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A study in Norway found that some girls who played video games frequently developed impaired social skills; no negative link with boys

DeepEnigma

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
  • A study in Norway tracked 873 school children for six years, starting when they were 6 years old
  • The study did not find any connection between time spent gaming and impaired social skills among boys.
  • But the study did find that girls who spent more time gaming at age 10 showed poorer social skills two years later than girls who devoted less time to video games.
  • The study noted that a new generation of online games have become more socially interactive, and researchers speculated that could potentially mean that games improve social skills.
Playing video games may not necessarily impair children's social skills, and a new study suggests that any behavioral effect that frequent gaming might have may occur only in pre-teen girls.

The rising popularity of video games in recent years has raised questions among parents, doctors and educators about the potential for gaming to negatively impact children's psychological and social development, researchers note in Child Development. But much of this research has focused on kids who spend too much time gaming or favor violent games.

For the current study, researchers followed 873 Norwegian school children for six years, starting when they were 6 years old. Every two years, parents or kids reported how much time children spent gaming; teachers also evaluated the "social competence" of the kids, based on how well they followed directions, controlled their behavior and exhibited confidence in social settings.


After researchers accounted for factors that can independently influence social skills - like being overweight or obese, or coming from a low-income household where parents have less education - they didn't find any connection between time spent gaming and social skills for boys.

However, for both boys and girls, poor social competence at ages 8 and 10 predicted more time spent gaming two years later. And for girls only, the reverse was also true: girls who spent more time gaming at age 10 showed poorer social skills two years later than girls who devoted less time to video games.

"Poorer social skills predict future gaming, but time spent gaming in itself has no impact on social development - at least for boys," said lead study author Beate Hygen of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim.
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Children who struggle with social or behavioral skills might gravitate toward gaming precisely because it doesn't require face-to-face interactions.
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The gender gap might have something to do with differences in how girls and boys game, and how they socialize, the study suggests.

Boys spent more time gaming overall, and they also tended to gather in groups to play.

Girls, by contrast, were more apt to game alone.

"Girls who game may not only have fewer girls to game with, but also to a greater extent be excluded from nongaming social interaction with same-aged girls, and the training in social skills that follows," Hygen said by email.

At 6 years old, boys gamed for about a half hour daily, compared to about 15 minutes for girls.



By age 12, boys gamed for more than two hours daily, on average, compared to less than an hour for girls.

The study wasn't designed to prove whether or how gaming might directly influence social development.

It's possible that children who struggle with social or behavioral skills might gravitate toward gaming precisely because it doesn't require face-to-face interactions.



"Older children and teens who have more difficulty interacting may be drawn to more online activities compared to their more socially competent peers," said Dr. Suzy Tomopoulos, of the NYU School of Medicine in New York City.

"Children who struggle more socially may go online as it may be 'safer' than peer to peer interactions," Tomopoulos, who wasn't involved in the study, said by email.
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Games have become more social
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The nature of gaming is also different now than it was a generation ago. What used to be a primarily solo pursuit has transformed into a more interactive experience over time - kids today often play online games with friends or make friends with people they compete with in the games.

As the study team notes, these more modern interactive games can involve a variety of cognitive challenges that involve intense social interactions with real-life or online friends. And it's possible playing these games might actually help kids improve cognitive, emotional and social skills.

Like other forms of screen time, parents should still make sure kids play video games in moderation, Tomopoulos advised.


"Parents should place consistent limits on screen time," Tomopoulos said. "They should make sure that screen time doesn't replace face-to-face interactions, socialization and play, as well as not take the place of sleep and physical activity essential to a child's health."

On Wednesday, the World Health Organization issued guidelines encouraging all forms of screen time for kids aged 5 and younger be limited to one hour a day, and discouraging any time in front of screens for children under 1 year old.

SOURCE: https://bit.ly/2UBWDPW Child Development, online April 23, 2019.
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SOURCE: Business Insider
 
A.Romero

A.Romero

Member
I think there can be several explanations:

- the type of games they play
- the possibility that girls with tendency to have poor social skills gravitate towards gaming more than "regular" girls
- that the online gaming environment is more aggressive towards girls and makes them susceptible to become introverts
 
MightySquirrel

MightySquirrel

Banned
A.Romero said:
I think there can be several explanations:

- the type of games they play
- the possibility that girls with tendency to have poor social skills gravitate towards gaming more than "regular" girls
- that the online gaming environment is more aggressive towards girls and makes them susceptible to become introverts
Click to expand...
It's almost as if boys and girls generally are different. :pie_thinking:
 
thief183

thief183

Member
Btw, when I was playing AION me and all my friends used to fake being girls cause it was easy mode (evryone wnted girls in their groups and we were full o money :)), something must have changed cause

- that the online gaming environment is more aggressive towards girls and makes them susceptible to become introverts
Click to expand...

doesn't feel right in my experience.
 
