The multi-billion dollar video game industry produces a plethora of digital experiences for youth. As the nature of these experiences evolve to support business needs and technological advances, it is important to assess their impact on youth well-being. This section of “Handbook of Children and Screens: Digital Media, Development, and Well-Being from Birth Through Adolescence” highlights research showing associations between youth video game use, poor mental health, and user-modeled aggression. These relationships are evolving because, as the online world expands, video games have converged with different digital content and platforms (e.g., pornography, gambling, social media). For example, gambling-like elements, such as loot boxes, and sexualized, mature content have been incorporated into video games. Gamers can use social media to directly access video games or join online communities to discuss gaming, and the video game industry relies heavily on social media for advertising. As a result, the types of video game features youth are exposed to and the effects of these features are shifting. To promote youth well-being in these ever-changing spaces, the authors suggest creating more robust diagnostic tools for online risk assessments, longitudinal research studies, and early online risk prevention efforts.
Recommendations
The following recommendations are excerpts from the "Video Gaming, Violence, and Gambling" section of the “Handbook of Children and Screens: Digital Media, Development, and Well-Being from Birth Through Adolescence." This open access publication is free to download in full or by individual chapters via the links provided following the recommendations below.
- Complete training to recognize problematic digital media use and understand the relationship between different types of media use and developmental outcomes.
- Determine efficacy of interventions for problematic video game use across ages.
- Provide parents and youth with educational resources for healthy and problematic digital media use.
- Screen for gambling and gaming disorder among youth.
- If relevant, share expertise in diagnosing or treating problematic gaming through educational resources to inform allied health fields.
- Follow video game content rating suggestions.
- Monitor children’s digital media use, including game play.
- Understand the potential risks of gambling and learn to recognize warning signs of gambling and gaming disorder.
- Consider children’s developmental stage when determining the appropriateness of game content.
- Share lived experiences and perspectives as gamers with researchers, policymakers, and game developers.
- Leverage purchasing power by supporting games with ethical design.
- Incorporate clinical criteria updates for gaming and gambling disorders into policies.
- Acknowledge that gaming and gambling disorders are a public health concern and implement appropriate regulations.
- Monitor development of gaming products for youth, consider age restrictions, and require transparency from media companies.
- Encourage major funding bodies and national agencies to invest in online risk behavior research and population-level monitoring.
- Foster collaboration between key stakeholders to promote children’s well-being.
- Reevaluate definitions of gambling.
- Develop public health campaigns that educate about online risk behaviors and encourage life balance.
- Begin preventative programs for problematic digital media use at early ages.
- Support researcher access to industry data.
- Allow researchers to access data.
- Include warnings for concerns, such as privacy, cyberbullying, griefing, trolling, identity theft, grooming, antisocial behavior, and poor mental health.
- Develop educational tools that inform allied health fields about problematic gaming.
- Extend research with large, representative samples and longitudinal studies.
- Utilize holistic research approaches that assess specific features and mechanics of games, individual player characteristics, and social contexts of gaming.
- Assess potential prevention or intervention strategies for problematic gaming.
- Leverage objective data sources.
Video Gaming, Violence, and Gambling Section Chapters
Introduction to the Section on Video Gaming, Violence, and Gambling
Doug Gentile, PhD, and Marc Potenza, MD, PhD
Video Gaming and Its Effects on Children and Adolescents: Research Priorities and Recommendations
Daniel L. King, PhD, Christina R. Galanis, PhD, Paul H. Delfabbro, PhD, Joel Billieux, PhD, Orsolya Király, PhD, Natale Canale, PhD, PsyD, Florian Rehbein, PhD, Sally Gainsbury, PhD, Marc N. Potenza, MD, PhD
Violent Video Games and Aggression
Brad J. Bushman, PhD, Alessandro Gabbiadini, PhD, Tobias Greitemeyer, PhD, Barbara Krahé, PhD
Gaming Convergences with Other Digital Technologies: Gambling, Pornogrpahy, Social Media and Streaming
Sally M. Gainsbury, PhD, Thomas B. Swanton, PhD, Isabel Baenas, MD, Jesús Castro Calvo, PhD, Fernando Fernandez-Aranda, PhD, FAED, Maèva Flayelle, PhD, Susana Jiménez-Murcia, PhD, Gemma Mestre-Bach, PhD, Joël Billieux, PhD
Online Gambling in Youth
Marc N. Potenza, MD, PhD, Gemma Mestre-Bach, PhD, Zsolt Demetrovics, PhD, Jeffrey Derevensky, PhD, Fernando Fernandez-Aranda, PhD, Sally Gainsbury, PhD, Susana Jiménez-Murcia, PhD, Shane W. Kraus, PhD
Problematic Use of the Internet: Summary and Recommendations
Summary and Recommendations found in the "Handbook of Children and Screens: Digital Media, Development, and Well-Being from Birth Through Adolescence," Part One: Research Concerning Cognitive, Physical, Mental, and Psychosocial Impacts on Children, Problematic Use of the Internet Section (pages 173-209)
Digital Media and Mental Health: Summary and Recommendations
Summary and Recommendations found in the "Handbook of Children and Screens: Digital Media, Development, and Well-Being from Birth Through Adolescence," Part One: Research Concerning Cognitive, Physical, Mental, and Psychosocial Impacts on Children, Digital Media and Mental Health Section (pages 117-172)
Digital Media, Cognition, and Brain Development: Summary and Recommendations
Summary and Recommendations found in the "Handbook of Children and Screens: Digital Media, Development, and Well-Being from Birth Through Adolescence," Part One: Research Concerning Cognitive, Physical, Mental, and Psychosocial Impacts on Children, Digital Media, Cognition, and Brain Development Section (pages 7-60)
Screens and Physical Health: Summary and Recommendations
Summary and Recommendations found in the "Handbook of Children and Screens: Digital Media, Development, and Well-Being from Birth Through Adolescence," Part One: Research Concerning Cognitive, Physical, Mental, and Psychosocial Impacts on Children, Screens and Physical Health Section (pages 61-116)
Cyberbullying and Digital Cruelty: Summary and Recommendations
Summary and Recommendations found in the "Handbook of Children and Screens: Digital Media, Development, and Well-Being from Birth Through Adolescence," Part Two: Research on How Media Influence Relationships, Family, Culture, and Society, Cyberbullying and Digital Cruelty Section (pages 427-463)
Race, Racism, and Digital Media: Summary and Recommendations
Summary and Recommendations found in the "Handbook of Children and Screens: Digital Media, Development, and Well-Being from Birth Through Adolescence," Part Two: Research on How Media Influence Relationships, Family, Culture, and Society, Race, Racism, and Digital Media Section (pages 263-316)
Mental Health Apps, ChatBots, and Digital Therapy for Kids: What You Need to Know
The escalating adolescent mental health crisis has been met with a new array of digital solutions--how are these new digital resources shaping the future of mental health care for youth?
Which social media features harm youth mental health?
Which social media features affect kids’ mental health? Why are kids more vulnerable to these features than adults? What changes can social media platforms make to reduce these harms?
Parent Media Use, Technoference, and Its Effects on Children | Brandon McDaniel, PhD
The Neuroscience of Adolescent Digital and Behavioral Addictions | Marc Potenza, MD, PhD
Boys, Health, and Digital Media
Digital media's effects on boys' health and development: a guide from the experts
Safe Zone: Children and Online Safety
What can parents and caregivers do to equip youth with the skills and protections needed to keep themselves safe online?