Video Game Usage Research Articles

10/10 Would Review Again: Variation in the Player Game Review Genre

ABSTRACTUsing a move-strategy genre analysis of 180 video game user reviews posted to six websites, this article describes typical characteristics of the genre as well as significant variations in genre construction. By creating new audiences and purposes for the genre, emerging genre variants have opened critical debates within the user community about genre change. Ultimately, the author argues that tracing genre variations could have implications for how technical communication scholars and practitioners support the needs and goals of user-generated genres.

Excessive users of violent video games do not show emotional desensitization: an fMRI study.

Playing violent video games have been linked to long-term emotional desensitization. We hypothesized that desensitization effects in excessive users of violent video games should lead to decreased brain activations to highly salient emotional pictures in emotional sensitivity brain regions. Twenty-eight male adult subjects showing excessive long-term use of violent video games and age and education matched control participants were examined in two experiments using standardized emotional pictures of positive, negative and neutral valence. No group differences were revealed even at reduced statistical thresholds which speaks against desensitization of emotion sensitive brain regions as a result of excessive use of violent video games.

Socio-Demographic Differences in Parental Monitoring of Children in Late Childhood and Adolescents’ Screen-Based Media Use

According to a social cognitive theory, children may learn to function through processes of modeling and observational learning, with parents and the media being the significant sources of socialization and learning in the home environment. Adolescence is a period when children progressively look for autonomy and independence. One of the important research questions is whether adolescents utilize screen-based media with or without parental monitoring and limit-setting. This exploratory study examines socio-demographic factors associated with parenting (i.e., co-using, limit setting on the amount, limit setting on contents, and active mediation) in regards to television and video game usage during adolescence. Participants were 799 adolescents (5th to 12th graders) and their parents. Results indicate no gender differences in parental monitoring, but age/grade differences were found with less parental monitoring (more autonomy or independence) of older children. Parental monitoring also differed by ethnicity and by household income. Asian parents were the most restrictive while Hispanic parents were the least restrictive. Parents also reported more active mediation or engagement in families with higher household income. Findings initiate consideration of parenting styles in adolescent media usage, which have implications for adolescent adjustment and developmental outcomes.

Video games in adolescence and emotional functioning: Emotion regulation, emotion intensity, emotion expression, and alexithymia

Video-game users represent 40% of the French population and adolescents are the primary users. Yet excessive playing of video games has become a problem in modern society and is manifesting itself in treatment centers for adolescents. Before attempting to gain insight into this problematic use, we must understand video gaming itself and its implications for the gamer. The aim of this research is to propose an understanding of video-game playing based on some dimensions of emotional functioning such as emotion regulation, emotion intensity, emotion expression, and alexithymia. A total of 159 adolescents took part in the study. Regular gamers regulated their emotions more than irregular gamers did. They also felt their emotions more intensely. But regular gamers expressed their emotions less than irregular gamers did. Finally, the regular gamers' alexithymia level was higher than the irregular gamers' level. Especially, they had more difficulty being emotionally reactive. The avatar's evolution in the virtual environment may help mediate adolescents' problematic emotional experiences to give them meaning and enable their appropriation. As such, video games may act as a medium for projecting and experiencing one's emotional life by staging the emotional self, thereby explaining the engagement of adolescents in video gaming.

Is time spent playing video games associated with mental health, cognitive and social skills in young children?

Video games are one of the favourite leisure activities of children; the influence on child health is usually perceived to be negative. The present study assessed the association between the amount of time spent playing video games and children mental health as well as cognitive and social skills. Data were drawn from the School Children Mental Health Europe project conducted in six European Union countries (youth ages 6-11, n = 3195). Child mental health was assessed by parents and teachers using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and by children themselves with the Dominic Interactive. Child video game usage was reported by the parents. Teachers evaluated academic functioning. Multivariable logistic regressions were used. 20 % of the children played video games more than 5 h per week. Factors associated with time spent playing video games included being a boy, being older, and belonging to a medium size family. Having a less educated, single, inactive, or psychologically distressed mother decreased time spent playing video games. Children living in Western European countries were significantly less likely to have high video game usage (9.66 vs 20.49 %) though this was not homogenous. Once adjusted for child age and gender, number of children, mothers age, marital status, education, employment status, psychological distress, and region, high usage was associated with 1.75 times the odds of high intellectual functioning (95 % CI 1.31-2.33), and 1.88 times the odds of high overall school competence (95 % CI 1.44-2.47). Once controlled for high usage predictors, there were no significant associations with any child self-reported or mother- or teacher-reported mental health problems. High usage was associated with decreases in peer relationship problems [OR 0.41 (0.2-0.86) and in prosocial deficits (0.23 (0.07, 0.81)]. Playing video games may have positive effects on young children. Understanding the mechanisms through which video game use may stimulate children should be further investigated.

MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS’ DIGITAL GAME EXPERIENCES IN THE CITY OF MAKKAH IN SAUDI ARABIA

The purpose of this quantitative study is to investigate middle school students’ experiences with gaming in Makkah City in Saudi Arabia. This study described the current condition of video game usage and compared that depth of usage to current academic grade point average (GPA). Also, it showed the difference between gender, and students’ age and described the types of video games and elements that attract students to play video games. There were 201 middle schools students from Makkah who participated in this study. The study found there was a significant relationship between hours spent playing video games and students’ GPAs. They also showed a significant difference between gender in hours spent playing video games and that there was no significant statistical difference between the middle schools students’ ages in hours spent playing video games. Additionally, male students were perceived to have higher positive attitudes toward video games than females. Finally, the results suggested that there are three underlying factors (competition, discover, and knowledge) that attract students to play video games. Keywords : Education, video game, middle school.

Daily videogame use and metacognitive knowledge of effective learning strategies.

Metacognition refers to individuals’ knowledge and understanding of cognitive processes and cognitive strategies, in the self and others. In an educational context, 2 important aspects of metacognition relate to individuals’ awareness of the most effective strategies for summarizing novel information (i.e., for extracting meaning) and encoding novel information into long-term memory. Metacognition has been linked to executive function (Fernandez-Duque, Baird, & Posner, 2000), and evidence suggests that playing videogames can improve executive function and attentional control (Boot, Kramer, Simons, Fabiani, & Gratton, 2008; Green & Bavelier, 2007). Thus, videogame use may benefit metacognition. However, other research has found links between videogame use and attentional problems (Chan & Rabinowitz, 2006). Thus, we reanalysed data from >193,000 students, collected as part of the 2009 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), to investigate whether adolescent videogame use was systematically associated with students’ metacognitive awareness of the most effective methods of summarizing and encoding novel information. Using multilevel modeling, we found slightly lower scores in these 2 metacognitive domains for students who played videogames on a daily basis compared with those who played infrequently. Thus, daily videogame use was associated with slightly impoverished knowledge about effective learning strategies. Although these findings represent a potentially interesting and novel association between metacognition and videogame use, the small absolute size of these differences suggests the findings are not cause for alarm, particularly as they do not translate into poorer academic performance for regular (cf., less-frequent) video game users (Drummond & Sauer, 2014). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved)

Using Self-Determination Theory to Examine Differences in Motvation and Engagement in Video Gamers

The purpose of this study is to extend the work on video gamers by better understanding some of the motivational underpinnings of video gameplay. To do this, we have incorporated nontraditional measures of autonomy, competence, and relatedness, into a study of hardcore and casual video gamer behavior. Additionally, we incorporated an exploratory variable, meaningfulness, which could theoretically be involved in video game engagement. Two hundred and forty-eight undergraduate students at a large university completed an inventory of video game usage and behavior, as well as several surveys related to motivation. Overall, while there were significant correlations between these measures of motivation, hardcore and casual gamers did not differ in terms of motivation to play. Interestingly, there was a significant difference between female and male gamers in terms of their need for autonomy, but not on any other measures. The results of this research will be discussed in greater detail.