S

Slings and Arrows

Banned
females are more social than males generally, so it would make sense if an outcast female feels more outcast than an anti-social male.

this is only the same as a male not being strong or masculine (traditionallly) he would feel more out of place than he would if he didn't fit in with fashion or whatever
 
Jigsaah

Jigsaah

Member
I wanna know how statistically significant their findings were. Whenever reviewing empirical research it helps to look at the whole article. The abstract, method and what margin of error they are using will tell alot about how significant of an effect this is. What kind of experiment was this? How'd they get volunteers, is this a double-blind study? What are the confounds or holes in the research? What improvements can be made for future studies.

I ask this stuff because I did empirical research for a University for about 2 years in the field of Psychology before I figured out there would never be much money in it.

This is extremely interesting to me, is there a specific journal it's published in?
 
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DeepEnigma

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
Jigsaah said:
I wanna know how statistically significant their findings were. Whenever reviewing empirical research it helps to look at the whole article. The abstract, method and what margin of error they are using will tell alot about how significant of an effect this is. What kind of experiment was this? How'd they get volunteers, is this a double-blind study? What are the confounds or holes in the research? What improvements can be made for future studies.

I ask this stuff because I did empirical research for a University for about 2 years in the field of Psychology before I figured out there would never be much money in it.

This is extremely interesting to me, is there a specific journal it's published in?
Click to expand...

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/cdev.13243
 
A.Romero

A.Romero

Member
thief183 said:
Btw, when I was playing AION me and all my friends used to fake being girls cause it was easy mode (evryone wnted girls in their groups and we were full o money :)), something must have changed cause



doesn't feel right in my experience.
Click to expand...


I don't know man.

It is true that they are treated differently (as you experienced) and some people online are just assholes. Personally I used to face a lot of racism online and there are many examples of people behaving like idiots to girls just because they are girls.

I'm not susceptible to racism (my culture is not very PC) but I can see some girls feeling uncomfortable when people ask them to go to the kitchen, to send pictures, asking them sexual questions and stuff like that.

Just to be clear, I think a healthy person should be able to deal with these situations but not everyone can.
 
Weilthain

Weilthain

Banned
watching my boy who is 5 grasping gaming concepts and learning how to play games is surreal. He can navigate the maps in Hyrule Warriors which is impressive as feck and at 4 he was doing the 'long jump - hat throw - dive - bounce - dive' or whatever combo in Mario Odyssey. He owns at this stuff. surreal watching him in real time grasp the same stuff I did at his age, Really gives you perspective on how well some games are designed to be enjoyed by children and adults alike.

Its great for his development I don't care what anyone says he is learning shit that is good for him. Spacial aweness or something. Reflexes and stuff. Its good for boys. Don't have any girls so I can't speak for them. My wife gets really stressed playing any game with movement in 2d or 3d I don't understand it. She loves hearthstone though and animal crossing mobile though. And one mobile game where you have to find the hidden objects, like where's wally/waldo.
 
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stickkidsam

stickkidsam

Member
A.Romero said:
'Id be hard pressed to associate something like this to something biological.
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What makes ya say that?

I'm dumb so I ain't exactly an expert, but while it's true that we are mostly the same (boys and girls), there are biological differences between the genders both in the body and mind. These differences tend to show up in how our social interactions are structured.

For example, men tend to be more aggressive in their interactions, but they also bond through that aggression. This could explain why competitive games and sports work so well with them. With women, aggression tends to manifest in social sabotage rather than physical conflict, so I imagine that online gaming would hold less positive utility for them (hence the tendency towards offline/less social games).

Now whether or not that's accurate there, it is important to remember that we are biological beings. We've got pretty cool brains, but cultural norms are rooted (at least partially) in biology and stem out from there. Not the other way around.
 
A.Romero

A.Romero

Member
stickkidsam said:
What makes ya say that?

