Coyne et al. (2020) Pathological video game symptoms

 

Coyne, S. M., Stockdale, L. A., Warburton, W., Gentile, D. A., Yang, C., & Merrill, B. M. (2020). Pathological Video Game Symptoms from Adolescence to Emerging Adulthood: A 6-Year Longitudinal Study of Trajectories, Predictors, and Outcomes. Developmental Psychology, 56(7), 1385–1396. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000939

The article by Coyne et al. (2020) studied the pathological effect of video games on adolescents over a 6-year period until ‘emerging adulthood’. The article was aimed at pathological video game symptoms. Pathological video game play in the article was defined as ‘excessive time spent playing video games and a difficulty disengaging from video games… primarily characterised by disruption to healthy functioning due to video game play’  (Coyne et al., 2020, p. 1385). The intended audience is not mentioned within the article but is likely to be aimed towards psychologists due to the journal it was published in.

Purpose	Examine trajectories of pathological video game use across a 6-year period on adolescents
Methodology	385 participants between the ages of 14 and 16.            Participants completed questionnaires after Flourishing Families Project Waves.            Various scales were used to measure pathological video game use, depression, anxiety, aggression, delinquency, empathy, prosocial behaviour, shyness, parental knowledge, financial stress, and problematic cell phone use.            Mplus was used to conduct a growth mixture model of pathological video game symptoms across the 6 years.
Results	If an adolescent was male, they were more likely to have increasing and moderate symptoms. The increasing and moderate groups had higher levels of aggression, depression, and shyness than those who were non-pathological. The increasing and moderate groups were similar, except for problematic cell phone use which was higher in the increasing group. Pathological gaming is not a ‘one size fits all disorder’. Some participants decreased in symptoms, some stayed the same, and some increased in symptoms.
Conclusion	There is still evidence supporting the fact that pathological gaming is an issue that can result in long-term negative outcomes.

Biegun et al. (2021) researched the link between video games and problem gaming, mental health, motivation in university students. Unlike Coyne et al. (2020) they did not find that problem gambling and mental health issues are not associated with problem video gaming but is associated with social alienation. Unlike Biegun et al., Reshadat et al. (2013) found that there was a relationship between the time spent playing video games and mental health and depression, similar to that of Coyne et al. (2020).

            The article by Coyne et al. (2020) suggests that there are pathological video game effects that can occur in students leading to higher levels of aggression, depression, and shyness. This supports the aim of this blog in understanding the effect of video games on students’ mental health.