Study Finds Video Gaming Far More Addictive Than Online Gambling
A scientific study using criteria for diagnosing compulsive gambling has found that an alarmingly high percentage of children are addicted to playing video games. Dr. Douglas Gentile, a professor of psychology at Iowa State University, reports in "Psychological Science" that almost ten percent of US youth display addictive tendencies in video gaming, a rate five times that of adults to online gambling.Using guidelines established by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, the Bible of cataloguing disorders, Gentile found that 8.5 percent of children display at least six of eleven possible symptoms of addictive behavior, including poor grades, bad health, attention problems, excessive time spent on gaming, and theft.
The results are consistent with evidence that has shown addiction may be as much to Internet activities overall, as to online casinos, Internet gambling, or other specific behavior. Several surveys have shown proof that Internet addiction can manifest itself at social sites and online shopping sites as well as online gambling sites.
Gentile stressed that the level of addiction discovered is far more than just playing games for a lot of hours.
"What we mean by pathological use is that something someone is doing -- in this case, playing video games -- is damaging to their functioning." the researcher told Medical News Today.
Gentile is also director of research for the National Institute on Media and the Family. Some observers were concerned that his connection to a family-advocacy group may lead to calls to ban video games, as other family associations have done for online gambling after finding much less risk of damage.
Gentile did not comment on any efforts to outlaw video gaming, simply asserting the need for more study as to the causes of the behavior.
