Li Yan, Deng Tao, Ngombe Nicola, Kanske Philipp
Clinical Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
Department of Psychology and Logopedics, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
Front Psychol. 2025 Jun 4;16:1526493. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1526493. eCollection 2025.
Aggressive behavior in early childhood can have lasting consequences. This study examined whether prosocial video game play can reduce aggressive behavior in relatively Chinese preschoolers and explored the mediating role of aggressive motivation and the moderating effects of age and gender.
A total of 132 children aged 4 to 6 years (50% girls; = 5.0, = 0.82) participated in a between-subjects experiment. Participants were randomly assigned to play either a prosocial or a neutral video game. Aggressive behavior and aggressive motivation were assessed following gameplay.
Children who played the prosocial video game exhibited significantly lower levels of aggressive behavior than those in the neutral game condition. Revenge motivation significantly mediated this effect. The mediating effect was stronger in boys than in girls; age did not moderate the associations.
These findings suggest that prosocial video games may be effective in reducing aggressive behavior among preschoolers, partly by lowering revenge-related motivation. Gender differences in the mediation pathway highlight the need for tailored early interventions.
幼儿期的攻击性行为可能会产生持久的后果。本研究考察了亲社会电子游戏是否能减少中国学龄前儿童的攻击性行为，并探讨了攻击动机的中介作用以及年龄和性别的调节作用。
共有132名4至6岁的儿童（50%为女孩；平均年龄 = 5.0岁，标准差 = 0.82）参与了一项组间实验。参与者被随机分配去玩亲社会电子游戏或中性电子游戏。游戏结束后评估攻击性行为和攻击动机。
玩亲社会电子游戏的儿童表现出的攻击性行为水平显著低于玩中性电子游戏的儿童。报复动机显著中介了这一效应。中介效应在男孩中比在女孩中更强；年龄并未调节这些关联。
这些发现表明，亲社会电子游戏可能在减少学龄前儿童的攻击性行为方面有效，部分原因是降低了与报复相关的动机。中介途径中的性别差异凸显了进行针对性早期干预的必要性。
