Game On ... Girls: Associations Between Co-playing Video Games and Adolescent Behavioral and Family Outcomes

Purpose: Video game use has been associated with several behavioral and health outcomes for adolescents. The aim of the current study was to assess the relationship between parental co-play of video games and behavioral and family outcomes. Method: Participants consisted of 287 adolescents and their parents who completed a number of video game-, behavioral-, and family-related questionnaires as part of a wider study. Most constructs included child, mother, and father reports. Results: At the bivariate level, time spent playing video games was associated with several negative outcomes, including heightened internalizing and aggressive behavior and lowered prosocial behavior. However, co-playing video games with parents was associated with decreased levels of internalizing and aggressive behaviors, and heightened prosocial behavior for girls only. Co-playing video games was also marginally related to parent-child connectedness for girls, even after controlling for age-inappropriate games played with parents. Conclusions: This is the first study to show positive associations for co-playing video games between girls and their parents. (C) 2011 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. All rights reserved.