IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v17y2020i6p1870-d332072.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Demographics and Health Behavior of Video Game and eSports Players in Germany: The eSports Study 2019

Author

Listed:
  • Kevin Rudolf

    (Institute of Movement Therapy and movement-oriented Prevention and Rehabilitation, German Sport University Cologne, Am Sportpark Muengersdorf 6, 50933 Cologne, Germany)

  • Peter Bickmann

    (Institute of Movement Therapy and movement-oriented Prevention and Rehabilitation, German Sport University Cologne, Am Sportpark Muengersdorf 6, 50933 Cologne, Germany)

  • Ingo Froböse

    (Institute of Movement Therapy and movement-oriented Prevention and Rehabilitation, German Sport University Cologne, Am Sportpark Muengersdorf 6, 50933 Cologne, Germany)

  • Chuck Tholl

    (Institute of Movement Therapy and movement-oriented Prevention and Rehabilitation, German Sport University Cologne, Am Sportpark Muengersdorf 6, 50933 Cologne, Germany)

  • Konstantin Wechsler

    (Institute of Movement Therapy and movement-oriented Prevention and Rehabilitation, German Sport University Cologne, Am Sportpark Muengersdorf 6, 50933 Cologne, Germany)

  • Christopher Grieben

    (Institute of Movement Therapy and movement-oriented Prevention and Rehabilitation, German Sport University Cologne, Am Sportpark Muengersdorf 6, 50933 Cologne, Germany)

Abstract

The number of video game and eSports players is steadily rising. Since little is known about their health behavior to date, the present study examines the demographics and health behavior of video game and eSports players. In this cross-sectional study, data on demographics, health status, physical activity, nutrition, sleep, and video game usage were assessed via a web-based survey of n = 1066 players (91.9% male; 22.9 ± 5.9 years; body mass index (BMI): 24.6 ± 4.8 kg/m²) in Germany in 2018. The majority of respondents (95%) reported a good to excellent health status. Two thirds (66.9%) engaged in moderate to vigorous physical activity for more than 2.5 h/week. The average duration of sitting and sleep time was 7.7 ± 3.6 h/day and 7.1 ± 1.3 h/day, respectively. Mean fruit and vegetable consumption was 2.7 ± 1.8 portions/day. Video games were played for 24.4 ± 15.9 h/week on average. Partial Spearman correlations revealed poor positive associations of video game play time to sedentary behavior (rho = 0.15; p < 0.01) and BMI (rho = 0.11; p < 0.01), as well as a poor negative association to self-reported health status (rho = −0.14; p < 0.01). These results indicate the good subjective health of this target group. Nevertheless, the high amount of video game play time and its poor negative association to health status indicate a need for specific health promotion strategies for this target group.

