Dataset Information

Exploring the possible mental health and wellbeing benefits of video games for adult players: A cross-sectional study.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

There is mixed evidence on the psychological effects of video games. While excessive use can be harmful, moderate use can have emotional, psychological and social benefits, with games successfully used in treating anxiety and depression. More data are required to understand how and for whom these benefits occur. This paper aims to identify correlations between video game genre, player demographics, wellbeing, and the in-play psychological processes for adult players.

Method

Adult gamers (n = 2107) completed an anonymous cross-sectional survey canvassing play style, genre, perception of psychological impact and mechanisms (wellbeing, self-determination and flow). A multivariate multiple regression model explored correlations.

Results

88.4% of participants experienced emotional benefits from gaming, with stronger benefits experienced by younger players in all categories. The genres most strongly correlated with psychological benefits were music games, role-playing games and survival horror games. Multiplayer online battle arena games had lower scores for psychological and emotional wellbeing.

Conclusions

Certain genres have stronger correlations with beneficial mechanisms, while some may be detrimental to players. These results may guide experimental studies to measure the directionality and strength of these correlations and can also impact practical aspects in development of therapeutic games to treat mental distress.

SUBMITTER: Hazel J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9749564 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Exploring the possible mental health and wellbeing benefits of video games for adult players: A cross-sectional study.

Hazel Jennifer J Kim Hyun Min HM Every-Palmer Susanna S

Australasian psychiatry : bulletin of Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists 20220522 4

<h4>Objective</h4>There is mixed evidence on the psychological effects of video games. While excessive use can be harmful, moderate use can have emotional, psychological and social benefits, with games successfully used in treating anxiety and depression. More data are required to understand how and for whom these benefits occur. This paper aims to identify correlations between video game genre, player demographics, wellbeing, and the in-play psychological processes for adult players.<h4>Method< ...[more]

PMID: 35603464

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Project description:Background: Although several excellent reviews and meta-analyses have investigated the effect of video game trainings as tools to enhance well-being, most of them specifically focused on the effects of digital games on brain plasticity or cognitive decline in children and seniors. On the contrary, only one meta-analysis results to be focused on the adult population, and it is restricted to examining the effects of training with a particular genre of games (action video games) on cognitive skills of healthy adults. Objectives: This systematic review was aimed to identify research evidences about the impact on cognitive [i.e., processing and reaction times (RTs), memory, task-switching/multitasking, and mental spatial rotation] and emotional skills of video games training in the healthy adult population. Methods: A multi-component analysis of variables related to the study, the video games, and the outcomes of the training was made on the basis of important previous works. Databases used in the search were PsycINFO, Web of Science (Web of Knowledge), PubMed, and Scopus. The search string was: [("Video Games" OR "Computer Games" OR "Interactive Gaming")] AND [("Cognition") OR ("Cognitive") OR ("Emotion") OR ("Emotion Regulation")] AND ["Training"]. Results: Thirty-five studies met the inclusion criteria and were further classified into the different analysis' variables. The majority of the retrieved studies used commercial video games, and action games in particular, which resulted to be the most commonly used, closely followed by puzzle games. Effect sizes for training with video games on cognitive skills in general ranged from 0.06 to 3.43: from 0.141 to 3.43 for processing and RTs, 0.06 to 1.82 for memory, 0.54 to 1.91 for task switching/multitasking, and 0.3 to 3.2 for mental spatial rotation; regarding video games for the training of emotional skills, effect sizes ranged from 0.201 to 3.01. Conclusion: Overall, findings give evidences of benefits of video games training on cognitive and emotional skills in relation to the healthy adult population, especially on young adults. Efficacy has been demonstrated not only for non-commercial video games or commercial brain-training programs, but for commercial video games as well.

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Dataset Information

Exploring the possible mental health and wellbeing benefits of video games for adult players: A cross-sectional study.

Objective

Method

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Exploring the possible mental health and wellbeing benefits of video games for adult players: A cross-sectional study.

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