Recent trends suggest that young people in Britain are refraining from engaging in formal political processes. At the same time, they are increasingly expressing support for, and turning toward, a new and diverse range of non-institutionalized forms of political action in order to actualize their interests. Using Inglehart's ideas on postmaterialism, we consider whether this apparent rejection of mainstream politics in favour of less conventional - and sometimes radical - forms of political action is changing over time in Britain, reflecting fluctuating economic conditions witnessed over the last two decades. We do this by comparing results from surveys of British 18 year olds conducted in 2002 during an era of relative global prosperity, and then in 2011 at the height of the current global crisis. The findings suggest that British young postmaterialists are considerably more likely than materialists to participate in and support both institutionalized and non-institutionalized forms of political action.

Game Transfer Phenomena (GTP) (i.e. altered perceptions, spontaneous thoughts and behaviors with game content) occur on a continuum from mild to severe. This study examined the differences between mild, moderate and severe levels of GTP. A total of 2,362 gamers' participated in an online survey. The majority of gamers experienced mild levels of GTP. The factors significantly associated with severe levels of GTP were: (i) being students,(ii) being aged 18 to 22, (iii) being professional gamers, (iv) playing videogames every day in sessions of 6 hours or more, (iv) playing to escape from the real world, (v) recalling dreams always or very often, (vi) having a sleep disorder, mental disorder or reported dysfunctional gaming, and (vii) having experienced distress or dysfunction due to GTP. In addition, having used drugs and experiencing flashbacks as side-effects of drug use were significantly less likely to be reported by those with mild levels of GTP. In general, the findings suggest that those with higher levels of GTP share characteristics with profiles of gamers with dysfunctional gaming (e.g., problematic and/or addictive gaming).Keywords: Game Transfer Phenomena; excessive gaming; dysfunctional gaming; gaming addiction; psychiatric comorbidity; escapism IntroductionUnderstanding the effects virtual immersion has on the individual has been at the core of numerous studies concerning the effects of videogame playing. These studies have been conducted to either identify individuals 'at risk' to aversive effects of playing games or to identify which individuals get the most benefits from therapeutic interventions using virtual reality (Ling, Nefs, Brinkman, Qu, & Heynderickx, 2013). Other studies have attempted to distinguish between problematic and non-problematic gamers who invest substantial amounts of time playing (Király, Urbán, Griffiths et al., 2015;Pontes, Király, Demetrovics & Griffiths, 2014). For instance, brain differences such as variations in grey matter volume in the left anterior cingulate gyrus have been reported between pathological gamers and professional gamers. Disrupting functions in the anterior cingulate may affect individuals competence to monitor and inhibit improper behavior (Han, Lyoo, & Renshaw, 2012). It has also been demonstrated that problematic gaming leads to negative outcomes as a consequence of excessive videogame play (e.g., social problems, relationship problems, occupational problems, educational problems, etc.) and sleep disturbances (e.g., daytime sleepiness, insomnia) (Achab et al., 2011;Fossum, Nordnes, Storemark, Bjorvatn, & Pallesen, 2014;Lam, 2014;Van Rooij, Kuss, Shorter, Schoenmakers, & Van de Mheen, 2014). Such players may also have comorbid psychiatric disorders (e.g., anxiety, depression, substance use, ADHD, etc.) (Ferguson, Coulson, & Barnett, 2011;Gentile et al., 2011;Király et al., 2015;Kuss & Griffiths, 2012;Walther, Morgenstern, & Hanewinkel, 2012), and specific personality traits (e.g., neuroticism, schizoid traits, lower self-control, etc.) (Alliso...

The relationships between citizens and their states are undergoing significant stresses across advanced liberal democracies. In Britain, this disconnect is particularly evident amongst young citizens. This article considers whether different electoral engineering methods -designed either to cajole or compel youth to votemight arrest the decline in their political engagement. Data collected in 2011 from a national survey of 1025 British 18-yearolds and from focus groups involving 86 young people reveal that many young people claim that they would be more likely to vote in future elections if such electoral reforms were implemented. However, it is questionable whether or not such increased electoral participation would mean that they would feel truly connected to the democratic process. In particular, forcing young people to vote through the introduction of compulsory voting may actually serve to reinforce deepening resentments, rather than engage them in a positive manner. ARTICLE HISTORY

Much attention has been paid by academics and policy-makers in recent decades to declining levels of voter turnout and engagement with traditional political and social institutions in established democracies. These trends are particularly marked amongst young people. Drawing on data from the European Social Survey, this article examines the role of higher education (HE) both as a source of unequal participation and as a means of fostering civic and political engagement amongst young Europeans. It uncovers two significant new findings. First, that being in education matters more than an individual's level of educational attainment for levels of civic and political participation, and second, that HE establishments play a key role as social levellers: being in education neutralises differences between young people from high-income and low-income backgrounds with regards to such participation. The article argues that this places added emphasis on the role of educational institutions in nurturing democratic engagement.

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