Back in the 90’s, we often heard that video games made kids violent. Parent advocates in that day and age (and yes, I know I’m showing mine!) were quick to believe that playing video games would increase a child’s likelihood of committing violence in real life (or IRL, as the kids say). While a 2010 study ultimately proved those ideas to be unfounded, a new study from Montreal’s McGill University showed an uptick in psychosis symptoms in people younger than 23 years.
As published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), researchers studied a group of more than 1,200 participants born between 1997 and 1998. Of these participants, those who played more video games and increased and then quickly decreased their computer usage, were the most likely to report higher levels of psychotic experience by age 23.
Participants were asked questions like, “Have you ever felt the thoughts in your head were not your own?” or “Have you ever heard voices when you are alone?.” These questions helped the researchers establish whether the participant had experienced ideations, bizarre experiences, or hallucinations.
Findings in the study say that using video games during adolescence was associated with “between three and seven percent more psychotic experiences” but warn that video games are often part of a larger picture that could confound their data.
“It is notable that higher video gaming was associated with many indicators of adversity, including household income insufficiency, as well as mental health and interpersonal difficulties at age 12 years,” the study’s authors wrote. “Elsewhere, lower socioeconomic status, male sex, and interpersonal and mental health problems have similarly been associated with higher levels of video gaming in children and adolescents.”
However, it’s not all bad news for gamers: for some people, video gaming can help create social connections through shared interests and allow teens to explore their emotions in a way that more passive media (like television) doesn’t allow for. What the researchers are saying is that – given the right mix of scenarios – video gaming may contribute to psychological factors that were already in place.
This research is part of a larger effort to help psychologists understand why psychosis happens during adolescence and how best to help teens who struggle with it.