Developmental Links Between Gaming and Depressive Symptoms
Journal of Research on Adolescence
Published online on November 15, 2017
Abstract
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The current longitudinal study tested the reciprocal relationships between video game play and depressive symptoms among 9,421 adolescents from the Add Health (Mage = 16.15 years, SD = 1.64, 55% female), over 11 years (Waves 2, 3, and 4), ages 16 to 27. Based on structural equation modeling as well as latent growth models, findings indicated that (1) excessive gaming was largely transient over time, from adolescence to early adulthood; (2) excessive gaming predicted increases in depressive symptoms; and (3) in turn, depressive symptoms predicted decreases in gaming over time. Multigroup model tests by sex provided additional evidence that longitudinal relationships from excessive gaming to depressive symptoms were supported for male, but not for female youth.
- Journal of Research on Adolescence, Volume 28, Issue 3, Page 680-697, September
2018.