A study authored by Douglas Gentile and set to be published by The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests that games may fuel mental health problems in children.
The two-year study of more than 3,000 school children in Singapore found nearly one in ten were 'addicted' to games, and recommended limiting children's time in front of computers or TVs to two hours daily, Reuters reports.
On average, kids said they played for 20 hours per week, and those that qualified as addicted reported increasing symptoms of depression, anxiety and social phobia.
While the addicted players were more likely to have had behavioural problems to begin with, Gentile said that unhealthy gaming habits were likely fuelling their mental problems.
"When children became addicted, their depression, anxiety, and social phobias got worse, and their grades dropped," he said. "When they stopped being addicted, their depression, anxiety, and social phobias got better.
"We tend to approach it as 'just' entertainment, or just a game, and forget that entertainment still affects us," he added.
In response to the study's publication, US games industry trade body the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has labelled the research "flawed".
"An upcoming article in the February issue of Pediatrics contains a flawed study from longtime video game critic, Douglas Gentile," it said. "This is the latest report from a researcher who has a long history of attacking video games based on claims that have been the subject of substantial criticism. Gentile has been specifically criticised by other scholars for exaggerating the purported harmful effects of video games.
The study, authored by Gentile, contains a variety of flaws. For example, its definition of "pathological gaming" is neither scientifically nor medically accepted and the type of measure used has been criticised by other scholars.
"Other outcomes are also measured using dubious instruments when well-validated tools are readily available. In addition, because the effect sizes of the outcomes are mainly trivial, it leaves open the possibility the author is simply interpreting things as negatively as possible."
Richard Taylor, senior vice president for communications and industry affairs at the ESA, also said: "There simply is no concrete evidence that computer and video games cause harm. In fact, a wide body of research has shown the many ways games are being used to improve our lives through education, health and business applications."
Ahead of the airing of last month's Panorama documentary 'Addicted to Games?', UK publisher trade body UKIE said that playing games is a hobby like any other and there's "currently no proven link between video games and addiction".
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/ar ... ?id=283831
The key word there may be 'Singapore'
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