Children and Computer Games

The manifest popularity of computer games for many children has led to speculation about the meaning and effects of their use. However, research has yet to provide an adequate picture of the social characteristics of computer game players. This article, based on a large-scale study of Flemish 10- to 11-year-olds, is intended to sketch a profile of the computer game heavy user. The results indicate that heavy use of computer games is associated with negative rather than positive outcomes in terms of academic achievement, self-esteem and sociability. Finally, a LISREL model is tested which assesses the contribution which school-related factors, in interaction with gender and socioeconomic status, make in accounting for the varying amounts of time children spend playing computer games.

[1]  P. Bourdieu,et al.  Reproduction in education, society and culture , 1970 .

[2]  Graham Murdock,et al.  Mass media and the secondary school , 1973 .

[3]  R. Shavelson,et al.  Self-Concept: Validation of Construct Interpretations , 1976 .

[4]  P. Bourdieu.  Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste* , 2018, Food and Culture.

[5]  P. Bourdieu,et al.  The inheritors : French students and their relation to culture , 1979 .

[6]  Richard J. Shavelson,et al.  Self-Concept: The Interplay of Theory and Methods. , 1982 .

[7]  Tom Panelas.  Adolescents and Video Games , 1983 .

[8]  E. Loftus,et al.  Mind at Play; The Psychology of Video Games , 1983 .

[9]  G. Selnow.  Playing Videogames: The Electronic Friend , 1984 .

[10]  Joseph R. Dominick.  Videogames, Television Violence, and Aggression in Teenagers , 1984 .

[11]  Home Video Games: Children and Parents Learn to Play and Play to Learn. , 1984 .

[12]  Video Arcades, Youth, and Trouble , 1984 .

[13]  E. Egli,et al.  The role of video game playing in adolescent life: Is there reason to be concerned? , 1984 .

[14]  K. Roe.  Mass media and adolescent schooling : conflict or co-existence? , 1984 .

[15]  D. Graybill,et al.  Effects of Playing Violent Versus Nonviolent Video Games on the Aggressive Ideation of Aggressive and Nonaggressive Children , 1985 .

[16]  Selected Correlates of Computer Arcade Game Play , 1985 .

[17]  H. Morlock,et al.  Motivation of Video Game Players , 1985 .

[18]  B. J. Myers,et al.  Video Games and Children: Effects on Leisure Activities, Schoolwork, and Peer Involvement. , 1986 .

[19]  M. Pépin,et al.  Effect of Playing a Video Game on a Measure of Spatial Visualization , 1986, Perceptual and motor skills.

[20]  K. Roe.  Adolescents' Video Use , 1987 .

[21]  The Fall and Rise of Video Games , 1987 .

[22]  S. Silvern,et al.  The effects of video game play on young children's aggression, fantasy, and prosocial behavior , 1987 .

[23]  John M. Malouff,et al.  Effects of Playing Videogames on Children's Aggressive and Other Behaviors , 1988 .

[24]  Mark R. Levy,et al.  The VCR Age: Home Video and Mass Communication , 1989 .

[25]  Karl E. Bauman,et al.  The Influence of New Media and Family Structure on Young Adolescents' Television and Radio Use , 1990 .

[26]  S Shimai,et al.  Influences of TV Games on Physical and Psychological Development of Japanese Kindergarten Children , 1990, Perceptual and motor skills.

[27]  Popular music research , 1990 .

[28]  Karl Erik Rosengren,et al.  Media Matter: TV Use in Childhood and Adolescence , 1990 .

[29]  K. Roe.  Different Destinies — Different Melodies: School Achievement, Anticipated Status and Adolescents' Tastes in Music , 1992 .

[30]  Myron C. Tuman.  Word Perfect: Literacy In The Computer Age , 1992 .

[31]  Howard Rheingold,et al.  The Virtual Community: Finding Commection in a Computerized World , 1993 .

[32]  Measurement of self‐perception in multi‐racial context: psychometric properties of a modified Self‐Description Questionnaire , 1993 .

[33]  Kari Vikkleven.  In deadly earnest orpostmodern irony: New gender clashes? , 1993 .

[34]  C. Gailey.  Mediated Messages: Gender, Class, and Cosmos in Home Video Games , 1993 .

[35]  Karl G. Jöreskog,et al.  Lisrel 8: Structural Equation Modeling With the Simplis Command Language , 1993 .

[36]  Sociale herkomst, gezinskenmerken en schoolsucces. , 1994 .

[37]  Paul Messaris,et al.  Visual ""literacy"": Image, Mind, And Reality , 1994 .

[38]  Om unga män , 1995 .

[39]  Keith Roe,et al.  Adolescents' use of socially disvalued media: Towards a theory of media delinquency , 1995 .

[40]  In Garageland: Rock, Youth and Modernity , 1996 .

[41]  J. Funk,et al.  Playing Violent Video and Computer Games and Adolescent Self‐Concept , 1996 .

[42]  J. Arnett,et al.  Metalheads: Heavy Metal Music And Adolescent Alienation , 1996 .

[43]  R. Hoyle.  Structural equation modeling: concepts, issues, and applications , 1997 .