AUTHOR=von der Heiden Juliane M. , Braun Beate , Müller Kai W. , Egloff Boris 

TITLE=The Association Between Video Gaming and Psychological Functioning

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2019

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01731

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01731

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=<p>Video gaming is an extremely popular leisure-time activity with more than two billion users worldwide (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B67">Newzoo, 2017</xref>). However, the media as well as professionals have underscored the potential dangers of excessive video gaming. With the present research, we aimed to shed light on the relation between video gaming and gamers’ psychological functioning. Questionnaires on personality and psychological health as well as video gaming habits were administered to 2,734 individuals (2,377 male, 357 female, <italic>M</italic><sub>age</sub> = 23.06, <italic>SD</italic><sub>age</sub> = 5.91). Results revealed a medium-sized negative correlation between problematic video gaming and psychological functioning with regard to psychological symptoms, affectivity, coping, and self-esteem. Moreover, gamers’ reasons for playing and their preferred game genres were differentially related to psychological functioning with the most notable findings for distraction-motivated players as well as action game players. Future studies are needed to examine whether these psychological health risks reflect the causes or consequences of video gaming.</p>