592234

research-article2015
PPSXXX10.1177/1745691615592234FergusonVideo Games and Children’s Mental Health

Perspectives on Psychological Science

Do Angry Birds Make for Angry Children? 2015, Vol. 10(5) 646­–666
© The Author(s) 2015
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DOI: 10.1177/1745691615592234
on Children’s and Adolescents’ Aggression, pps.sagepub.com

Mental Health, Prosocial Behavior, and

Academic Performance

Christopher J. Ferguson
Stetson University

Abstract
The issue of whether video games—violent or nonviolent—“harm” children and adolescents continues to be hotly
contested in the scientific community, among politicians, and in the general public. To date, researchers have focused
on college student samples in most studies on video games, often with poorly standardized outcome measures. To
answer questions about harm to minors, these studies are arguably not very illuminating. In the current analysis, I
sought to address this gap by focusing on studies of video game influences on child and adolescent samples. The
effects of overall video game use and exposure to violent video games specifically were considered, although this
was not an analysis of pathological game use. Overall, results from 101 studies suggest that video game influences
on increased aggression (r = .06), reduced prosocial behavior (r = .04), reduced academic performance (r = −.01),
depressive symptoms (r = .04), and attention deficit symptoms (r = .03) are minimal. Issues related to researchers’
degrees of freedom and citation bias also continue to be common problems for the field. Publication bias remains
a problem for studies of aggression. Recommendations are given on how research may be improved and how the
psychological community should address video games from a public health perspective.

Keywords
video games, aggression, mental health, academics, prosocial behavior

The degree to which video games, including those with game violence. Rhetoric on videogames as a potential
violent content, have a deleterious influence on chil- cause of the shooting surfaced given reports suggesting
dren’s and adolescents’ mental well-being remains an that Lanza may have played violent games at least occa-
issue that is hotly debated both in the general public and sionally, although the final investigative report suggested
scientific community. In 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court in that he was more a fan of nonviolent games.1 This con-
the Brown v. EMA decision struck down a California law cern over games arose, despite that being a gamer would
seeking to regulate the sale of violent video games to not have differentiated Lanza from the majority of young
minors. In the majority decision, the justices were also men his age who also game (Griffiths & Hunt, 1995;
critical of the psychological research, concluding that it Lenhart et  al., 2008; Olson et  al., 2007). Furthermore,
was incapable of supporting causal links to “harm” in mass homicide perpetrators are not unusually likely to be
minors including, but not limited to, aggressive behavior. gamers (Ferguson, Coulson, & Barnett, 2011; Fox &
However, several justices in minority opinions found the DeLateur, 2014; U.S. Secret Service and U.S. Department
research more credible. of Education, 2002). Following the Sandy Hook shooting,
The tragic Sandy Hook elementary school shooting in
late 2012, in which 20-year-old Adam Lanza killed his
Corresponding Author:
mother, 20 elementary school children, and 6 adult Christopher J. Ferguson, Department of Psychology, Stetson
school employees in Newtown, Connecticut, reawakened University, 421 North Woodland Blvd., DeLand, FL 32729
public and scholarly community concerns over video E-mail: CJFerguson1111@aol.com

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Video Games and Children’s Mental Health 647

