The Longitudinal Association Between Competitive Video Game Play and Aggression Among Adolescents and Young Adults

Abstract

The longitudinal association between competitive video game play and aggression among young adults and adolescents was examined. Young adults (N = 1,132; M = 19 years) were surveyed annually over 4 years about their video game play and aggression, and data from a 4-year longitudinal study of adolescents (N = 1,492; M = 13 years) was reanalyzed. The results demonstrated a longitudinal association between competitive video game play and aggressive behavior among both age groups. In addition, competitive video game play predicted higher levels of aggressive affect over time, which, in turn, predicted higher levels of aggressive behavior over time, suggesting that aggressive affect was a mechanism of this link. These findings highlight the importance of investigating competitive elements of video game play that may predict aggression over time.

Metaanalysis of the relationship between violent video game play and physical aggression over time

“…Literature Search Results. Ultimately, our search yielded 24 studies (19)(20)(21)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38)(39)(40) (Table 1), of which only 5 appeared in the earlier metaanalysis by Anderson et al 6and 8 of which appeared in a more recent metaanalysis by Greitemeyer and Mügge (9). These studies included over 17,000 participants from a wide variety of countries (Austria, Canada, Germany, Japan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Singapore, and the United States).…”

The influence of competitive and cooperative video games on behavior during play and friendship quality in adolescence

“…The frustration-aggression hypothesis states that thwarting or threatening an individual's goals increases aggression (Berkowitz, 1989). The frustration-aggression hypothesis has been used to explain the effects of competitive games on aggression (Adachi & Willoughby, 2016;Breuer et al, 2015), but frustration during gaming is not necessarily inherent to competitive settings. If there is a difference in skill level between partners playing cooperatively, individuals might feel that the other player hinders them from winning.…”

“…For example, it has been suggested that the competitiveness of a game, rather than its violent content, increases aggression (Adachi & Willoughby, 2011; but see; Anderson & Carnagey, 2009). Longitudinal studies have shown that both violent and non-violent competitive game genres predict aggressive affect and behavior over time (Adachi & Willoughby, 2016) and frequent gamers who often play competitively report low levels of prosocial behavior (Lobel, Engels, Stone, Burk, & Granic, 2017).…”

Friendly fire: Longitudinal effects of exposure to violent video games on aggressive behavior in adolescent friendship dyads

“…A growing number of studies find that competitive gaming, compared to playing games alone or cooperatively, increases aggression. The effect of competition may influence aggressive behavior even more than the actual level of violent content in a game (Ewoldsen et al, ; Greitemeyer, Traut‐Mattausch, & Osswald, ) and playing competitive game genres has been associated with aggression, regardless of the amount of violent content in those genres (Adachi & Willoughby, ). Our measure of exposure to violent games might correlate with the amount of competitive play of adolescents, since violent game genres are often more competitive than non‐violent genres.…”