A study was recently conducted by Oxford’s Department of Psychiatry in order to determine if video games had positive or negative effects on developing teenage minds. According to the report, “most adolescent gamers are doing just fine.”
This study saw over 30,000 students interviewed from 180 different schools across the United Kingdom. Of these 30,000 students, 12,725 of them (between the ages of 12 and 18) were asked gaming-related questions.
The report identified six types of gamers. Adaptive computer gamers made up the largest group (44%), followed by casual computer gamers (22%). Casual phone gamers made up 15% of those surveyed followed by unknown device gamers at 12%. Maladaptive computer gamers made up 6% of those interviewed with the final 2% composed of maladaptive phone gamers.
Maladaptive gamers were described as those that had formed unhealthy gaming patterns, signaling a loss of self-control. The survey showed that these types of gamers were more likely to suffer personal issues like anxiety or aggressive behavior.
Maladaptive phone gamers “were mostly female” and were “more likely to have experienced abuse or neglect.” Meanwhile, maladaptive computer gamers tended to be males.
“Although increased time gaming might be changing how adolescents spend their free time and might thus have public health implications, it does not seem to relate to co-occurring well-being issues or mental ill-health for the majority of adolescent gamers,” the research concludes.
(All information was provided by Cherwell)
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