the National Rifle Association attempted to shift blame relevant aggression or violence. Past meta-analyses of
for the shooting from gun control to video games (Kain, video games (e.g., Anderson et al., 2010; Ferguson, 2007;
2012), and Senator Jay Rockefeller called for a “study” of Sherry, 2001) have generally relied heavily on studies
video game violence, although his objectivity could be involving college students along with those involving
questioned given that he stated the desired result of the children, and conclusions of these meta-analyses may not
study in advance (Boleik, 2012). Although there is con- generalize well to the societally relevant issues at hand.
cern that this political pressure on the scientific commu- In these studies, researchers have focused primarily on
nity might result in damage to the integrity of the scientific aggression as an outcome and have not considered either
process (see Ferguson, 2013), questions about the effect violent outcomes or other mental health issues. Thus, in
of video games on children—whether related to violent the current meta-analysis, I seek to expand on previous
crime or to other concerns regarding mental health, aca- work by considering studies of video game effects on
demics, and prosocial behavior—are likely to continue children specifically, with outcomes related not only to
into the foreseeable future. aggression and violence but also to mental health, proso-
Such questions are not unreasonable and are certainly cial behavior, and academic performance. The issues
well within the purview of science. However, to date, addressed in this article pertain to exposure to video
researchers in psychological science have had difficulty games, whether in general or to violent video games spe-
answering these questions. In 2005, the American cifically. The issue of pathological gaming, wherein indi-
Psychological Association (APA) released a policy state- viduals play video games to the point that they neglect
ment implicating links between violent video game use other life responsibilities, has been addressed in other
and subsequent player aggression. By 2010, the APA work (e.g., Griffiths, Kuss, & King, 2012).
appeared to have qualified that position, however, having
declined to participate in the U.S. Supreme Court case Video Games and Children’s Mental
Brown v. EMA, citing inconsistencies in the literature
(Azar, 2010).2 Other professional groups, such as the
Health: A State of the Research
American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), have been, if Perhaps given the emotional impact of mass homicides
anything, more vocal in supporting links between video on the national consciousness of which the scientific
games and even societal violence (AAP, 2009). By con- community has been a part, most researchers have
trast, government reviews of the field have been less san- focused on violent content in video games. Despite more
guine about the ability of video game research to than 100 studies, the scholarly community remains divided
conclusively answer societal questions about links with over whether evidence for causal links with player aggres-
violence or mental health outcomes. The 2001 Surgeon sion has been established (as an example of scholarly
General’s report on youth violence relegated media vio- debate in this field, see the following sequence: Hall, Day,
lence, in general, to a very minor role and noted incon- & Hall, 2011a; Murray et  al., 2011; Hall, Day, & Hall,
sistencies and methodological flaws in the literature (U.S. 2011b). This body of evidence includes numerous experi-
Department of Health and Human Services, 2001). More mental, correlational, and longitudinal studies. The ability
recent reviews of the video game research field by the of these studies to answer societal questions about links
Australian Government, Attorney General’s Department with clinically or practically significant aggression (i.e.,
(2010); the Swedish Media Council (2011); the media aggression that would be harmful to oneself or others—a
watchdog group Common Sense Media (2013); and the threshold not often reached by aggression measures used
U.S. House of Representatives Gun Violence Prevention in research) or violent behavior has been limited because
Task Force (2013) similarly concluded that the research is of disagreements in findings among these studies as well
inconsistent and methodologically flawed. as several well-known and systematic methodological
Arguably, it may be that so much of the video game limitations. These limitations have been discussed at
field simply has not adequately addressed the constructs length elsewhere (Adachi & Willoughby, 2010; Ferguson,
and populations of interest to the general public. Policy 2010; Kutner & Olson, 2008; Savage, 2004; however, for a
makers, the general public, and scholarly organizations different view, see Strasburger, Jordan, & Donnerstein,
want to know whether exposure to video games, particu- 2010), although I reiterate them briefly here.
larly in childhood, can play a causal role (perhaps with
other variables) in the development of societally relevant General problems in studying the
aggression up to and including violent crime, or whether
exposure to games might lead to other mental health
effects of video games
problems. By contrast, most researchers have conducted Mismatched games in experimental studies. The
recent studies with college students, using proxy mea- ability to ascribe any difference in experimental out-
sures of minor aggression that do not predict socially comes to violent content depends on games being

