The next level of research on electronic play : potential benefits and contextual influences for children and adolescents

Most research on electronic play has focused on its possible negative effects for children and adolescents, and contextual factors such as socioeconomic status (SES) and culture are rarely considered. This article considers the potential benefits of electronic play from a psychological perspective, as well as individual and contextual factors that may shape the influence of electronic play for children and adolescents. Demographics of players and the games themselves are presented, and recommendations for research and policy are

[1]  J. Cooper,et al.  Video Games and Aggression in Children , 1986 .

[2]  Mark Griffiths,et al.  Can Videogames be Good for Your Health? , 2004, Journal of health psychology.

[3]  Steven L. Kent.  The Ultimate History of Video Games: From Pong to Pokemon--the Story behind the Craze That Touched Our Lives and Changed the World , 2001 .

[4]  H. Perkinson,et al.  The Unschooled Mind: How Children Think and How Schools Should Teach , 1993 .

[5]  Sally McNamee.  Foucault's Heterotopia and Children's Everyday Lives , 2000 .

[6]  K. Dodge,et al.  Social cognition and children's aggressive behavior. , 1980, Child development.

[7]  F. Ascione,et al.  The effects of prosocial and aggressive videogames on children's donating and helping. , 1987, The Journal of genetic psychology.

[8]  D. Winnicott.  The Piggle: An Account of the Psychoanalytic Treatment of a Little Girl , 1977 .

[9]  L. R. Huesmann,et al.  Regulating media violence: Why, how, and by whom? , 2003 .

[10]  Margaret M. Lloyd,et al.  Virtual Kids of the 21st Century: Understanding the Children in Schools Today , 2001 .

[11]  Uta Frith,et al.  Theory of mind , 2001, Current Biology.

[12]  S. Greenspan,et al.  Intelligence quotient scores of 4-year-old children: social-environmental risk factors. , 1987, Pediatrics.

[13]  John L. Sherry.  The effects of violent video games on aggression a meta-analysis , 2001 .

[14]  Akira Sakamoto,et al.  Video Game Use and The Development of Sociocognitive Abilities in Children: Three Surveys of Elementary School Students1 , 1994 .

[15]  A. Pellegrini,et al.  Dominance in Early Adolescent Boys: Affiliative and Aggressive Dimensions and Possible Functions , 2001 .

[16]  Jerome L. Singer,et al.  The House of Make-Believe: Play and the Developing Imagination , 1990 .

[17]  A. Leslie.  Pretense and representation: The origins of "theory of mind." , 1987 .

[18]  Jeanne B. Funk,et al.  Aggression and psychopathology in adolescents with a preference for violent electronic games , 2002 .

[19]  A. Bandura.  Social Foundations of Thought and Action: A Social Cognitive Theory , 1985 .

[20]  K. Jackson.  From Barbie to Mortal Kombat: Gender and Computer Games , 2000 .

[21]  A. Caspi,et al.  Genetic and environmental processes in young children's resilience and vulnerability to socioeconomic deprivation. , 2004, Child development.

[22]  J. Goldstein.  Why We Watch: The Attractions of Violent Entertainment , 1998 .

[23]  Johannes W. J. Beentjes,et al.  Children's use of different media: For how long and why? , 2001 .

[24]  O Wiegman,et al.  Video game playing and its relations with aggressive and prosocial behaviour. , 1998, The British journal of social psychology.

[25]  R. Thakur,et al.  United Nations peacekeeping operations : ad hoc missions, permanent engagement , 2001 .

[26]  Steve Ta-Shen Yang.  W. George Scarlett, Sophie Naudeau, Dorothy Salonius-Pasternak, and Iris Ponte, Children's Play Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. 2005 , 2006 .

[27]  J. C. Dill,et al.  VIDEO GAME VIOLENCE: A REVIEW OF THE EMPIRICAL LITERATURE , 1998 .

[28]  K. Matthews,et al.  Socioeconomic status and health in adolescents: the role of stress interpretations. , 2004, Child development.

[29]  M. Lamb,et al.  Parent–child relationships. , 1992 .

[30]  M D Griffiths.  Video game violence and aggression: comments on 'Video game playing and its relations with aggressive and prosocial behaviour' by O. Wiegman and E. G. M. van Schie. , 2000, The British journal of social psychology.

