I responded to this article for a psychology homework assignment: The NY Times, "Do Video Games Cause Depression in Teenagers?" We have to say what we would like to know more about. Basically, I criticize the presentation of scientific research. But I also criticize the positions held by the actual scientists. I am such a NERD.
In two recent studies, scientists assessed the mental health and video gaming habits of adolescents and teenagers in order to establish a relationship between heavy gaming and the manifestation of depression. Researchers followed the gaming habits of Singaporean and Chinese students from varying ends of the age spectrum. Children who, at the beginning of the study, were already more impulsive and more socially awkward, also happened to spend more time playing video games. These same children were more likely to display symptoms of depression and anxiety in follow up studies that were conducted several months to a couple of years later. Dr. Gentile, an associate professor of psychology at Iowa State University, believes that young people with certain risk factors are more likely to become pathological gamers, and that gaming in turn preys upon their vulnerability and plunges them into further depression and anxiety. While he does not cite video games as the main culprit of depression, he does assert that excessive gaming exacerbates it, and consequently recommends that parents who suspect their child to be an unhealthy gamer restrict their use of video games.
There are several things that this article does not explicitly state, and because they may be paramount to the interpretation of these studies, I would like to know more about them. First of all, the article never specifies the ratio of genders represented. A country like China, which is featured in the first study, suffers from a major gender imbalance to begin with. Additionally, I am aware that the majority of Asia is approximately five years behind the West in the development of video game development, and the ratio of male to female video gamers was much higher five years ago in the West. In fact, this ratio, while shifting in recent years, continues to prevail. This is why I think it is safe to assume that, in a country like China, where there are more men to begin with, and the majority of people who play video games happen to be men, these studies probably did not feature many female participants. This is very important, because men manifest their depression differently than women do in that men tend to outwardly express anger and irritability rather than sadness and tearfulness. If a depressed female counterpart seeks out an alternative outlet for her depression, it might mean that the foundation of the vicious video game playing and depression cycle is the negative mood, rather than the games. This can be an indicator that seriously unhealthy video game playing, rather than being a trigger of depression, is a sign of depression that already exists.
I would also like to know more about the environmental factors of the individuals involved in the studies. For example, it would be extremely helpful to know their level of satisfaction with their social lives and home lives. Although the studies feature a large range of age groups, growing up is generally a difficult process, and sometimes more so for some than others. This article does not document third variables that would initiate a need for the increased isolation and social withdrawal offered by video game playing, such as rejection from peers and bullying. This third variable also carries out into an assessment of the outcome of avid video game playing over a period of time. For example, if the origin of a need for increased isolation is a lack of acceptance in school, then the need for isolation is only going to grow worse as the individual progresses into more advanced years of adolescence and social climates become much more hostile. Just because symptoms of depression and poor performance in school associated with depression happen to become more aggravated as video game use increases on a linear timeline does not mean that video games are definitely the cause. It seems that the scientists, as well as the author of this article, are focusing more on correlation rather than causation. Also, the article mentions that the few people in the study who stopped playing so many video games showed fewer symptoms of depression. First of all, knowing why they stopped playing in the first place is important. Maybe they had something new in their life to look forward to, such as a significant other or an improvement in their social life. This could explain both the decreased usage of video games as well as the elevation in mood.
No comments:
Post a Comment