Visitors play Final Fantasy video game at the Paris games week in Paris, France, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. The Paris Games Week, or more commonly called “PGW” is the French show dedicated to video games and its derivatives. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Visitors play Final Fantasy video game at the Paris games week in Paris, France, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. The Paris Games Week, or more commonly called “PGW” is the French show dedicated to video games and its derivatives. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena) AP
Herb Scribner
By Herb Scribner
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A new study out of BYU suggests video game addiction isn’t real for the majority of gamers. But a small minority suffer long-term consequences that will stick with them for life.

What the study says

  • BYU conducted a six-year study on video game addiction, the longest ever on the subject, according to the university.
  • 90% of gamers do not play in a way that’s harmful to them. These gamers do not suffer negative long-term consequences.
  • 72% of adolescents were low in addiction symptoms.
  • 18% of adolescents started with moderate symptoms that didn’t change over time.
  • 10% of adolescents showed an increase of symptoms .

A deeper dive:

  • The study said “a significant minority” of gamers “can become truly addicted to video games and as a result can suffer mentally, socially and behaviorally.”
  • Two predictors of video game addiction included being male and having low levels of prosocial behavior.
  • Having high levels of prosocial behavior tended to prevent addiction symptoms, the study said.

Method:

  • Sarah Coyne, a professor of family life at BYU and lead author of the research, said the study aimed “to look at the longer-term impact of having a particular relationship with video games and what it does to a person over time.”
  • The study looked at what happened to people when they played video games over a six-year period, ranging from adolescence to early adulthood.
  • Researchers studied 385 adolescents for the study. Each participants filled out a questionnaire once a year throughout the six-year period. Questions focused on depression, anxiety, aggression, empathy, shyness, financial stress and “problematic cellphone use.”

What it all means:

  • According to the study, “the results suggest that while about 90% of gamers are not playing in a way that is dysfunctional or detrimental to the individual’s life, there is still a sizable minority who are truly addicted to video games and suffer addiction symptoms over time.”
  • The study said: “These findings also go against the stereotype of gamers living in their parent’s basement, unable to support themselves financially or get a job because of their fixation on video games. At least in their early 20s, pathological users of video games appear to be just as financially stable and forward-moving as gamers who are not addicted.”
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