Today The Australian newspaper reported on a study run by the CDC.
ADULTS who play videogames may suffer higher levels of depression and weigh more than non-gamers, according to a study released today.
The study, conducted by the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Emory University and Andrews University, found “measurable correlations between video-game playing and health risks”.
The study – “Health-Risk Correlates of Video-Game Playing Among Adults” – is being published in the October issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
The researchers surveyed 562 adults ranging in age from 19 to 90 in the Seattle-Tacoma area of Washington state. A total of 45.1 per cent of those surveyed reported playing videogames.
The Seattle-Tacoma area – home of Microsoft and Amazon – was selected because it has the highest internet usage level in the country.
Female videogame players reported greater depression and lower health status than female non-players while male videogame players reported a higher body mass index (BMI) and more internet use time than male non-players.
“The only determinant common to both female and male video-game players was greater reliance on the Internet for social support,” the study said.
“As hypothesised, health-risk factors – specifically, a higher BMI and a greater number of poor mental-health days – differentiated adult video-game players from nonplayers,” said Dr James Weaver of the CDC’s National Centre for Health Marketing.
“Video-game players also reported lower extraversion, consistent with research on adolescents that linked video-game playing to a sedentary lifestyle and overweight status, and to mental-health concerns,” he said.
Most studies on videogame use and health have focused on adolescents. The study is one of the first to study the health-risk factors of videogame playing in adults.
Well fuck me! Who’d have thought that sitting on your ass all day staring at a TV would make you fat and leave you bereft of human contact?
Seriously though, it is good that they’re studying the effects of gaming in adults now because more adults than kids are gaming these days. Now if only we can get the Australian government to recognise that and give us a much needed R18+ rating for video games. Fingers crossed.
You could easily just recycle all the reports done on ‘hours in front of the TV’, I figure that the findings would be the same – although doing a lit review might help establish the fact the studies are similar.
By: Linds on August 19, 2009
at 1:52 am
Actually such a report would encourage the government not to endorse R18+ rating.
“Video games make adults fat and depressed. Lets not give them another excuse to sit around in front of the computer all day.”
Unless of course you want to argue that we’re depressed because of a lack of R18+
By: Renegade79 on August 19, 2009
at 4:48 am
I certainly am. I don’t know how many times I’ve been curled up in corner with tears streaming down my face because I couldn’t play the R18+ version of GTA4.
I’m mostly just glad that studies on video games are being made regarding adults who play. If this keeps up people might not assume that these things are played exclusively by kids.
By: AdrianZ on August 19, 2009
at 8:26 am
[...] this week I blogged and twittered about a study that was actually focusing on adult video gamers rather than the usual teenagers and youths. Now, [...]
By: “Video Games Still Evil” Says Newspaper « Six One Six on August 21, 2009
at 4:23 am
I’ve heard mixed things honestly. I’m actually trying to conduct a similar study with gamers because I’ve heard the opposite – some gamers can become so immersed in their game they actually LOSE weight. Here’s a link if anyone wants to participate:
http://inlofi.com/limesurvey/index.php?sid=54268&lang=en
By: alrick on August 21, 2009
at 6:44 pm