[31]  M. Bowie.  Media violence. , 1997, South African medical journal = Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir geneeskunde.

[32]  Leonard Fontana,et al.  Childhood Violence Prevention Education Using Video Games , 2004 .

[33]  Mark Griffiths,et al.  The Therapeutic Use of Videogames in Childhood and Adolescence , 2003 .

[34]  D. Gentile,et al.  The effects of violent video game habits on adolescent hostility, aggressive behaviors, and school performance. , 2004, Journal of adolescence.

[35]  Kevin Haninger,et al.  Content and ratings of teen-rated video games. , 2004, JAMA.

[36]  L. Bensley,et al.  Video games and real-life aggression: review of the literature. , 2001, The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine.

[37]  C. Beal,et al.  Culture, Ethnic Conflict and Moral Orientation in Bosnian Children , 2003 .

[38]  Feng S. Din,et al.  The Effects of Playing Educational Video Games on Kindergarten Achievement , 2001 .

[39]  J. Goldstein.  Aggressive toy play. , 1995 .

[40]  C. Anderson,et al.  Effects of Violent Video Games on Aggressive Behavior, Aggressive Cognition, Aggressive Affect, Physiological Arousal, and Prosocial Behavior: A Meta-Analytic Review of the Scientific Literature , 2001, Psychological science.

[41]  A. Pellegrini,et al.  Perceptions and functions of play and real fighting in early adolescence. , 2003, Child development.

[42]  C. S. Green,et al.  Action video game modifies visual selective attention , 2003, Nature.

[43]  Yasmin B. Kafai,et al.  Minds In Play: Computer Game Design as a Context for Children''s , 1994 .

[44]  J. Goldstein,et al.  Toys, Play, and Child Development , 1994 .

[45]  G. Currie,et al.  What's the difference. , 1959, Canadian hospital.

[46]  C. Anderson,et al.  Affect of the Game Player , 1986 .

[47]  Mark D. Griffiths,et al.  Home video game playing in schoolchildren: a study of incidence and patterns of play , 1995 .

[48]  Steven J. Kirsh.  The effects of violent video games on adolescents , 2003, Aggression and Violent Behavior.

[49]  R. north,et al.  Grand theft auto, San Andreas : jeu vidéo , 2004 .

[50]  W. Scarlett.  Children's Play , 2004 .

[51]  K. Scherer,et al.  Psychophysiological responses to appraisal dimensions in a computer game , 2004 .

[52]  L. Berkowitz,et al.  Some effects of thoughts on anti- and prosocial influences of media events: a cognitive-neoassociation analysis. , 1984, Psychological bulletin.

[53]  B. Sutton‐Smith.  Toys, Play, and Child Development: Does play prepare the future? , 1994 .

[54]  Juha Suoranta,et al.  Children in the Information Society: The Case of Finland , 2004 .

[55]  Michele J. Fleming,et al.  Effects of Violent Versus Nonviolent Video Games on Children's Arousal, Aggressive Mood, and Positive Mood , 2001 .

[56]  S. Wilson.  What Video Games Have to Teach Us about Learning and Literacy , 2006 .

[57]  Tracie Pasold,et al.  Violence exposure in real-life, video games, television, movies, and the internet: is there desensitization? , 2004, Journal of adolescence.

[58]  E. Chen,et al.  Why Socioeconomic Status Affects the Health of Children , 2004 .

[59]  M. Bornstein,et al.  Developmental psychology: An advanced textbook, 4th ed. , 1999 .

[60]  Ricardo A Tejeiro Salguero,et al.  Measuring problem video game playing in adolescents. , 2002, Addiction.

[61]  Dorothy E. Salonius-Pasternak,et al.  The play's the thing: a clinical-developmental perspective on video games. , 2005, Child and adolescent psychiatric clinics of North America.

[62]  Book reviewThe house of make-believe: Play and the developing imagination: Singer, D.G., & Singer, J.L. Cambridge, Ma: Harvard University Press, 1990 , 1992 .

[63]  S. Luthar.  The culture of affluence: psychological costs of material wealth. , 2003, Child development.