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648 Ferguson

matched carefully on other variables—such as competi- societal violence and even mass homicides. However, it
tiveness, difficulty, and pace of action—which has typi- has been well-understood for some time that many of the
cally not been done (Adachi & Willoughby, 2010). Several aggression measures used in this research, even ignoring
studies have suggested that carefully matching video the standardization issue, are not easily generalized to
games on competitiveness (Adachi & Willoughby, 2011), real-life aggression, let alone to violent crime (Ferguson
difficulty of controls (Przybylski, Rigby, & Ryan, 2010), or & Rueda, 2009; Ritter & Eslea, 2005; Savage, 2004; Tedes-
frustration (Przybylski, Deci, Rigby, & Ryan, 2014) elimi- chi & Quigley, 2000). For example, recent evidence has
nates differences between violent and nonviolent games. indicated that the unstandardized use of the popular
“noise blast” Taylor Competitive Reaction Time Test4
Failure to pretest. In most experiments on video often used in laboratory video game studies has signifi-
games, researchers randomly assign participants to play a cant potential to influence effect sizes (Elson et al., 2014).
nonviolent or violent game, and then they do a posttest That is to say, observed effect sizes may be highly influ-
on the outcome variable. Differences in aggression noted enced by scholars’ good-faith a priori assumptions about
are presumed to relate to an increase in aggression in the video game effects. Even in correlational or longitudinal
violent game condition. However, it is plausible that any studies, well-validated measures—such as the Child
differences may, instead, be a differential reduction in Behavior Checklist (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001)—are
aggression. For instance, in a recent experiment involv- often eschewed for measures with lesser known proper-
ing pretests and posttests, Valadez and Ferguson (2012) ties and lacking clinical cutoffs. Yet, even minor fluctua-
found that all video games reduced hostility over time. In tions on these measures are often generalized to clinically
addition, some games with prosocial content can reduce relevant or public health outcomes.
aggression below baseline (Sestir & Bartholow, 2010).
Using Solomon four-group designs,3 researchers could Failure to control for third variables.  When consid-
test changes over time while also adjusting for potential ering the influence of video games on clinically relevant
demand characteristics of pretest designs. or criminological outcomes, it is best practice to carefully
control for any potentially confounding variables in cor-
Unstandardized aggression measures. A major relational or longitudinal designs (Savage, 2004). As a
issue with many aggression measures used in this field is simple example, boys play more violent video games
that they are unstandardized, potentially allowing (Olson et  al., 2007) and are also more aggressive than
researchers to pick and choose from among outcomes girls. Thus, one is likely to see bivariate correlations
from within a single measure those that best fit their a between video game violence use and aggression that
priori hypotheses (Elson, Mohseni, Breuer, Scharkow, & are simple gender effects (see, e.g., Przybylski & Mishkin,
Quandt, 2014; Ferguson, 2013). Although this lack of in press). Controlling for gender as well as other theoreti-
standardization may be reframed as attempting to test cally critical factors—such as trait aggression, family vio-
different aspects of aggression, such explanations, lence, peer delinquency, and mental health—is essential.
although undoubtedly in good faith, may ultimately be In longitudinal designs, controlling for Time 1 outcome
self-serving, particularly in a research environment with is, likewise, essential. For example, in Anderson et  al.’s
considerable pressure to produce “statistically significant” (2010) meta-analysis, longitudinal relations between
findings at the expense of null findings (LeBel & Peters, video game violence and later aggression dropped from
2011; Pashler & Harris, 2012; Simmons, Nelson, & r = .20 to r = .08 with sex and Time 1 aggression as the
Simonsohn, 2011). only control variables. To the extent that discussions of
video game effects rely on bivariate correlations, these
Lack of clinical validity. As evidenced by APA’s discussions may be misleading. By now it is clear that
(2005) and even more by AAP’s (2009) policy statements, effect sizes are substantially reduced when control vari-
research on video games is often generalized to public ables including gender, trait aggression, and family envi-
health issues or violent behavior. Soon after the Sandy ronment are included in analyses. This observation
Hook shooting, some scholars implied that exposure to should be an important part of future discussions.
violent media was one mechanism by which mass homi-
cide perpetrators might learn the “scripts” necessary to Selective interpretation.  In some cases, study authors
commit their crimes (e.g., Huesmann & Dubow, 2012; may achieve either inconsistent or even null results and
KCCI, 2012). From these claims about video games influ- overcommunicate these as being in favor of their a priori
encing societal violence up through and including mass hypotheses. Given methodological flexibility/researchers’
shootings, it can be seen that scholars are not limiting degrees of freedom issues (Simmons et  al., 2011), the
their discussions of research to esoteric laboratory aggres- degree to which null results are converted to statistically
sion measures but rather are generalizing them to significant results may simply be unknown to the field.