I'm dumb so I ain't exactly an expert, but while it's true that we are mostly the same (boys and girls), there are biological differences between the genders both in the body and mind. These differences tend to show up in how our social interactions are structured.

For example, men tend to be more aggressive in their interactions, but they also bond through that aggression. This could explain why competitive games and sports work so well with them. With women, aggression tends to manifest in social sabotage rather than physical conflict, so I imagine that online gaming would hold less positive utility for them (hence the tendency towards offline/less social games).

Now whether or not that's accurate there, it is important to remember that we are biological beings. We've got pretty cool brains, but cultural norms are rooted (at least partially) in biology and stem out from there. Not the other way around.
Click to expand...

Can't argue with that. However, I think biological characteristics might give us a tendency to something but are not necessarily deterministic. For example, a man's body is usually stronger than a woman's but I bet there are many women that are stronger than me or even the average male, for that matter.
 
petran79

petran79

Banned
At age 12 girls bodies start maturing faster and they become worried about their bodies more than boys.
Entering adolescence is a bigger factor than playing video games
 
A.Romero

A.Romero

Member
petran79 said:
At age 12 girls bodies start maturing faster and they become worried about their bodies more than boys.
Entering adolescence is a bigger factor than playing video games
Click to expand...

I think it's a fair point but I'm guessing they are comparing with non gamers as well? (Haven't checked the full article).
 
L

LazyParrot

Member
Not really surprising, IMHO. Most of the girls I know who grew up playing games either did so alone because their other female friends had no interest in gaming, or they played almost exclusively with guys.

While it isn't as bad as it used to be, gaming is still seen primarily as a thing girls aren't supposed to get overly interested in. I'm pretty sure if they did a similar study on some activity that's stereotypically female, such as playing with dolls, they will find more negative effects for boys than for girls.
 
CrustyBritches

CrustyBritches

Gold Member
When I was a kid all we talked about was video games, TMNT/Power Rangers, and cartoons. If you weren't playing it was hard to be social. I'm not sure what girls were talking about, but I think it was things that were happening in their lives and their feelings on it. My daughter was into heavy metal, guitar, and COD/Halo at 10, so wtf do I know?

Biggest danger of games is probably sitting too much, especially with improper posture or for too much time with your circulation getting fucked.
 
MightySquirrel

MightySquirrel

Banned
~Fake said:
Me and my cousin play Digimon, God of War, Bloodborne (and the list keep going on). Or we're both boys or both girls.
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but BUT THE STUDY says gaming negatively effects gamer girls ability to interact but not boys! It's in the OP. They can't play same games and only girls be effected. Girls and boys are identical - I seen it on the CNN :messenger_anxious:
 
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Mistershine.

Mistershine.

Banned
I was reading about this a few days ago and noticed one of the researchers was essentially saying to take the results lightly as it could well be that the study is backwards and that it could be that the social issues are preexisting and the girls are using gaming as a kind of coping mechanism.
 
I

IncognitoPanda

Member
Mistershine. said:
I was reading about this a few days ago and noticed one of the researchers was essentially saying to take the results lightly as it could well be that the study is backwards and that it could be that the social issues are preexisting and the girls are using gaming as a kind of coping mechanism.
Click to expand...
I find this to be likely. And guys are unaffected, since gaming is accepted as mainstream for guys, something that everyone does; not just the "outcasts".

It feels weird that no one else have mentioned correlation/causation.
 
V

Videospel

Member
It is important to have something to talk and connect about when being with other people. Video games is a hobby that you often get very invested in, maybe even too much, so much that it becomes your only hobby. But it is mainstream now, so most boys can talk about it with their peers in daily conversation. Even introverted boys can sometimes be really talkative when they get a chance to discuss their big interest.

It is still more of a niche interest among girls. So what are you to do if you are a young girl with only one real interest and no one to talk to? Maybe you turn to the boys. But the conversations you have might be on a very technical level, and you get little chance to develop your 'real' social skills (this is of course also true to boys). You also miss developing your female identity and mannerisms which I am convinced can only come from socializing with other girls, and which make them accept you as part of the group. This may not be a big problem (until it comes to dating) and I knew at least one tomboy from growing up with a very extrovert personality who really were "one of the boys" and partook in most activities with no sense of social disconnect, but most girls are not like that. And the girls who get interested in video games might be more introverted to begin with. They could probably have a higher threshold of seeking out people with shared interests, even more so since most of those are boys and that takes more courage to do.

