Oxford Study Finds External Pressures More Likely To Blame For Gaming Addiction, Not Games Themselves

Earlier this year, the World Health Organization officially designated Gaming Disorder as a mental health issue – citing increased cases of gaming addiction worldwide. Well, one study has dug deeper into that claim, and the truth is becoming plain to see.

Oxford Internet Institute recently reported on its study of over 1,000 adolescents and their caregivers with regards to gaming habits. Rather than identifying “Gaming Disorder” as a result of excessive gaming, the study has instead concluded that “those engaged in dysfunctional gaming are likely to have underlying frustrations and wider psychosocial functioning issues outside of games“. Essentially, the study points more to external pressures being the main factor that pushes young people to seek refuge in games.

In fact, there was “no compelling evidence that games, on their own, are to blame for problems facing players” according to Oxford Internet Institute’s study.

Check out the official statement from the study below:

“The World Health Organisation and the American Psychiatric Association have called on researchers to investigate the clinical relevance of dysregulated video-gaming among adolescents, as previous studies have failed to examine the wider context of what is going on in these young peoples’ lives. This is something we seek to address with our new study. For the first time we apply motivational theory and open science principles to investigate if psychological need satisfactions and frustrations in adolescents’ daily lives are linked to dysregulated – or obsessive – gaming engagement.”

“Our findings provided no evidence suggesting an unhealthy relationship with gaming accounts for substantial emotional, peer and behavioural problems.  Instead, variations in gaming experience are much more likely to be linked to whether adolescents’ basic psychological needs for competence, autonomy, and social belonging are being met and if they are already experiencing wider functioning issues.  In light of our findings we do not believe sufficient evidence exists to warrant thinking about gaming as a clinical disorder in its own right.”

“Whilst the growing popularity of gaming has incited concerns from health care and mental health professions, our research provides no compelling evidence that games, on their own, are to blame for problems facing players. We need better data and the cooperation of video gaming companies if we are to get to the bottom of all this.”

Key findings include:

• Most adolescents played at least one internet-based game daily
• Less than half of daily online gamers reported symptoms of obsessive gaming
• Daily players were highly engaged, devoting an average of three hours a day to games.
• There was little evidence that obsessive gaming significantly impacted adolescent outcomes.

While these results might be common sense to some, it’s good to finally see more evidence in black and white. We’ll report back as the situation surrounding “Gaming Disorder” continues to unfold.

What do you think?  Do you agree or disagree with the study? Feel free to share your thoughts below.