
For most people, playing video games is a normal recreational activity, with little disruption to gamers' emotional, social, or physical health and well-being. However, for a small percentage of gamers, video gaming can become pathological (Fam, 2018). Substantial research has examined pathological gaming in teens and young adults (Cheng, Cheung, & Wang, 2018; Choo, Gentile, Sim, Khoo, & Liau, 2010), yet pathological gaming in adults (c.f. Holgren, 2017), especially in the context of parenthood, has been relatively ignored. The current study sought to address this limitation by studying associations between pathological gaming characteristics and parenting outcomes in a sample of men and women who have had a child in the last year. Fathers spent more time than mothers playing video games and displayed more pathological video gaming tendencies. Pathological gaming for mothers and fathers was related to increased depressive symptoms. Depressive symptoms mediated the relationship between pathological gaming and decreased feelings of parental efficacy, perceived parental competence, increased parenting stress, and increased perceived impact of parenting. Pathological video game playing was also directly related to decreased feelings of parental efficacy for mothers and fathers. Implications of the results and directions for future research are discussed.
Parenting, Depression, Parental competence, Pathological video game play, Articles from the Special Issue on Empirical and Clinical Insights on Internet Gaming Disorder: Emerging Conceptual and Measurement Issues; Edited by Mark Griffiths, Halley Pons, Video game addiction, BF1-990, Internet gaming disorder, Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology, Psychology, HV1-9960
Parenting, Depression, Parental competence, Pathological video game play, Articles from the Special Issue on Empirical and Clinical Insights on Internet Gaming Disorder: Emerging Conceptual and Measurement Issues; Edited by Mark Griffiths, Halley Pons, Video game addiction, BF1-990, Internet gaming disorder, Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology, Psychology, HV1-9960
| selected citations These citations are derived from selected sources. This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically). | 11 | |
| popularity This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network. | Top 10% | |
| influence This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically). | Average | |
| impulse This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network. | Top 10% |
