Patterns of, and factors associated with video game play among primary school children in Jeddah 2015: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: The majority of children and adolescents aged 2–17 years (92%) have been reported to play video games. Several studies have shown that children who play computer games frequently perform more poorly at school. A negative association between the amount of time spent playing video games and school performance for children, adolescents, and college students has been shown in other studies. Objective: We assessed the impact of video games on nocturnal enuresis, physical activity, and school performance among primary school children and checked if there is any association between these factors. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study carried out in a male primary school in Jeddah, in June 2015. An interview-based questionnaire was used to collect responses from 407 school children and a self-administered questionnaire for their parents. Results: Playing video games was observed in 385 children (95.1%) and reported by 246 parents (93.2%). Out of the 29 children with enuresis, 27 (93.1%) reported playing video games. Among the 392 school children who engaged in physical activity, 374 (95.4%) reported playing video games, while video game playing was reported by 11 out of 11 (100%) children who did not engage in physical activity. Among the 365 children who had grade A at school, 330 (90.4%) reported playing video games. Conclusions: The prevalence of playing video games was high. However, it was not significantly higher among children who were physically inactive, non-enuretics, with grade A school performance.