Abstract
Video game playing has become a very popular activity among adolescents. Its impact on the mental health and well-being of
players is just beginning to be explored. This paper reports on the prevalence of problematic gaming in a representative sample
of 2,832 Ontario students in grades 7 to 12. The survey included questions about the school grade, family and school related
problems, frequency of video game playing and video game related problems as measured by the Problem Video Game Playing scale
(PVP). Most of the students (85 %) reported playing video games in the past year and 18.3 % reported playing video games daily.
Slightly less then 1 in 10 of the students (9.4 %) endorsed 5 or more of the PVP items (males 15.1 %; females 3.1 %). Further
research is required to delineate the concept of excessive video game playing, its relation to other addictions, and the impact
on adolescents’ psychosocial functioning.
players is just beginning to be explored. This paper reports on the prevalence of problematic gaming in a representative sample
of 2,832 Ontario students in grades 7 to 12. The survey included questions about the school grade, family and school related
problems, frequency of video game playing and video game related problems as measured by the Problem Video Game Playing scale
(PVP). Most of the students (85 %) reported playing video games in the past year and 18.3 % reported playing video games daily.
Slightly less then 1 in 10 of the students (9.4 %) endorsed 5 or more of the PVP items (males 15.1 %; females 3.1 %). Further
research is required to delineate the concept of excessive video game playing, its relation to other addictions, and the impact
on adolescents’ psychosocial functioning.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Pages 1-13
- DOI 10.1007/s11469-012-9382-5
- Authors
- Nigel E. Turner, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Angela Paglia-Boak, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Bruce Ballon, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Joyce T. W. Cheung, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Edward M. Adlaf, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Joanna Henderson, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Vincy Chan, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Jürgen Rehm, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Hayley Hamilton, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Robert E. Mann, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Journal International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction
- Online ISSN 1557-1882
- Print ISSN 1557-1874