|
|
SCHOOLCHILDREN
New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:
The aims of this research were to describe Finnish adolescents' different motives for digital game playing, and to examine relations between digital game playing and parent-child communication, school performance, sleeping habits, and perceived health. A questionnaire was used to assess a nationwide postal sample of 12-18-year-old Finns (6761 respondents, response rate 69%) in winter 2003. Among respondents, 4085 adolescents played digital games and answered questions on digital game motives. Two main motives emerged: instrumental (learn new things and procedures, have a common topic for conversation, use and develop game playing skills, experience different roles/worlds) and ritualized (pastime, entertainment; recover, relax; escape everyday life, forget worries). The importance of all motives increased for participants with longer playing times. Instrumental motives were more important to boys and younger respondents. They were associated with earlier bedtime, worse perceived health, better mother communication, and better school grades, but only among boys. The importance of ritualized motives increased with age and was related to better school performance, worse sleeping habits, and worse perceived health in both sexes. Digital games seem to have the same basic functions as media in serving adolescents' mood management and stimulation seeking. Among boys, gaming is part of the male socio-cultural communication context. (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:
Purpose: To describe longitudinal changes in leisure-time sedentary behavior among girls, during early to mid-adolescence. Methods: A 2.5-year prospective cohort study, comprising 5 data collections, 6 months apart, between 2000 and 2002. Girls aged 12-15 years (n = 200) from 8 high schools located in Sydney, Australia, self-reported the usual time spent each week in a comprehensive range of sedentary behaviors. Results: Retention rate for the study was 82%. Girls aged 12.8 years spent approximately 45% of their discretionary time in sedentary behavior, which increased to 63% at age 14.9 years. Watching TV, videos, and playing video games (small screen recreation; SSR) was the most popular sedentary pastime, accounting for 33% of time spent in sedentariness, followed by homework and reading (25%). Sedentary behavior increased 1.4 and 3.3 hours on week and weekend days, respectively. On weekdays, increased time was spent on hobbies (27 min/day) and on weekend days, increased time was spent sitting around talking with friends (60 min/day), computer use (37 min/day), and television viewing (34 min/day). Conclusions: Among girls, the transition between early and mid-adolescence was accompanied by a significant increase in leisure-time sedentary behavior. Interventions to reduce sedentariness among adolescent girls are best to focus on weekend behaviors. Studies seeking to examine the association between inactivity and the development of chronic health problems need to examine a diverse range of activities that comprehensively measure sedentariness. This information will provide a better understanding of inactivity patterns among adolescent girls.
New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:
Background: Neck-shoulder pain (NSP) and low back pain (LBP) increased among adolescents in the 1990s and the beginning of 2000. A potential risk factor for this increase is the use of information and communication technology. We studied how the use of computers, the Internet, and mobile phones, playing digital games and viewing television are related to NSP and LBP in adolescents. Methods: Mailed survey with nationally representative samples of 14-, 16-, and 18-year-old Finns in 2003 (n = 6003, response rate 68%). The outcome variables were weekly NSP and LBP. Results: NSP was perceived by 26% and LBP by 12%. When compared with non-users, the risk of NSP was 1.3 (adjusted odds ratios) when using computers > 2-3 h/day, and 1.8 when using 4-5 h/day; 2.5 when using computers >= 42 h/week, and 1.7 when using the Internet >= 42 h/week. Compared with non-users, the risk of LBP was 2.0 when using computers > 5 h/day, 1.7 when using >= 42 h/week, 1.8 when using the Internet >= 42 h/week, and 2.0 when playing digital games > 5 h/day. Times spent on digital gaming, viewing television, and using mobile phones were not associated with NSP, nor were use of mobile phones and viewing television with LBP after adjusting for confounding factors. Conclusions: Frequent computer-related activities are an independent risk factor for NSP and LBP. Daily use of computers exceeding 2-3 h seems to be a threshold for NSP and exceeding 5 h for LBP. Computer-related activities may explain the increase of NSP and LBP in the 1990s and the beginning of 2000.
New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:
Objective To conduct a population-based survey of television and other media usage in young children to determine (1) total media usage; (2) the proportion of children who have televisions in their bedrooms and who eat breakfast or dinner in front of the television; and (3) predictors of parental concern about the amount of television their child watches. Study design Telephone survey administered to 1454 parents of children <11 years old derived from a diverse clinic population. Results The mean age of the index child was 5.05 years. Mean daily reported child media use was as follows: television (1.45 hours; SD, 1.5); videos (1.1 hours; SD, 1.30); and computer games (0.54 hours; SD, 0.96). Thirty percent of parents reported that their child ate breakfast or dinner in front of the television in the past week, and 22% were concerned about the amount of television that their child watched. In multivariate linear regression, eating breakfast or dinner in front of the television in the past week was associated with increased hours of television viewing (0.38 hours [0.21, 0.54]) and video (0.19 hours [0.04, 0.34]). Having a television in a child's bedroom was associated with increased hours of television (0.25 hours [0.07, 0.43]), video viewing (0.31 hours [0.16, 0.47]), and computer games (0.21 hours [0.10, 0.32]). In general, higher parental education was associated with decreased hours of television and video but not computer games. Older children were 2 to 3 times more likely than younger children to have a television in their bedroom and to have eaten a meal in front of it in the past week. More educated parents were less likely to report that their child had a television in their bedroom and more likely to be concerned about the amount of television their child viewed. Conclusions Combined video and computer game usage exceeded television usage. Both children of low- and high-income parents are at risk for certain behaviors associated with television usage. Parents whose children watched more television were more likely to be concerned about the amount of television their child viewed.
|
