Researchers from the Department of Psychology at the Yale University School of Medicine in West Haven, Connecticut, surveyed 4,028 adolescents about “gaming and reported problems with gaming and other health behaviors.” A little over half (51.2 percent) reported gaming, and of those nearly a third (29.2 percent) were girls.
Nothing surprising so far, but get this:
“There were no negative health correlates of gaming in boys and lower odds of smoking regularly; however, girls who reported gaming were less likely to report depression and more likely to report getting into serious fights and carrying a weapon to school,” according to the survey.
What’s more, 4.9 percent of respondents reported “problematic gaming,” which the survey defines as trying to cut back, experiencing an irresistible urge to play, and experience a growing tension that can only be relieved by playing.
We do, however, have to the give the study’s authors credit for not making any wild claims about violence in videogames or twisting the results of the survey.
“The prevalence of problematic gaming is low but not insignificant, and problematic gaming may be contained within a larger spectrum of externalizing behaviors,” the study concludes. “More research is needed to define safe levels of gaming, refine the definition of problematic gaming, and evaluate effective prevention and intervention strategies.”
via:
Survey: Gamer Girls More Likely to Carry Weapons to School
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