Wellesley Centers for Women, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA 02481, USA.
Department of Pediatrics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53705, USA.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Jul 11;17(14):4996. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17144996.
We examined how risk level of video games, measured by maturity and violence level, was associated with behavioral health, social impacts, and online social interactions. School-based surveys in two different cohorts assessed self-reported gaming behaviors, health, and social media use. For Study 1, our 700 participants were 52% female and 48% White (mean age 12.7). Middle school students who played the high-risk games reported higher depressive symptoms and problematic internet behaviors, less sleep, more time spent playing games, and higher frequency of checking social media than non-gaming students. Those who played high-risk games were less likely to play alone and to play with strangers than those who played minimal-risk games. For Study 2, our 772 participants were 50% female and 57% White (mean age 12.6). Similar to Study 1, we found that those who played the high-risk games spent significantly more time playing games, were more interactive with other players, and had poorer sleep outcomes than non-high-risk gamers. Additionally, playing high-risk games had significantly different social impacts of gaming compared to less-risky gaming, including spending more money on games, spending less time on homework and with family or skipping meals due to gaming. Mature and violent content of video games and amount of online social interaction associated with gaming play a strong role in behavioral health and social impacts within families. These results can inform guidelines to intervene when problematic behaviors emerge.
我们研究了视频游戏的风险水平（通过成熟度和暴力程度来衡量）与行为健康、社会影响和在线社交互动之间的关系。在两个不同队列的基于学校的调查中，评估了自我报告的游戏行为、健康状况和社交媒体使用情况。在研究 1 中，我们的 700 名参与者中 52%为女性，48%为白人（平均年龄 12.7 岁）。玩高风险游戏的中学生报告称，他们的抑郁症状和网络问题行为更严重，睡眠更少，玩游戏的时间更多，检查社交媒体的频率更高，而不玩游戏的学生则更少。与玩低风险游戏的学生相比，玩高风险游戏的学生更不可能独自玩游戏或与陌生人玩游戏。在研究 2 中，我们的 772 名参与者中 50%为女性，57%为白人（平均年龄 12.6 岁）。与研究 1 类似，我们发现玩高风险游戏的人花在玩游戏上的时间明显更多，与其他玩家的互动更频繁，睡眠质量也比不玩高风险游戏的人差。此外，与低风险游戏相比，玩高风险游戏对游戏的社会影响有显著不同，包括花更多的钱在游戏上，花更少的时间在家庭作业、与家人在一起或因游戏而不吃饭。视频游戏的成熟和暴力内容以及在线社交互动的数量与游戏行为密切相关，对家庭中的行为健康和社会影响有重要影响。这些结果可以为出现问题行为时的干预措施提供指导。
