Video game addiction: A parent's evidence-based guide

© 2009 – 2022 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved

Some kids spend long hours playing video games. Do they endure from video game habit?

Not necessarily. Kids might play opens in a new windowvideo games with disturbingly violent themes. They might spend besides much time on the couch, becoming more sedentary and socially reclusive.

Kids might sometimes fail their chores or homework, and they might fail to develop the ability to entertain themselves.

But such bug don't mean that a child suffers from an addiction.

What'southward an addiction?

Originally, the term referred to a physiological dependence on a drug. Nowadays, people utilise "addiction" to depict all sorts of excessive beliefs, like eating as well much chocolate.

But while researchers avoid this usage, they recognize that some pastimes, like gambling, can become pathological and resemble truthful addiction.

And some kids who play video games run across the clinical criteria for an "habit" in this sense.

Video games boss their lives. Playing gives them a sense of euphoria, or at to the lowest degree a sense of relief from unpleasant feelings. Kids experience "withdrawal" if they are denied access to games. And gaming interferes with everyday life, including schoolhouse and social relationships (Gentile 2009).

So pathological gaming is nearly more than how much time your child spends playing game. It's about video games taking over his or her life.

How many kids are in this ready? To get an thought, let's consider this screening tool developed past Douglas Gentile.

The Video Game Habit Questionnaire

Gentile surveyed a random sample of 1178 American youth (anile 8 to 18), asking kids to answer each of the questions beneath with either a "Yes," "No," or "Sometimes."

Kids were considered to be pathological gamers if they responded with a "Yes" or "Sometimes" to at to the lowest degree 6 of these eleven questions:

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ane. Over fourth dimension, have you been spending much more time thinking about playing video games, learning about video-game playing, or planning the next opportunity to play?

two. Do you need to spend more and more than time and/or coin on video games in order to feel the aforementioned corporeality of excitement?

three. Have y'all tried to play video games less often or for shorter periods of time, but are unsuccessful?

four. Do you go restless or irritable when attempting to cut downwards or stop playing video games?

5. Have you played video games as a way of escaping from issues or bad feelings?

vi. Take yous ever lied to family or friends about how much time you play video games?

vii. Accept yous e'er stolen a video game from a store or a friend, or have y'all e'er stolen money to buy a video game?

viii. Practice you sometimes skip household chores in society to spend more time playing video games?

nine. Practice you sometimes skip doing homework in order to spend more fourth dimension playing video games?

x. Take you lot always done poorly on a school assignment or test because you lot spent besides much time playing video games?

11. Take you ever needed friends or family to give y'all extra money because y'all spent too much money on video game equipment, software, or game/Internet fees?

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Gentile scored responses in multiple ways. When he lumped together "Yes" and "Sometimes" responses, nearly 20% of his sample met the criteria for a video game addiction.

When Gentile counted just "Yes" responses, about eight% of the kids qualified as pathological gamers (Gentile 2006).

Either style, that'due south a lot of addiction, and the trouble seemed to affect kids across a wide range of background. In Gentile's study, pathological video game use was unrelated to cultural variables, like race or the blazon of schoolhouse attended.

Moreover, Gentile notes that pathological gaming has been reported all  around the world.

In Spain, for example, the rate of game habit has been estimated at effectually 10% (Tejeiro Salguero and Bersabe Moran 2002). Video game addiction is also a major concern for some researchers in East Asia (eastward.g., Sun et al 2008). And in Singapore, the prevalence of pathological gaming may be around 9%(Gentile et al 2011).

Only despite their varied backgrounds, game addicts have sure things in common. In Gentile's written report, pathological gamers spent nearly twice as much fourth dimension playing games (24 hours per week). They were more than probable to have game systems in their bedrooms. And they also reported

• more than trouble paying attention in schoolhouse
• poorer grades, and
• more health bug

In a Singapore study, researchers plant that kids who met clinical criteria for a video game addiction performed worse at school (Skoric et al 2009). Interestingly, this study found no correlation between time spent playing games and school operation.

Information technology was the symptoms of addiction that predicted poor schoolhouse work, not playingper se.

What does it all mean?

Every bit noted above, you don't have to suffer from a video game addiction to have a problem. And then what'southward of import about identifying pathological game habits?

