Psychology Professors Skeptical Of Video Game Addiction.

In an opinion piece, psychology professors Christopher J. Ferguson, of Stetson University, PhD, and Patrick Markey, PhD, of Villanova, wrote in the New York Times (4/2, SR6, Subscription Publication), “A large-scale study (4/3, Subscription Publication) of internet-based games recently published in the American Journal of Psychiatry bears out our skepticism about” video game “addiction.” The pair wrote, “Using the American Psychiatric Association’s own metrics for ascertaining psychiatric disorder, the study’s researchers found that at most one percent of video game players might exhibit characteristics of an addiction and that the games were significantly less addictive than, say, gambling.” The study also revealed that nearly “none of those classified as being possibly addicted to video games experienced negative outcomes from this addiction.”

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— “Video Games Aren’t Addictive,” CHRISTOPHER J. FERGUSON and PATRICK MARKEY, New York Times, April 1, 2017.

Posted in In The News.