Beyond hours of video gameplay: Connections between verbal aggressiveness, genre preference, and technology used

William T Howe,Ioana A Cionea

doi:10.1016/j.chbr.2021.100063

William T Howe, Ioana A Cionea

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chbr.2021.100063

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Abstract

This research examined how multiple factors (i.e., hours of gameplay, types of gameplay, preferred genre of video games, technology used to play games, and biological sex) were associated with both trait and situational verbal aggressiveness. Cross-sectional data were collected from 435 undergraduate students via an online questionnaire. Results indicated similar patterns to previous literature in that video gameplay hours were positively related to verbal aggressiveness. However, we extended research by also showing that a preference for certain genres and technology used to play video games were also related with both situational and trait verbal aggressiveness. Based on these results, we argue that player choice of genre and technology should be considered when examining the relationship between video games and verbal aggressiveness.

Highlights

Video games are a highly consumed medium. Brown (2017) reported that 24% of adults 65 and older play video games and Howe, Livingston, and Lee (2019) reported that 98.6% of their undergraduate student participants played video games
The goal of this paper was to examine whether the amount of time spent playing video games was associated with both trait and state verbal aggressiveness, and to analyze possible connections between other variables associated with gameplay and verbal aggressiveness
We will discuss our general findings about the relationship between hours of video gameplay and verbal aggression

Summary

Introduction

Video games are a highly consumed medium. Brown (2017) reported that 24% of adults 65 and older play video games and Howe, Livingston, and Lee (2019) reported that 98.6% of their undergraduate student participants played video games. Brown (2017) reported that 24% of adults 65 and older play video games and Howe, Livingston, and Lee (2019) reported that 98.6% of their undergraduate student participants played video games Research interest in this area has mirrored this rise of gameplay and continues to be a trending topic. Lachlan and Maloney (2008) argued that personality traits (including aggression) may be more important for some games but not others and may have different outcomes, depending on the type of gamed played As they conclude, there is “cause for concern regarding conventional notions of the relationship between gameplay and aggression” Type of gameplay (alone, co-present offline, co-present online), genre of gameplay, and technology used to play should be studied to further elucidate how video gameplay may relate to verbal aggressiveness

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