Video gaming in adolescence: factors associated with leisure time use

The geographies of the current generation of young people are markedly distinct from previous generations by virtue of their access to a virtual playground. The vast majority of young people now engage in video gaming as a leisure activity. Drawing on findings from the 2009/2010 WHO Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study this paper set out to investigate the factors that might be associated with higher levels of video gaming. Information was collected from 4404 school students aged 11, 13 and 15 years, using anonymised self-completed questionnaires. Higher usage was defined as game play exceeding two hours a day. Separate analyses were conducted for boys and girls. For both genders higher levels of game playing was associated with early adolescence, opposite sex friends and minimal parental mediation. Bullying and going to bed hungry were associated with higher usage for boys only, while life satisfaction and family activities were linked to girls’ game playing only. Parents were identified as effective mediators of young people’s video game usage. The study identified gendered motivations for higher levels of game play, suggesting different interventions for boys and girls may be required in order for young people to create a balanced approach to video gaming.

Effect of Video Game Usage on Academic Performance of Medical Students in King Abdulaziz University

Habitual playing of video games is believed to have a harmful effect on the academic performance of students. This study tracks the effect of video game playing on the academic performance of medical students in Saudi Arabia. During May through August 2013, 307 medical students in their final years filled a cross-sectional survey to collect data on the use of video games at King Abdulaziz University. Results showed female students played video games less than male students. Additionally, video game users were more likely than nonusers to have scores between 4.0 and 4.4 on a 5 point grade point average scale. While higher scoring students were less likely to play video games, only 25.6% of the surveyed students could be included in that category, and 71.8% of those students played video games for < 1 hr /day. Students who played video games for > 1 hr/day had a lesser chance (50.4%) of scoring within the highest range of grade point averages. The results indicate that while limited use of video games may improve grade point average scores, video gaming could not be recommended for students who want to score in the highest tier of grade point averages. A large-scale multi-institutional study is required to confirm these observations.

Sedentary Time and Screen-Based Sedentary Behaviors of Children With a Chronic Disease

The objectives of this study were to (i) assess sedentary time and prevalence of screen-based sedentary behaviors of children with a chronic disease and (ii) compare sedentary time and prevalence of screen-based sedentary behaviors to age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Sixty-five children (aged 6-18 years) with a chronic disease participated: survivors of a brain tumor, hemophilia, type 1 diabetes mellitus, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, cystic fibrosis, and Crohn's disease. Twenty-nine of these participants were compared with age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Sedentary time was measured objectively by an ActiGraph GT1M or GT3× accelerometer worn for 7 consecutive days and defined as less than 100 counts per min. A questionnaire was used to assess screen-based sedentary behaviors. Children with a chronic disease engaged in an average of 10.2 ± 1.4 hr of sedentary time per day, which comprised 76.5 ± 7.1% of average daily monitoring time. There were no differences between children with a chronic disease and controls in sedentary time (adjusted for wear time, p = .06) or in the prevalence of TV watching, and computer or video game usage for varying durations (p = .78, p = .39 and, p = .32 respectively). Children with a chronic disease, though relatively healthy, accumulate high levels of sedentary time, similar to those of their healthy peers.

Video game addiction and college performance among males: results from a 1 year longitudinal study.

This study explored the pattern of video game usage and video game addiction among male college students and examined how video game addiction was related to expectations of college engagement, college grade point average (GPA), and on-campus drug and alcohol violations. Participants were 477 male, first year students at a liberal arts college. In the week before the start of classes, participants were given two surveys: one of expected college engagement, and the second of video game usage, including a measure of video game addiction. Results suggested that video game addiction is (a) negatively correlated with expected college engagement, (b) negatively correlated with college GPA, even when controlling for high school GPA, and (c) negatively correlated with drug and alcohol violations that occurred during the first year in college. Results are discussed in terms of implications for male students' engagement and success in college, and in terms of the construct validity of video game addiction.

Video games playing: A substitute for cultural consumptions?

This article discusses some economic and cultural features of video games and posits that this medium belongs within the core of cultural economics. We further provide an applied investigation of video game usage. Using data for Spain, we estimate zero-inflated ordered probit models to control for an excess of zeros in our ordinal dependent variable. We find that the probability of game playing increases with the consumption of other cultural goods (e.g., listening to music or watching television) or active involvement in artistic activities (e.g., writing or visual arts production). Game playing is in general an urban phenomenon; it is positively associated with the ownership of home equipment and access to new technologies, but decreases with greater time restrictions of a person. The main differences to the traditional art formats is that game playing appeals particularly to younger, usually less educated cohorts.