I oasis't plant any scientific research on the subject, but clinicians suggest that pathological gaming should be taken more seriously. It isn't "just a phase" that will get better on its own.

Your child might benefit from the aforementioned treatment therapies that piece of work for pathological gamblers or substance abusers–therapies like cognitive behavioral counseling, peer support groups, and "12 step" programs (which seem helpful insofar as they motivate kids to stay on runway—e.g., Kelly et al 2000).

Some thoughts aboutmenstruum

It besides seems wise to be vigilant most gaming experiences that might overwhelm a child'south sense of self-control. People can get completely immersed in video games, losing awareness of the passage of time, of their real lives outside the game (e.one thousand., Rao et al 2006).

Psychologists call this feelflow, and it's non a unique characteristic of video games. Plenty of other activities—including highly productive ones, like sculpting or composing music—tin can also create a sense of flow.

But some video games seem to take a particularly powerful effect, and I wonder how realistic it is to expect kids to continue their gaming habits in check.

Exercise the studies cited here overestimate rates of video game addiction? Let'due south assume theydo. We're even so left with bear witness that some kids—past their own admission—are letting video games readapt other aspects of their lives.

In addition to monitoring our children'due south habits—and setting limits—we might too think seriously about ways to cope with the allure of video game flow.

Some studies propose that the most "addictive" video games are the fantasy role-playing games, especially for kids who are shy or unpopular (Lee et al 2007). So perhaps concerned parents should try to steer susceptible kids abroad from such games, and towards less overwhelming options, like electronic board games, puzzles, sports games, or simulation games.

And maybe parents can offer kids other, more productive or developmentally stimulating means to bask a sense of flow. Kids tin lose themselves in the exploration of local wildlife or the construction of a model bridge. But do they?

It's interesting to consider that while video games have become more popular, other opportunities for unstructured play have been shrinking. I'chiliad non suggesting that video games are responsible. But perhaps the availability of video games has facilitated a major change in our lifestyles.

I remember when kids used to spend most of their free time outdoors, playing without the direct supervision of adults. Today, this is considered besides dangerous, and for kids who live in high-crime neighborhoods, the danger may be real. In a study of American fourth graders, researchers found that gaming habit rates were higher among kids who perceived their environments every bit less safety (Pentz et al 2011).

Are video games taking up the slack? Perhaps electronic games would exert less power over our kids if kids had more than to exercise.

More information

For more than information, I highly recommend Douglas Gentile's public web page about opens in a new windowvideo game addiction, violence in the media, and related topics.

In addition, come across this collection of opens in a new windowtestify-based articles most the effects of video games — good and bad.

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References: Video game addiction

Gentile D. 2009. Pathological video-game utilize among youth ages 8 to xviii: a national written report. Psychol Sci. 20(five):594-602.

Gentile DA, Choo H, Liau A, Sim T, Li D, Fung D, and Khoo A. 2011. Pathological video game employ among youths: a ii-year longitudinal written report. Pediatrics. 127(2):e319-29.

Kelly JF, Myers MG, and Brown SA. 2000. A multivariate process model of adolescent 12-step omnipresence and substance use outcome following inpatient treatment. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors. xiv(4):376-389.

Lee MS, Ko YH, Song HS, Kwon KH, Lee HS, Nam M, and Jung IK. 2007. Characteristics of Cyberspace use in relation to game genre in Korean adolescents. Cyberpsychol Behav. (two):278-85.

Pentz MA, Spruijt-Metz D, Chou CP, and Riggs NR. 2011. Loftier calorie, low food food/beverage intake and video gaming in children as potential signals for addictive behavior. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 8(12):4406-24.

Rau PL, Peng SY, and Yang CC. 2006. Fourth dimension distortion for expert and novice online game players. Cyberpsychol Behav. 9(4):396-403.

Skoric MM, Teo LL, and Neo RL. 2009. Children and video games: habit, appointment, and scholastic achievement. Cyberpsychol Behav. 12(5):567-72.

Sun DL, Ma North, Bao 1000, Chen Xc, and Zhang DR. 2008.Computer games: a double-edged sword? Cyberpsychol Behav. 11(v):545-viii.

Tejeiro Salguero RA and Bersabe Morán RM. 2002. Measuring problem video game playing in adolescents. Habit 97(12): 1601-1606.

Content of "Video game habit" last modified 3/13

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