Hardcore gamer kids tend to have low opinions of parents: Study

If your kids play a lot of video games, does it say something about you as a parent?

It might, according to the results of a study that assessed correlations between how much time pre- and early-teen youths spend playing video games and the opinions they hold of their parents.

The study, conducted by researchers at Michigan State University and involving more than 500 middle-school students, found that those who played more video games were more likely to hold negative views of their parents.

Some of the perceptions heavy video-game players tended to have of their parents were that they nagged a lot or did not provide adequate supervision.

The researchers, however, do not conclude that parenting styles are a direct cause of kids playing video games so much.

“Does a parent’s negative interactions with their child drive the child into the world of video games, perhaps to escape the parent’s negativity?” lead researcher Linda Jackson, a professor of psychology, said in a statement. “Or, alternatively, does video-game playing cause the child to perceive his or her relationship with the parent as negative?”

Read the whole story: The Vancouver Sun