Abstract 219: The Impact of Handheld devices on Healthy Lifestyles among School Age Children: A Report from Project Healthy Schools

BACKGROUND: Project Healthy Schools (PHS) is an initiative designed to promote healthy lifestyles in middle school-age children in Michigan. Following the introduction of smartphones and portable video game platforms such as the Play Station Portable more children are using these devices. This trend has led to an increase in screen time in preteens resulting in less time being spent on more active, health-promoting activities. This study aims to analyze the relationship between the increase in technology and handheld/gaming devices and the impact on student’s lifestyle behaviors participating in PHS. METHODS: Data on sedentary behaviors were collected from 4,021 middle school students by a self-reported questionnaire. The questionnaire is completed by all participants of PHS at baseline and after completion of the program. The questionnaire focuses on dietary habits, physical activity and sedentary behaviors. Sedentary behavior (screen time) questions included amount of time spent watching TV, playing video games or playing on the computer. In order to determine if technology use was impacting this cohort, baseline survey results were analyzed over a 6 year period. Because the exposure to technology could be associated to socioeconomic status (SE) of the schools, we balanced the sample in SE (based on median household income) through stratified simple random sampling without replacement. Screen times were categorized into high screen time (> 120 min /day) and low screen time (≤ 120 min/day). RESULTS: The trends of different types of screen time were plotted from 2008 to 2013 (2010 data were excluded to avoid the bias caused by the extremely small sample size of this year). A consistent trend of a high percentage of TV viewers was present each year. However, the percentage of students categorized as high computer game users and high video game users increased with each year (Table 1). CONCLUSIONS: There was a significant increase in both time spent playing on the computer and time spent playing video games between the years 2008 - 2013. It’s possible the introduction of smartphones and portable video games has contributed to this trend. It is essential for wellness programs such as PHS to focus on the importance of limiting the amount of time spent playing screen games while promoting increased physical activity to this age group.

Frequent video-game playing in young males is associated with central adiposity and high-sugar, low-fibre dietary consumption.

Video-game playing is associated with an increased obesity risk. The association of video-game playing with body composition, physical activity and eating behaviour was investigated. A total of 45 young males (age range 18-27years, BMI range 18.5-35.1kg/m(2)) were recruited. Measurements of body composition and blood pressure were performed. The EPIC-FFQ questionnaire was used to assess dietary intake. A questionnaire battery was administered to assess physical activity, eating behaviour, sleep quality and frequency of video-game playing (hours/week). Subjects were categorised into frequent (>7h/week) and non-frequent (≤7h/week) players. Frequent video-game players had greater waist circumference and fat mass. Video-game playing was significantly associated with high added sugar and low fibre consumption. A higher level of dietary restraint was observed in non-frequent video-game users. These preliminary results identify frequent video-game playing as an important lifestyle behaviour which may have important implications for understanding obesity risk in young male adults.

Activity Behaviors in Schoolchildren and Subsequent 5-yr Change in Blood Pressure

This study aimed to establish whether time spent in sport-related physical activities and sedentary behaviors (e.g., TV viewing, videogame usage, and homework) was prospectively associated with change in blood pressure (BP) for 5 yr. Eight hundred and twenty-one students age 6 yr at baseline (397 girls and 424 boys) were examined from 2003-2004 to 2009-2011. Children completed detailed activity questionnaires. BP was measured using a standardized protocol. After adjusting for age, ethnicity, parental education, parental history of hypertension, baseline height, BP, body mass index (BMI), baseline time spent in corresponding activity behavior, and change in BMI, each hour per day spent in total screen time was associated with a 0.69 and 0.59 mm Hg increase in diastolic BP (P = 0.01) and mean arterial BP (P = 0.01), respectively. In boys, each hour per day spent in TV viewing was associated with a concurrent 1.42-mm Hg increase in diastolic BP (P = 0.04) during the 5 yr. Children engaging in low sport-related physical activities at baseline but who engaged in high levels of physical activity (≥ 60 min · d(-1)) at follow-up (n = 154) compared with those engaging in low sport-related physical activities at both examinations (n = 305) demonstrated significantly lower mean arterial BP, 7.26 versus 9.61 mm Hg (P = 0.04). Time spent in physical activity and screen time could influence BP measures during childhood.

