Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress 2023 EHA Congress 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

At a glance: The ONWARDS insulin icodec trials

A round-up of the ONWARDS phase 3 clinical trials evaluating the novel weekly insulin icodec in people with diabetes.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
Published in: Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 3/2016

01-03-2016 | Original Paper

Is time spent playing video games associated with mental health, cognitive and social skills in young children?

Authors: Viviane Kovess-Masfety, Katherine Keyes, Ava Hamilton, Gregory Hanson, Adina Bitfoi, Dietmar Golitz, Ceren Koç, Rowella Kuijpers, Sigita Lesinskiene, Zlatka Mihova, Roy Otten, Christophe Fermanian, Ondine Pez

Published in: Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology | Issue 3/2016

Login to get access

Abstract

Background

Video games are one of the favourite leisure activities of children; the influence on child health is usually perceived to be negative. The present study assessed the association between the amount of time spent playing video games and children mental health as well as cognitive and social skills.

Methods

Data were drawn from the School Children Mental Health Europe project conducted in six European Union countries (youth ages 6–11, n = 3195). Child mental health was assessed by parents and teachers using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and by children themselves with the Dominic Interactive. Child video game usage was reported by the parents. Teachers evaluated academic functioning. Multivariable logistic regressions were used.

Results

20 % of the children played video games more than 5 h per week. Factors associated with time spent playing video games included being a boy, being older, and belonging to a medium size family. Having a less educated, single, inactive, or psychologically distressed mother decreased time spent playing video games. Children living in Western European countries were significantly less likely to have high video game usage (9.66 vs 20.49 %) though this was not homogenous. Once adjusted for child age and gender, number of children, mothers age, marital status, education, employment status, psychological distress, and region, high usage was associated with 1.75 times the odds of high intellectual functioning (95 % CI 1.31–2.33), and 1.88 times the odds of high overall school competence (95 % CI 1.44–2.47). Once controlled for high usage predictors, there were no significant associations with any child self-reported or mother- or teacher-reported mental health problems. High usage was associated with decreases in peer relationship problems [OR 0.41 (0.2–0.86) and in prosocial deficits (0.23 (0.07, 0.81)].

