title: Factors correlated with violent video game use by adolescent boys and girls.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare the video and computer game play patterns of young adolescent boys and girls, including factors correlated with playing violent games.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data collected in November/December, 2004 from children in grades 7 and 8 at two demographically diverse schools in Pennsylvania and South Carolina, using a detailed written self-reported survey.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 1254 participants (53% female, 47% male), only 80 reported playing no electronic games in the previous 6 months. Of 1126 children who listed frequently played game titles, almost half (48.8%) played at least one violent (mature-rated) game regularly (67.9% of boys and 29.2% of girls). One third of boys and 10.7% of girls play games nearly every day; only 1 in 20 plays often or always with a parent. Playing M-rated games is positively correlated (p < .001) with being male, frequent game play, playing with strangers over the Internet, having a game system and computer in one's bedroom, and using games to manage anger.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Most young adolescent boys and many girls routinely play M-rated games. Implications for identifying atypical and potentially harmful patterns of electronic game use are discussed, as well as the need for greater media literacy among parents.
authors.affiliation: Harvard Medical School Center for Mental Health and Media in the Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Psychiatry, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, USA. ckolson@partners.org
authors.forename: Cheryl K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Olson
authors.forename: Lawrence A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Kutner
authors.forename: Dorothy E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Warner
authors.forename: Jason B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Almerigi
authors.forename: Lee
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Baer
authors.forename: Armand M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Nicholi
authors.forename: Eugene V
authors.initials: EV
authors.lastname: Beresin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D010414:Pennsylvania; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D012307:Risk Factors; D013022:South Carolina; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D018910:Video Games; D014754:Violence