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Video Games and Children’s Mental Health 649

However, in some cases, authors may dutifully report all earlier limitations may also relate to studies in which the
of their results yet choose to highlight only those that fit influence of video game exposure on other outcomes
their a priori hypotheses. Ignoring multivariate controlled related to mental health, prosocial behavior, and academ-
results in favor of bivariate results is one such example. ics is examined. It is also important in this section to dif-
In one recent study, the authors found a statistically sig- ferentiate research on exposure to video games from that
nificant bivariate relationship between video game vio- on pathological gaming (persisting in gaming behaviors
lence use and youth aggression (Ybarra et al., 2008). Yet, despite obvious negative consequences, such as missing
when control variables were applied, the relationship school or work), which relates more specifically to gam-
became no longer statistically significant. In discussing ing behaviors that may be correlated or associated with
their results, the authors essentially ignored their better negative functioning (Kuss & Griffiths, 2012; van Rooij,
controlled (and hypothesis disconfirmatory) results in Schoenmakers, Vermulst, van den Eijnden, & van de
favor of the less rigorous bivariate results. Across studies, Mheen, 2011). Indeed, some scholars have argued that
selective interpretation of data can result in the percep- how children play video games is as important as or
tion that study results in a field have been far more con- more important than the content of the games they play
sistent than they actually have been. (Colwell, 2007).
Outcomes related to mental health—including aggres-
Citation/selective reporting bias. Citation or selec- sion, prosocial behavior, depression, and attention-
tive reporting bias occurs when scholars only cite and deficit/hyperactivity disorder—as well as to academics
report other studies in literature reviews that support are likely comorbid. Issues related to aggression tend to
their personal hypotheses. Disconfirmatory evidence or occur alongside depression (Ferguson, 2011b), attention
failed replications are not reported to the research com- problems (Connor & Ford, 2012), and school problems
munity or general public. As with selective interpretation, (Risser, 2013). Thus, the specific problems addressed in
this practice can result in a distorted perception of a this article can be conceived as a constellation of poten-
research field and is considered a questionable researcher tially related problems that may or may not arise from
practice (QRP; see Babor & McGovern, 2008). Coupled video game use. Considering many of these issues
with the issue of methodological flexibility, it is also pos- together in tandem has been consistent in the research
sible that authors who use citation bias may also be more for some time (e.g., Anderson & Dill, 2000; Desai,
prone to using flexible statistical methods (even doing so Krishnan-Sarin, Cavallo, & Potenza, 2010), and it is valu-
unconsciously and in good faith) to reach a desired out- able to consider them in tandem in meta-analyses.
come. Citation/selective reporting bias has been found to Certainly not all research on video games begins with
be widespread in video game research (Ferguson, 2010), the notion that such games are harmful to mental health
including in the APA’s (2005) and AAP’s (2009) policy or cognition. For instance, video game use has been
statements. found to stimulate children’s creativity ( Jackson et  al.,
2012), and there is a wide body of research in which
Summary of limitations. It is important to note that investigators consider the beneficial effects of video
the weaknesses described earlier are not particular to games, including violent action games, on civic behavior
one or two studies but are systemic throughout the field (Granic, Lobel, & Engels, 2014) and visuospatial cogni-
(Adachi & Willoughby, 2010; Ferguson, 2010; Kutner & tion (Spence & Feng, 2010; however, for a discussion of
Olson, 2008; Savage, 2004). Some carefully designed the limitations of this research, see also Boot, Blakely, &
studies certainly do exist. For example, several well- Simons, 2011). Some research suggests that video game
designed longitudinal studies of youths have recently influences vary depending on specific outcomes assessed
been published, both showing evidence for very small ( Jackson, von Eye, Witt, Zhao, & Fitzgerald, 2011) or that
effects on aggression (e.g., Willoughby, Adachi, & Good, video games and personality style interact to produce
2012) and not showing evidence of aggression effects positive academic outcomes (Ventura, Shute, & Kim,
(e.g., Ferguson, 2011b; von Salisch, Vogelgesang, Kristen, 2012). However, the focus of this analysis is on research
& Oppl, 2011). Yet, such well-designed studies are in the in which possible negative influences are examined.
minority. The pools of research, particularly with children, on
mental health issues or academic performance tend to be
Outcomes besides violence: Video smaller than for aggression but with equally variable
results. For example, in one recent study, Swing, Gentile,
games, mental health, and academics Anderson, and Walsh (2010) concluded that general
In the earlier discussion, video game violence is the video game playing was related to attention deficit symp-
focus, which, arguably, is the broadest, most discussed, toms, although, by contrast, Ferguson (2011a) found no
and perhaps most controversial outcome. However, the evidence for such a relationship. In another study, Desai

