009;Markey ve Markey, 2010) gibi kişilik özellikleri, cinsiyet(DeCamp, 2017;Kasumovic, Blake, Dixson ve Denson, 2015;Olson, 2007), bireyin sosyalizasyon süreçleriyle edindiği şiddete ilişkin inançlar, değerler, tutumlar, senaryolar ve amaçlar gibi özelliklerdir.Genel Saldırganlık Modeline göre saldırganlık sürecinin ilk basamağında yer alan durumsal girdiler ise duruma özgü saldırganlığı teşvik edici özellikleri tanımlamaktadır. Tıpkı bireysel faktörler gibi durumsal faktörler de biliş, uyarılma, duygulanım aracılığıyla saldırgan davranışı etkilemektedir. ...
Şiddet içerikli video oyunları, son yıllarda popüler bir eğlence aktivitesi haline gelmiştir. Saldırganlık alan yazınında kabul gören kuramlar, saldırganlığın biliş, uyarılma, duygulanım ya da davranış gibi spesifik bir bileşenine odaklandıkları için video oyunu şiddetine maruz kalmanın etkilerini açıklamada görece sınırlı kalmışlardır. Genel Saldırganlık Modeli, şiddet içerikli video oyunu tüketmenin olası tüm etkilerini süreç boyunca açıklamaya çalışmıştır ve önceki pek çok kuramsal açıklamayı bütüncül bir yaklaşımla bir araya getirmiştir. Böylece bu tür içeriğin tüketilmesi esnasında ya da hemen sonrasında saldırganlıkla ilgili bilişlerde, saldırgan uyarılmada, saldırgan duygulanımda ve saldırgan davranışta meydana gelen artış ile ilişkili olduğu önerilmiştir. Nitekim alanda farklı yöntemler kullanılarak yürütülen çok sayıda çalışma bu görüşü destekleyen kanıtlar sunmuştur. Genel Saldırganlık Modeli ayrıca şiddet içerikli video oyunlarını tekrarlı biçimde tüketmenin, saldırganlık ve şiddet içeren uyaranlar için zamanla duyarsızlaşma yaratacağını önermiştir. Bununla paralel olarak çok sayıda araştırma şiddet içeren video oyunlarına maruz kalmanın empati, özgeci davranış ve diğerine yönelmiş saldırganlık karşısında duyarlılık gibi olumlu sonuçlarda azalma ile ilgili olduğunu göstermiştir. Alanda artan ilgiyle yürütülen bu araştırmalar ve yıllar içinde bu araştırmaların bulgularını bir araya getirerek inceleyen meta-analiz çalışmalarının sonuçları şiddet içerikli video oyunu oynama ve saldırganlık arasında tutarlı bir ilişki olduğuna dair kanıtlar sağlamışlardır. Böylece şiddet içerikli video oyunlarının saldırgan tepkilerin ortaya çıkması için bir risk faktörü olduğu yaygın olarak kabul edilmiştir. Diğer yandan bu konuda ülkemizde yürütülen çalışma sayısının sınırlı olduğu ve konunun yeterince ilgi görmediği tespit edilmiştir. Bu doğrultuda bu çalışmanın amacı Genel Saldırganlık Kuramı çerçevesinden şiddet içerikli video oyunları ve saldırganlık üzerine getirilen temel kuramsal açıklamaları ve bazı görgül çalışma bulgularını gözden geçirerek alana dikkat çekmektir.
... On the other hand, during a pandemic gamers actually get benefit from playing video games. Therefore, the majority of adolescents now recognize playing video games as a leisure activity (Olson et al., 2007;Brooks et al., 2015). Gaming popularity has grown rapidly and distinctive feature of the leisure pursuits of the current adolescents generation (Olson, 2010) Online video games becomes a perfect social platform to escapism, comfort, keep social interaction with others to get rid of the loneliness throughout pandemic (Zhu, 2020). ...