Conclusions

Playing video games may have positive effects on young children. Understanding the mechanisms through which video game use may stimulate children should be further investigated.
Footnotes
Literature
1.
Messias E, Castro J, Saini A, Usman M, Peeples D (2011) Sadness, suicide, and their association with video game and internet overuse among teens: results from the youth risk behavior survey 2007 and 2009. Suicide Life Threat Behav 41(3):307–315CrossRefPubMed
2.
Primack BA, Swanier B, Georgiopoulos AM, Land SR, Fine MJ (2009) Association between media use in adolescence and depression in young adulthood: a longitudinal study. Arch Gen Psychiatry 66(2):181–188CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
3.
Wenzel HG, Bakken IJ, Johansson A, Gotestam KG, Oren A (2009) Excessive computer game playing among Norwegian adults: self-reported consequences of playing and association with mental health problems. Psychol Rep 105(3 Pt 2):1237–1247CrossRefPubMed
4.
Casiano H, Kinley DJ, Katz LY, Chartier MJ, Sareen J (2012) Media use and health outcomes in adolescents: findings from a nationally representative survey. J Can Acad Child Adolesc 21(4):296–301
5.
Funk JB (2005) Children’s exposure to violent video games and desensitization to violence. Child Adolesc Psychiatr Clin N Am 14(3):387–404
6.
Tejeiro Salguero RA, Moran RM (2002) Measuring problem video game playing in adolescents. Addiction 97(12):1601–1606CrossRefPubMed
7.
Rehbein F, Kleimann M, Mossle T (2010) Prevalence and risk factors of video game dependency in adolescence: results of a German nationwide survey. Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw 13(3):269–277CrossRefPubMed
8.
Dorman SM (1997) Video and computer games: effect on children and implications for health education. J School Health 67(4):133–138CrossRefPubMed
9.
Ferguson CJ (2010) Blazing angels or resident evil? Can violent video games be a force for good? Rev Gen Psychol 14(2):68–81CrossRef
10.
Ferguson CJ (2011) Video games and youth violence: a prospective analysis in adolescents. J Youth Adolesc 40(4):377–391CrossRefPubMed
11.
Ferguson CJ (2011) The influence of television and video game use on attention and school problems: a multivariate analysis with other risk factors controlled. J Psychiatr Res 45(6):808–813CrossRefPubMed
12.
Ferguson CJ, Kilburn J (2010) Much ado about nothing: the misestimation and overinterpretation of violent video game effects in eastern and western nations: comment on Anderson et al. (2010). Psychol Bull 136(2):174–178 (discussion 82–87) CrossRefPubMed
13.
Kovess V, Carta MG, Pez O, Bitfoi A, Koc C, Goelitz D et al (2015) The School Children Mental Health in Europe (SCMHE) Project: design and first results. Clin Pract Epidemiol Ment Health 11(Suppl 1 M7):113–123CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
14.
Korkeila J, Lehtinen V, Bijl R, Dalgard OS, Kovess V, Morgan A et al (2003) Establishing a set of mental health indicators for Europe. Scand J Public Health 31(6):451–459CrossRefPubMed
15.
Goodman R (1997) The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire: a research note. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 38(5):581–586CrossRefPubMed
16.
Goodman R (2001) Psychometric properties of the strengths and difficulties questionnaire. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 40(11):1337–1345CrossRefPubMed
17.
Muris P, Meesters C, van den Berg F (2003) The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)—further evidence for its reliability and validity in a community sample of Dutch children and adolescents. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 12(1):1–8CrossRefPubMed
18.
Becker A, Woerner W, Hasselhorn M, Banaschewski T, Rothenberger A (2004) Validation of the parent and teacher SDQ in a clinical sample. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 13(Suppl 2):II11–II16PubMed
19.
Marzocchi GM, Capron C, Di Pietro M, Duran Tauleria E, Duyme M, Frigerio A et al (2004) The use of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) in Southern European countries. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 13(Suppl 2):II40–II46CrossRefPubMed
20.
Becker A, Steinhausen HC, Baldursson G, Dalsgaard S, Lorenzo MJ, Ralston SJ et al (2006) Psychopathological screening of children with ADHD: Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire in a pan-European study. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 15(Suppl 1):I56–I62CrossRefPubMed
21.
Goodman R, Renfrew D, Mullick M (2000) Predicting type of psychiatric disorder from Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) scores in child mental health clinics in London and Dhaka. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 9(2):129–134CrossRefPubMed
22.
Valla JP, Bergeron L, Berube H, Gaudet N, St-Georges M (1994) A structured pictorial questionnaire to assess DSM-III-R-based diagnoses in children (6–11 years): development, validity, and reliability. J Abnorm Child Psychol 22(4):403–423CrossRefPubMed
23.
Valla JP, Bergeron L, Smolla N (2000) The Dominic-R: a pictorial interview for 6- to 11-year-old children. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 39(1):85–93CrossRefPubMed
24.
Kuijpers RC, Otten R, Vermulst AA, Pez O, Bitfoi A, Carta M et al (2015) Reliability, factor structure, and measurement invariance of the Dominic Interactive across European Countries: cross-country utility of a child mental health self-report. Psychol Assess. doi:10.​1037/​pas0000139 PubMed
25.
Kovess-Masfety V, Pilowsky DJ, Goelitz D, Kuijpers R, Otten R, Moro MF et al (2015) Suicidal ideation and mental health disorders in young school children across Europe. J Affect Disord 177:28–35
26.
Shimai S, Masuda K, Kishimoto Y (1990) Influences of TV games on physical and psychological development of Japanese kindergarten children. Percept Mot Skills 70(3 Pt 1):771–776CrossRefPubMed
27.
28.
Ewoldsen DR, Eno CA, Okdie BM, Velez JA, Guadagno RE, DeCoster J (2012) Effect of playing violent video games cooperatively or competitively on subsequent cooperative behavior. Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw 15(5):277–280CrossRefPubMed
29.
Gentile DA, Anderson CA, Yukawa S, Ihori N, Saleem M, Ming LK et al (2009) The effects of prosocial video games on prosocial behaviors: international evidence from correlational, longitudinal, and experimental studies. Pers Soc Psychol Bull 35(6):752–763CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
Metadata
Title
Is time spent playing video games associated with mental health, cognitive and social skills in young children?
Authors
Viviane Kovess-Masfety
Katherine Keyes
Ava Hamilton
Gregory Hanson
Adina Bitfoi
Dietmar Golitz
Ceren Koç
Rowella Kuijpers
Sigita Lesinskiene
Zlatka Mihova
Roy Otten
Christophe Fermanian
Ondine Pez
Publication date
01-03-2016
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology / Issue 3/2016
Print ISSN: 0933-7954
Electronic ISSN: 1433-9285
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-016-1179-6

Other articles of this Issue 3/2016

Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 3/2016 Go to the issue

Commentary (Invited)

Youth services: the need to integrate mental health, physical health and social care

Original Paper

A national epidemiological study investigating risk factors for police interrogation and false confession among juveniles and young persons

Original Paper

Alcohol use, mental well-being, self-esteem and general self-efficacy among final-year university students

Original Paper

Illness perception, help-seeking attitudes, and knowledge related to obsessive–compulsive disorder across different ethnic groups: a community survey

Original Paper

Eating disorders in a multi-ethnic inner-city UK sample: prevalence, comorbidity and service use

Original Paper

Posttraumatic stress disorder and alcohol misuse among women: effects of ethnic minority stressors