Suggested Citation

  • Kevin Rudolf & Peter Bickmann & Ingo Froböse & Chuck Tholl & Konstantin Wechsler & Christopher Grieben, 2020. "Demographics and Health Behavior of Video Game and eSports Players in Germany: The eSports Study 2019," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(6), pages 1-14, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:6:p:1870-:d:332072
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/6/1870/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/6/1870/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Vega González-Bueso & Juan José Santamaría & Daniel Fernández & Laura Merino & Elena Montero & Joan Ribas, 2018. "Association between Internet Gaming Disorder or Pathological Video-Game Use and Comorbid Psychopathology: A Comprehensive Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-20, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Di Tang & Kim-wai Raymond Sum & Ruisi Ma & Wai-keung Ho, 2023. "Beyond the Screen: Do Esports Participants Really Have More Physical Health Problems?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(23), pages 1-14, November.
    2. Togo Onishi & Masayuki Yamasaki & Taketaka Hara & Tetsuya Hirotomi & Ryo Miyazaki, 2022. "Esports for Seniors: Acute Effects of Esports Gaming in the Community on the Emotional State and Heart Rate among Japanese Older Adults," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-11, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Olivier Phan & Constance Prieur & Céline Bonnaire & Ivana Obradovic, 2019. "Internet Gaming Disorder: Exploring Its Impact on Satisfaction in Life in PELLEAS Adolescent Sample," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(1), pages 1-16, December.
    2. Lingling Gao & Yiqun Gan & Amanda Whittal & Sonia Lippke, 2020. "Problematic Internet Use and Perceived Quality of Life: Findings from a Cross-Sectional Study Investigating Work-Time and Leisure-Time Internet Use," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-15, June.
    3. Sergey Tereshchenko & Edward Kasparov & Nadezhda Semenova & Margarita Shubina & Nina Gorbacheva & Ivan Novitckii & Olga Moskalenko & Ludmila Lapteva, 2022. "Generalized and Specific Problematic Internet Use in Central Siberia Adolescents: A School-Based Study of Prevalence, Age–Sex Depending Content Structure, and Comorbidity with Psychosocial Problems," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-19, June.
    4. Olatz Lopez-Fernandez & Daria J. Kuss, 2020. "Preventing Harmful Internet Use-Related Addiction Problems in Europe: A Literature Review and Policy Options," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-20, May.
    5. Meng Xuan Zhang & Long W. Lam & Anise M. S. Wu, 2022. "Recovery Experiences Protect Emotionally Exhausted White-Collar Workers from Gaming Addiction," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-11, October.
    6. Michelle Colder Carras & Matthew Carras & Alain B. Labrique, 2020. "Stakeholders’ Consensus on Strategies for Self- and Other-Regulation of Video Game Play: A Mixed Methods Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-14, May.
    7. Jorge Oceja & Víctor J. Villanueva-Blasco & Andrea Vázquez-Martínez & Verónica Villanueva-Silvestre & Susana Al-Halabí, 2023. "Keep Playing or Restart? Questions about the Evaluation of Video Game Addiction from a Systematic Review in the Context of COVID-19," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-13, January.
    8. Sergey Tereshchenko & Edward Kasparov & Marina Smolnikova & Margarita Shubina & Nina Gorbacheva & Olga Moskalenko, 2021. "Internet Addiction and Sleep Problems among Russian Adolescents: A Field School-Based Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-18, October.
    9. Charles Mak & Kok Kah Tan & Song Guo, 2018. "ADHD Symptoms in Pathological and Problem Gamblers in Singapore," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-9, June.
    10. Rosario J. Marrero & Ascensión Fumero & Dolores Voltes & Manuel González & Wenceslao Peñate, 2021. "Individual and Interpersonal Factors Associated with the Incidence, Persistence, and Remission of Internet Gaming Disorders Symptoms in an Adolescents Sample," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-19, November.
    11. Sonia Fernández-Aliseda & Angel Belzunegui-Eraso & Inma Pastor-Gosálbez & Francesc Valls-Fonayet, 2020. "Compulsive Internet and Prevalence Substance Use among Spanish Adolescents," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-14, November.
    12. Sara Peracchia & Giulia D’Aurizio & Giuseppe Curcio, 2022. "Videogaming Frequency and Executive Skills in Young Adults," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-11, September.
    13. Vega González-Bueso & Juan José Santamaría & Ignasi Oliveras & Daniel Fernández & Elena Montero & Marta Baño & Susana Jiménez-Murcia & Amparo del Pino-Gutiérrez & Joan Ribas, 2020. "Internet Gaming Disorder Clustering Based on Personality Traits in Adolescents, and Its Relation with Comorbid Psychological Symptoms," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(5), pages 1-13, February.
    14. Valerio Ricci & Domenico De Berardis & Giuseppe Maina & Giovanni Martinotti, 2023. "Internet Gaming Disorders and Early Onset Psychosis in Young People: A Case Study and Clinical Observations," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-10, February.
    15. Guilherme Borges & Corina Benjet & Ricardo Orozco & Yesica Albor & Eunice V. Contreras & Iris R. Monroy-Velasco & Praxedis C. Hernández-Uribe & Patricia M. Báez-Mansur & María A. Covarrubias Diaz Coud, 2023. "Internet Gaming Disorder Does Not Predict Mood, Anxiety or Substance Use Disorders in University Students: A One-Year Follow-Up Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-8, January.
    16. Ju-Yu Yen & Huang-Chi Lin & Wei-Po Chou & Tai-Ling Liu & Chih-Hung Ko, 2019. "Associations Among Resilience, Stress, Depression, and Internet Gaming Disorder in Young Adults," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-11, August.
    17. Samira Bouazza & Samira Abbouyi & Soukaina El Kinany & Karima El Rhazi & Btissame Zarrouq, 2023. "Association between Problematic Use of Smartphones and Mental Health in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-18, February.
    18. Sara Peracchia & Fabio Presaghi & Giuseppe Curcio, 2019. "Pathologic Use of Video Games and Motivation: Can the Gaming Motivation Scale (GAMS) Predict Depression and Trait Anxiety?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-13, March.
    19. Yue-Cune Chang & Ruu-Fen Tzang, 2021. "Proposing and Validating the Diagnosis Scale for Internet Gaming Disorder in Taiwanese ADHD Adolescents: Likert Scale Method Based on the DSM-5," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-10, February.
    20. Lisa Marie Wendt & Maria Isabella Austermann & Hans-Jürgen Rumpf & Rainer Thomasius & Kerstin Paschke, 2021. "Requirements of a Group Intervention for Adolescents with Internet Gaming Disorder in a Clinical Setting: A Qualitative Interview Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(15), pages 1-28, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:6:p:1870-:d:332072. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.