IMPACT OF VIDEO GAMING ON DEPRESSION IN SCHOOL CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS | ||||
| Al-Azhar Journal of Pediatrics | ||||
| Article 7, Volume 24, Issue 3, July 2021, Page 2267-2287 PDF (252.88 K) | ||||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||||
| DOI: 10.21608/azjp.2021.210117 | ||||
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| Abstract | ||||
| Background: Video games are a pervasive technology to almost all children’s and adolescents’ life today with clear effect on mental well-being, social interaction and academic work and many other aspects of gamer’s health, behaviors and entire life. Aim of the work: This study aimed to study the relation between playing videogames and depressive mood in school aged children and adolescents and to find the prevalence of depression among video gamers aged 8 to 16 years old. Participants and methods: This study was observational analytical study that carried out at primary and preparatory schools in Cairo and Al-Dakahlia Governorates. It was included 500 children and adolescents (270 girls and 230 boys), aged 8-16 years, all of them using videogames frequently during the last six months, collected randomly after parental consent during the period from November 2019 to February 2020. Results: Our study was carried on different socio-economic levels. The majority of the participants were in the medium (40.4%), high (45.8%) social class and only 13.8% of which were in the low class. The majority of participants indicated no obvious hobbies (67.6%), while only 29.8% practiced sports and 2.6% had other hobbies. Most of the participants practiced violent games (57%), while about 47% of which practiced non-violent games. Most of the participants had no depression (55.4%), while 27.8%, 13.2%, 3.6% of them had mild, moderate and severe depression respectively. Depression score was not significantly different between male and female. Days of playing, daily hours and non-violent game type demonstrated high significant correlation with development of depression. Conclusion: Playing videogames was common among school children and adolescents especially in participants who have no hobbies. It seemed to be associated with a higher frequency of depression development. In addition, the degree of depression was demonstrated to be correlated with the period of playing. Recommendations: Further studies are needed in the future which emphasized on weather stoppage of playing videogames will reduce the depression score or not and additional programs must be established to guide the parents about the harmful effects of videogames and how to reduce the period of playing videogames to their children. | ||||
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