Impact of Competitive Versus Cooperative Exergame Play on Releasing Anxiety Among Male University Students

Exergames appear to have great potential in releasing anxiety and two ubiquitous elements of exergames are competition and cooperation. However, less is known about effects of competition and cooperation in exergames on anxiety state. Thus, the aim of this study was to examine and compare possible anxiolytic impacts of the two game modes in male university students. Twenty-four healthy male students were recruited and randomly assigned to competitive exergame, cooperative exergame or control conditions. All participants’ state anxiety, trait anxiety or skin conductance were accessed before and after the interventions. During the experiment, the competition and cooperation groups played the exergame in different modes respectively, while the control group was asked to do traditional exercises. Results showed that cooperative exergame significantly improved the state anxiety as well as the physiological behavior. No significant changes of self-report anxiety or physiological response occurred in the competition and control group. Exergames, especially played cooperatively, can be an effective tool for anxiety management.

[1]  Steven J. Petruzzello,et al.  A Meta-Analysis on the Anxiety-Reducing Effects of Acute and Chronic Exercise , 1991, Sports medicine.

[2]  M. Hill,et al.  The effects of aerobic and resistance exercise on state anxiety and cognitive function , 2019, Science & Sports.

[3]  N. Ravaja,et al.  Gender Differences in Emotional Responses to Cooperative and Competitive Game Play , 2014, PloS one.

[4]  A. Bożek,et al.  Physical Activity, Sedentary Behavior, and Quality of Life among University Students , 2019, BioMed research international.

[5]  Sandra L. Calvert,et al.  Adolescent Exergame Play for Weight Loss and Psychosocial Improvement: A Controlled Physical Activity Intervention , 2012, Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.).

[6]  E. Deci,et al.  Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. , 2000, The American psychologist.

[7]  R. Adams.  Revised Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire. , 1999, Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien.

[8]  A. Staiano,et al.  Better Together: Outcomes of Cooperation Versus Competition in Social Exergaming. , 2015, Games for health journal.

[9]  S. Shirazi,et al.  Can galvanic skin conductance be used as an objective indicator of children’s anxiety in the dental setting? , 2017, Journal of clinical and experimental dentistry.

[10]  Wei Peng,et al.  Playing in Parallel: The Effects of Multiplayer Modes in Active Video Game on Motivation and Physical Exertion , 2013, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[11]  Wenhao Liu,et al.  Relations of Physical Activity and Stress Vulnerability in University Students , 2018 .

[12]  Ruoyu Li,et al.  Effect of Gamification of Exercise Therapy on Elderly's Anxiety Emotion , 2019, HCI.

[13]  David Lester Neumann,et al.  The effects of the presence of others during a rowing exercise in a virtual reality environment , 2016 .

[14]  V. Borges,et al.  Anxiolytic Effects of a Single Session of the Exergame Zumba® Fitness on Healthy Young Women , 2017 .

[15]  N. Kerr,et al.  Cyber Buddy Is Better than No Buddy: A Test of the Köhler Motivation Effect in Exergames. , 2014, Games for health journal.

[16]  J. Kivikangas.  Emotion and social context in a digital game experience , 2015 .

[17]  W. Jung,et al.  Reliability Generalization of Scores on the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory , 2002 .

[18]  Sandra L. Calvert,et al.  Adolescent Exergame Play for Weight Loss and Psychosocial Improvement: A Controlled Physical Activity Intervention , 2012, Obesity.

[19]  Christof Lutteroth,et al.  Competition and cooperation with virtual players in an exergame , 2016, PeerJ Comput. Sci..

[20]  Byron Reeves,et al.  Computer agents versus avatars: Responses to interactive game characters controlled by a computer or other player , 2010, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Stud..

[21]  A. Koyanagi,et al.  Physical activity and anxiety: A perspective from the World Health Survey. , 2017, Journal of affective disorders.

[22]  Hayeon Song,et al.  The effects of competition and competitiveness upon intrinsic motivation in exergames , 2013, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[23]  C. Spielberger,et al.  Measuring anxiety and anger with the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI). , 1999 .

[24]  R. Riener,et al.  Increasing motivation in robot-aided arm rehabilitation with competitive and cooperative gameplay , 2014, Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation.

[25]  Yin Leng Theng,et al.  Examining the Influencing Factors of Exercise Intention Among Older Adults: A Controlled Study Between Exergame and Traditional Exercise , 2015, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[26]  A. Junge,et al.  How does sport affect mental health? An investigation into the relationship of leisure-time physical activity with depression and anxiety , 2019, Human Movement.