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What Do Teens See in Video Games?

Sex and drugs and violence. How does participating in these games affect kids?

It has been estimated that 82% of children aged 8 to 18 live in households that have video games and that the average playing session exceeds an hour. Given this large amount of viewing time, these researchers aimed to learn more about the content of video games that were rated as appropriate for teens by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB). Researchers randomly selected 81 of the 396 teen-rated games on the market in April 2001, and an experienced video-gamer learned the games and played each for an hour. Researchers observed videotapes of play and provided content descriptors for each game (e.g., violence, profanity). The content descriptors assigned by the examiners and the ESRB were then compared.

The percentages of games given specific descriptors by the ESRB versus the researchers were: violence, 95% vs. 98%; blood, 27% vs. 42%; sexual themes, 20% vs. 27%; profanity, 17% vs. 27%; and substance use, 1% vs. 15%. Investigators assigned more content descriptors to 39 games (48%) than had the ESRB. Investigators found that 90% of games overall rewarded or required injuring characters and that 69% rewarded or required killing a character to win; violence averaged 36% of game time in violent games.

Comment: Recently, attention has focused on whether television and movie depictions of violence, smoking, and alcohol use affect teen behavior (Journal Watch Psychiatry Sep 3 2003 and Jul 24 2003). Unlike passive viewing of maiming or homicidal acts in movies or on TV, video games require active participation by child players. A natural next step would be research into the behavioral consequences of interactions involving violence and sex in video games.

— Barbara Geller, MD

Published in Journal Watch Psychiatry March 25, 2004

Citation(s):

Haninger K and Thompson KM. Content and ratings of teen-rated video games. JAMA 2004 Feb 18; 291:856-65.

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