IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/tbitxx/v43y2024i13p3170-3191.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Time spent playing video games during periods of isolation has no effect on loneliness or mental health

Author

Listed:
  • Sophie Hodgetts
  • Joe Butler
  • Glenn Patrick Williams

Abstract

Video games are a ubiquitous form of entertainment that also have the potential to fulfil the socialisation needs of players. In recent years, policy makers and healthcare providers have voiced growing concerns regarding the potential for video gaming to negatively impact mental health and foster social isolation. However, empirical data regarding the potential relationship between time spent gaming, loneliness, and mental health outcomes is lacking. Therefore, the present study aimed to examine this potential relationship using three nationwide COVID-19 lockdowns as models of increased risk of loneliness and poor mental health, across three individual studies. Time spent gaming had no direct relationship with either mental health or loneliness measures taken during lockdown, and this relationship was not moderated by loneliness. While lockdown alone did not impact mental health, loneliness was consistently associated with poor mental health outcomes during lockdown. Our results add to the existing body of literature on the relationship between video gaming and mental health and emphasise the need for targeted public mental health interventions to improve public mental health during periods of isolation. Data and analysis code associated with this project is accessible at: https://osf.io/d5byr/?view_only=6b1b0cd0be9b4e34b6e0a07881d2ef50.

Suggested Citation

  • Sophie Hodgetts & Joe Butler & Glenn Patrick Williams, 2024. "Time spent playing video games during periods of isolation has no effect on loneliness or mental health," Behaviour and Information Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(13), pages 3170-3191, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:tbitxx:v:43:y:2024:i:13:p:3170-3191
    DOI: 10.1080/0144929X.2023.2272201
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/0144929X.2023.2272201
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/0144929X.2023.2272201?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:taf:tbitxx:v:43:y:2024:i:13:p:3170-3191. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/tbit .

    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.