Navigation Experience and Mental Representations of the Environment: Do Pilots Build Better Cognitive Maps?

A number of careers involve tasks that place demands on spatial cognition, but it is still unclear how and whether skills acquired in such applied experiences transfer to other spatial tasks. The current study investigated the association between pilot training and the ability to form a mental survey representation, or cognitive map, of a novel, ground-based, virtual environment. Undergraduate students who were engaged in general aviation pilot training and controls matched to the pilots on gender and video game usage freely explored a virtual town. Subsequently, participants performed a direction estimation task that tested the accuracy of their cognitive map representation of the town. In addition, participants completed the Object Perspective Test and rated their spatial abilities. Pilots were significantly more accurate than controls at estimating directions but did not differ from controls on the Object Perspective Test. Locations in the town were visited at a similar rate by the two groups, indicating that controls' relatively lower accuracy was not due to failure to fully explore the town. Pilots' superior performance is likely due to better online cognitive processing during exploration, suggesting the spatial updating they engage in during flight transfers to a non-aviation context.

Active and Sedentary Video Game Time

This study used survey methodology to measure opinions of 13- to 15-year-olds (N = 176) about sedentary and active video games and the relative amount of time spent with those games, and evaluated correlations between time spent with those two types of games and the body mass index (BMI) of the respondent. Results showed no evidence of any correlation between BMI and relative time devoted to video game usage by type of game (active versus sedentary), nor any support for a correspondence between overall levels of time spent with video games and BMI. Yet, the data did point to a nonlinear association in which those who devoted more than 50% of the total time they spend with video games on sedentary games had a higher BMI than those who spent less than 50% of their video gaming time with sedentary games. Important gender differences also emerged in the adolescents’ opinions of active versus sedentary games.

Adolescent Technology Use: Profiles of Distinct Groups and Associated Risky Behaviors

Introduction: Adolescents make regular use of a wide range of technologies, such as console video games, mobile phones and a variety of Internet applications. Although this usage is not problematic for most individuals, some adolescents do use them excessively. Objective: The main objective of this article is to explore the presence of clusters within a sample of adolescents based on dimensions associated with risky behaviors (substance use, gambling and delinquency) and problematic use of technologies (Internet and console video games). Methods: The sample consists of 1,870 adolescents in the 14-18 year age group who were recruited in French-language high schools in Quebec (Canada). Results: The main results showed that one in ten adolescents was a high Internet user. A cluster analysis identified three groups of participants: non-problematic boys, non-problematic girls, and adolescents with multiple problems. The latter group included all of the high Internet users and some high video game users. These participants had the highest severity scores for substance use and delinquency and received higher scores for psychological distress, impulsivity and sensation seeking. Conclusions: These results support the presence of a subgroup of adolescents with high levels of co-occurring risky behaviors and suggest that excessive use of technology may also be a characteristic of this group.

Playing life away: Videogames and personality structure

This study aims to fill a gap in the current research on the personality organization of frequent videogame users. The scientific literature in this area refers only to the existence of risk factors that increase the likelihood of abusing videogames and their negative consequences on the mental health of users (Gentile et al., 2011; Lemmens, Valkenburg, & Peter, 2011; Rehbein & Baier, 2013). In this study, a sample of patients who reported spending an excessive amount of their time playing videogames were recruited from Instituto Quintino Aires–Lisbon/Oporto and took the Rorschach Personality Test (Exner, 1993, 1995). Two other samples—one consisting of patients who reported not playing videogames, and the other of patients who were discharged from the institution after psychotherapy—also took part in the study. The patients in the first sample revealed less exposure to the relational sources of stress that are necessary for socioemotional development and less interest in others than did patients in the other samples. Other results regarding the personality structure of the subjects in the three samples are compared and discussed in light of cultural-historical psychology.