Original article
Factors Correlated with Violent Video Game Use by Adolescent Boys and Girls

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2007.01.001Get rights and content

Abstract

Purpose

To compare the video and computer game play patterns of young adolescent boys and girls, including factors correlated with playing violent games.

Methods

Data collected in November/December, 2004 from children in grades 7 and 8 at two demographically diverse schools in Pennsylvania and South Carolina, using a detailed written self-reported survey.

Results

Of 1254 participants (53% female, 47% male), only 80 reported playing no electronic games in the previous 6 months. Of 1126 children who listed frequently played game titles, almost half (48.8%) played at least one violent (mature-rated) game regularly (67.9% of boys and 29.2% of girls). One third of boys and 10.7% of girls play games nearly every day; only 1 in 20 plays often or always with a parent. Playing M-rated games is positively correlated (p < .001) with being male, frequent game play, playing with strangers over the Internet, having a game system and computer in one’s bedroom, and using games to manage anger.

Conclusions

Most young adolescent boys and many girls routinely play M-rated games. Implications for identifying atypical and potentially harmful patterns of electronic game use are discussed, as well as the need for greater media literacy among parents.

Section snippets

Methods

In the fall of 2004, we surveyed 7th and 8th grade students during English/Language Arts class periods at two middle schools in Pennsylvania and South Carolina. Class sizes ranged from 6 to 31 students, with a median size of 23. All students in attendance on the day of the survey were asked to participate, with the exception of classrooms of students who had significantly limited English skills or physical, emotional, or intellectual limitations that prevented them from completing surveys (as

Results

A total of 1254 students completed the survey; participation was considered evidence of assent. More than 98% of respondents were aged 12 to 14; the sample was 53% female and 47% male. Virtually all 7th and 8th grade students in attendance on the day of the survey, including students in some special-needs classrooms, took part in the study; 88% of enrolled students in Pennsylvania and 79% of enrolled students in South Carolina completed surveys. One parent directly requested that his child be

Time Spent with Electronic Games

Respondents estimated how much time they usually spend playing electronic games, in categories of hours and days per week. One third of girls (32.1%) played for less than 1 hour per week. Nearly two thirds of girls (64.0%) played for 2 hours or less, and 14.4% played for 6+ hours per week. Boys spent much more time on electronic games. Only 8.4% of boys played for less than 1 hour per week, and 28.1% for 2 hours or less; 44.6% of boys played 6+ hours per week. Boys were ten times as likely as

Discussion

This study describes patterns and correlates of M-rated electronic game use in a sample of middle-school boys and girls, and highlights aspects that could serve as markers of risk for behavioral or psychological problems.

We found that playing M-rated games is common among children aged 12 to 14. Although 44% of boys and 20% of girls had played one or more games in the intensely violent, satirical Grand Theft Auto series, boys were five times more likely than girls to have played at least one

Acknowledgments

We thank Sarah M. Hertzog, M.A., Molly R. Butterworth, Catherine C. Garth, George C. Nitzburg, Jane R. Littmann, Ph.D., Spencer K. Lynn, Ph.D., and Jenny Atkinson for their assistance with data collection, and Michael S. Jellinek, M.D., for his review of the manuscript. This research was supported by Grant No. 2003-JN-FX-0078 awarded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Dept of Justice.

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