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Abstract
There is increasing public and scientific concern regarding the
long-term behavioural effects of video game use in children, but
currently little consensus as to the nature of any such relationships.
We investigated the relationship between video game use in children,
degree of violence in games, and measures of depression and a 6-level
banded measure of conduct disorder. Data from the Avon Longitudinal
Study of Parents and Children were used. A 3-level measure of game use
at age 8/9 years was developed, taking into account degree of violence
based on game genre. Associations with conduct disorder and depression,
measured at age 15, were investigated using ordinal logistic regression,
adjusted for a number of potential confounders. Shoot-em-up games were
associated with conduct disorder bands, and with a binary measure of
conduct disorder, although the strength of evidence for these
associations was weak. A sensitivity analysis comparing those who play
competitive games to those who play shoot-em-ups found weak evidence
supporting the hypothesis that it is violence rather than
competitiveness that is associated with conduct disorder. However this
analysis was underpowered, and we cannot rule out the possibility that
increasing levels of competition in games may be just as likely to
account for the observed associations as violent content. Overall game
exposure as indicated by number of games in a household was not related
to conduct disorder, nor was any association found between shoot-em-up
video game use and depression.
Original language | English |
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Article number | e0147732 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | PLoS ONE |
Volume | 11 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 28 Jan 2016 |
Structured keywords
- Brain and Behaviour
- Tobacco and Alcohol
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