Turkish Archives of Pediatrics
Original Article

Evaluation of video game playing status in school-age children with various variables

1.

Department of Pediatrics, Başkent University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey

2.

Department of Pediatrics, Afyonkarahisar Health Sciences University, Afyonkarahisar, Turkey

3.

Department of Social Pediatrics, Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey

Turk Arch Pediatr 2021; 56: 136-140
DOI: 10.5152/TurkArchPediatr.2020.20092
Read: 1061 Downloads: 420 Published: 01 March 2021

Objective: Excessive video game playing has several health implications on children. In this study, we evaluate the factors related to video game use in school-aged children.

Material and Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study included 160 children aged 6–8 years who applied to outpatient clinics at the Department of Pediatrics at Başkent University Hospital. Each parent completed a structured questionnaire including demographic information, video game use, average daily screen time, and parental habits and concerns about their children’s screen use.

Results: The mean age of first video game use was (mean±SD) 2.8±1.1 years. The minimum age for playing video games was 1 year. Male children spent more time playing video games. Both parental age and maternal education level were higher in the group of video gamers compared with non-gamers (p<0.05). Average time spent playing video games was 2.7±1.6 hours/day. The group of video gamers had a considerably younger age for starting watching television and higher rates for other video gamers at home than non-gamers (p=0.036 and p<0001, respectively). The group of video gamers had significantly higher rates for having a computer, tablet, and game console at home compared with non-gamers (p<0.05).

Conclusions: Our study indicates a statistically significant relationship between the age of starting watching television, gender of child, parent’s age, maternal education, and the categories of video gaming habits. Developing strategies toward avoiding early screen exposure in children should be taken into consideration, because it is directly related to video gaming habits in children.

Cite this article as: Aydın B, Oflu A, Yalçın SS. Evaluation of video game playing status in school-age children with various variables. Turk Arch Pediatr 2021; 56(2): 136-40.

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