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650 Ferguson

et al. (2010) found highly variable results for video game outcomes. The epidemiological data do demonstrate that,
influences on children’s mental well-being. They found at very least, the widespread use of video games among
that video game playing reduced depression in girls, but children has not resulted in a noticeable decline in func-
not boys, and that problematic outcomes were related to tioning among children as a whole.
pathological gaming behaviors but not to general expo-
sure. Other studies have suggested curvilinear relation-
The current study
ships between video gaming and mental health (e.g.,
Allahverdipour, Bazargan, Farhadinasab, & Moeini, 2010; Questions remain in the general public and scholarly com-
Kutner & Olson, 2008; Przybylski, 2014). In each case, the munity regarding the impact of video games on children’s
greatest levels of mental illness symptoms were among and adolescents’ mental well-being. Therefore, in this meta-
children who played no video games at all. analysis, I attempt to answer many questions by addressing
three types of problems with the existing research.
First, at present, no researcher has specifically exam-
Epidemiological data ined studies of video game influence on children and
One other pool of data that is worth considering is epi- adolescents in a meta-analysis. The research field has
demiological data. During the past few decades in which relied heavily on college students rather than on child and
video game use became far more prevalent among chil- adolescent participants. In one recent meta-analysis,
dren, societal behavior data on youths indicated either Anderson et  al. (2010) did not specifically look at any
improvements or no change. According to both U.S. subsample of studies of children, although they did
(Childstats.gov, 2015) and international (van Dijk, van include age as a moderator in some analyses. By contrast,
Kesteren, & Smit, 2007) data, societal violence—includ- in an older meta-analysis, Sherry (2001) found that effect
ing youth violence—declined to 40-year lows. According sizes were smaller for younger samples than for larger
to the National Center for Educational Statistics (2009), samples. Consistent with the 2001 meta-analysis, in a third
standardized testing of academic performance either meta-analysis, Ferguson (2007) also found that effect sizes
improved or held steady. According to statistics from the for child samples were smaller than for college-age sam-
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2013), sui- ples. Thus, it is possible that in meta-analyses in which
cidal ideation and suicide attempts, despite some yearly college samples are heavily depended on, researchers
fluctuations, have either declined or held steady over the may unintentionally overestimate the effects of video
past 2 decades. Civic and volunteering behaviors among games on children and adolescents. One possible reason
youths have risen rather than declined (Girl Scout for the more pronounced effects seen among college stu-
Research Institute, 2009). dents is that college students may be particularly prone to
None of this data should be interpreted as indicating producing behaviors that they believe the experimenter
that video games caused these improvements in youth wants rather than ecologically valid responses.
health. Epidemiological data also do not rule out the Second, in most previous analyses, researchers have
potential for small, subtle effects of video games. For examined issues related to aggression and prosocial
instance, video games may have small effects on certain behavior but not to other mental-health-related outcomes
groups of players, despite having little impact on the or academic performance. In this meta-analysis, I exam-
majority (Markey & Markey, 2010), although recent stud- ine five outcomes: aggression, prosocial behavior, aca-
ies (e.g., Engelhardt, Mazurek, Hilgard, Rouder, & demic performance, depression, and attention problems.
Bartholow, in press) have generally not borne this Third, given that research on video games is inconsis-
hypothesis out. Video games may also have differential tent, meta-analyses can be valuable in providing method-
effects on individual children. In one study, Unsworth, ological reasons for why these inconsistencies may exist.
Devilly, and Ward (2007) found that violent games had For example, Ferguson (2007) has noted that studies in
little impact on the majority of children but increased which standardized aggression measures are used tend to
anger in some children and decreased anger in others. produce lower effect sizes than those studies in which
However, the epidemiological data are potentially valu- unstandardized aggression measures are used. Because
able simply in noting that the hyperbole that often sur- methodological flexibility/researchers’ degrees of free-
rounds video game research is at odds not only with the dom (Simmons et  al., 2011) can influence outcomes,
inconsistent nature of the research data but also with the selective reporting bias in articles may also provide poten-
epidemiological data evidencing a lack of broad-based tial evidence for unintentional researcher biases that can,
dramatic effects (Olson, 2004). Such epidemiological data even acting in good faith, result in overestimations of
should not be ignored as inconvenient, particular when video game effects. Thus, using meta-analysis, researchers
scholars have made dramatic claims about potential can examine for systematic issues in a field that may result
video game influences on exactly those societal in over- or underestimation of negative effects.