The alternative is to shy away from other people altogether which of course hampers your social growth even more.

Likewise, boys with nontraditional male interests like horseback riding or dancing often turn to the girls and become disconnected from their male peers. They can talk about their interests, which is good, but what about when the girls start discussing clothes, feelings and cute boys? There is bound to still be some distance between them. They are also frequently labeled as 'gay' (which they may or may not be) or 'weird' by other boys which further increases the distance.

It would be interesting to see a similar study about children who were into something like sewing, a solo and traditionally female activity. I would guess it would have a negative social effect on the boys but not on the girls.
 
Mista

Mista

Banned
This is interesting. But today boys and girls plays the same games. Maybe not at that age but I’m sure the age they made a study about both males and females play Fortnite at least. Now fast-forward to when they’re fully grown, you’ll see boys and girls almost playing the same games. From my experience I saw girls playing Siege, WoW, CoD, CS:GO and even the brutal full of gore SP games. On the other hand, I met lots of guys online that were so talkative and stuff but when I met them in real life? Oh no, they can’t even make eye contact when talking to me. So this is probably age related and how everything works or maybe it’s the interest. A 10 year old boy has different interest than a 10 year old girl and vice versa. Not sure about “gender gap” but I’m sure about the gender different interests
 
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Humdinger

Humdinger

Gold Member
A.Romero said:
I think there can be several explanations:

- the type of games they play
- the possibility that girls with tendency to have poor social skills gravitate towards gaming more than "regular" girls
- that the online gaming environment is more aggressive towards girls and makes them susceptible to become introverts
Click to expand...

I would favor the second explanation and add a 4th possibility:

- perhaps 10 year old girls who are heavily into videogames have fewer other girls to talk with that hobby with boys do.. So those girls wouldn't be able to socialize around the topic and might feel more alienated by their same-sex peers, so their social ease/skills would be impacted.
 
gela94

gela94

Member
Gaming definitely has/had a stigma with girls, when I was young and playing games my female friends kinda knew but never the extend and I almost never talked about it, most girls looked down on this kind of hobby, maybe now it's different? So and if for some reason this came up especially with female classmates or something there was always some kind of wonderment about why I play games.(as a female)
 
1

1.21Gigawatts

Banned
MightySquirrel said:
It's almost as if boys and girls generally are different. :pie_thinking:
Click to expand...

Studies are good at pointing out correlation, but causal links are usually not exposed by studies.
"Boys and girls are different" isn't a sufficient explanation for the correlations we see.

As others have pointed out, the context of girls gaming is entirely different from boys gaming, so to assume that correlations we see causally relate to the fact the statistical population is split by sex.
Not only is gaming content mostly designed with male audiences in mind, but the societal concept of the gamer also revolves around a male standard. So while gaming boys fit a certain norm, gaming girls do not.

The more complicated questions this study now points towards:
1. How is the social context differing between gaming boys and gaming girls?
2. Are there correlative effects between gaming content and consumer behavior?
3. Do correlations follow any third variables?

And this quickly gets out of hand considering that there are biological, psychological and social factors each affecting each other and each with the potential to negate or elevate the impact of the others.
Thats non-linear causality without any established cause-effect logic and endless potential variables. Thats human behavior from a statistical perspective.
It is practically impossible to derive knowledge from this, which is the reason why action and behavior theories are a thing. They predict and explain behavior more broadly and with less attention to the individual but more attention to trends and general rules.
 
Saber

Saber

Member
If I may risk a guess would be that girls in general tend to talk less about games among themselves, since they rather prefer talking about something else. And since most of them think that games are for kids, just imagine the feeling of the ones who likes to playing games. They gonna mostly feel ashamed and take a step away from those groups.

But for most of people this guess or even this experiment is sexist.
 
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Spukc

Spukc

always chasing the next thrill
If you look at titty streamers on twitch it al makes sense now! 🤔

Gaming turns girls into attention whores.
102% facts.
 
1

1.21Gigawatts

Banned
Dontero said:
Outside of notion that girls shouldn't play games early and showing that girls are different than boys.
Click to expand...

Wrong.
Your first point assumes that there is a causal link between girls playing games(A) and developing impaired social skills(B).
But the study only showed that there is a correlation. The data offers no indication that these things (A and B) are causally connected, so the conclusion

The second point is meaningless because the study didn't establish any metric to measure "difference".
 
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