More Than a Just a Game: Video Game and Internet Use During Emerging Adulthood

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to gain a clearer understanding of the pattern of video game and internet use among college students and to examine how electronic leisure was related to risk behaviors (i.e., drinking, drug use, sex), perceptions of the self (i.e., self worth and social acceptance), and relationships with others (i.e., relationship quality with parents and friends). Participants included 813 undergraduate students (500 young women, 313 young men, M age = 20, SD = 1.87) who were mainly European American (79%), unmarried (100%) and living outside their parents' home (90%). Results suggested that (a) video game use was linked to negative outcomes for men and women, (b) different patterns of video game and internet use existed for men and women and (c) there were different relations to risk behaviors, feelings about the self, and relationship quality based on the type of internet use, and based on gender. The discussion focuses on the implications of electronic leisure on the overall health and development of young people as they transition to adulthood.

Prevalence and Correlates of Exergaming in Youth

“…However, unlike nonactive video games and television, exergaming reduces sedentary screen time, which is negatively associated with obesity. [73][74][75] Our results concur with a recent report that youth who play traditional video games are less likely to smoke. 68 It is possible that exergamers spend more time in front of screens and therefore have less time to spend socializing with peers who smoke.…”

Gambling and Video Game Playing Among Youth

“…In the current study, significantly more males than females were identified as addicted gamers and social gamers, and significantly more females than males were identified as non-gamers, a pattern that has also been widely reported with problem gambling. This gender divide has been reported elsewhere (Desai et al, 2010;Gentile, Choo, Liau, Sim, Fung, & Koo, 2011;Griffiths et al, 2004b;Lemmens et al, 2009Lemmens et al, , 2011Mentzoni et al, 2011;Padilla-Walker et al, 2010;. Whether or not game choice affected these results is beyond the scope of this paper but, as with gambling, video game manufacturers are becoming aware of the market potential of women gamers and these numbers may change as game designers create and promote games geared toward women and girls.…”

“…Males are also more likely than females to play video games and to score more highly on addicted gaming screens (Dauriat et al, 2011;Griffiths, Davies, & Chappell, 2004a, 2004bLemmens, Valkenburg, & Peter, 2011;Mentzoni et al, 2011;Padilla-Walker, Nelson, Carroll, & Jensen, 2010). Desai, Krishnan-Sarin, Cavallo, & Potenza (2010) reported gender differences between gamers and non-gamers.…”

Alcohol consumption and the risk of Internet addiction in teenagers aged 13-17 years living in the urban and rural areas

“…Other researchers [3][4][5][6][7][8][9], among risky behaviours in adolescents, coexisting with the use of psychoactive substances, name Internet addiction and the risk of Internet addiction, computer games and use Internet pornography.…”

“…Pawłowska et al [14] indicate that the adolescents who are at risk of developing Internet addiction more often consume alcohol in a stressful situation as compared to the people who are not at risk of this addiction. Some researchers [7,8,9] point out that alcohol consumption is accompanied by Internet pornography use and playing computer games by adolescents. Similarly, Svedin et al [15] indicate that young men looking at pornography consume alcohol more often as compared to those who do use pornography.…”