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Correlates of Children's Usage of Videogames and Computers 1
Author(s) -
Lin Sabrina,
Lepper Mark R.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1987.tb00293.x
Subject(s) - psychology , impulsivity , personality , developmental psychology , academic achievement , big five personality traits , social psychology
Fourth‐, fifth‐, and sixth‐grade students responded to a questionnaire concerning their experiences with electronic videogames and computers. Teacher ratings of academic achievement, personality characteristics, and behavior patterns were also obtained for each student. These data were used to examine a number of hypotheses concerning potential harmful or beneficial effects of electronic videogames on school‐age children, and to provide preliminary evidence concerning the correlates of computer usage by school‐age children. Videogame usage showed significant positive correlations with teacher ratings of impulsivity, significant negative correlations with ratings of academic achievement, and little relationship to rated sociability. Videogame use also proved positively related to other social activities and to microcomputer use.