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Video Games and Children’s Mental Health 651

Selection of Studies Table 1.  Basic Characteristics of Studies Included in the

Current Meta-Analysis
Identification of relevant studies involved a search of the
PsycINFO, Criminal Justice Abstracts, Science Direct, Characteristics Value
Medline, Dissertation Abstracts, and Digital Dissertations Number of studies 101
databases with the search term “(video game*) OR Number of samples (all outcomes)  
(Computer game*) OR (digital game*)” and “child* OR  Experimental 19
adol* OR youth OR juvenile*” and “agress* OR viol* OR  Correlational 64
(mental health) OR (attention) OR depress* OR school  Longitudinal 31
OR grades OR prosocial.” In addition, recent reviews of M age range (in years) of included studies 5.5–17.2
the video game and mental health literature were exam- Overall N 106,070
ined for articles that may have been missed in the litera-
ture search. Unpublished studies were sought by posting
requests to listservs (e.g., those related to media psychol- analysis provided 122 separate controlled effect size esti-
ogy [Division 46 of the APA], the mass communication mates and 136 separate bivariate effect sizes. As these
division of the National Communication Association) as involved different outcomes analyzed separately here, the
well as by e-mailing requests to prominent scholars on independence of effect size estimates in the meta-analysis
both sides of the debate. Included studies had to meet was not compromised.
the following criteria: Basic characteristics of the studies included in the
meta-analysis are presented in Table 1. Details of the
1. In each study, the author(s) had to measure the effect size extractions are presented in Appendix A.
influence of video games, whether violent or non-
violent, on at least one of the outcomes related to
mental or behavioral health (aggression,5 proso- Analysis
cial behavior, depressive symptoms, attention The Comprehensive Meta-Analysis software program was
problems, academic performance). used to fit both random and fixed effects models. Hunter
2. In each study, the author(s) had to present statisti- and Schmidt (2004) have argued that random effects
cal outcomes or data that could be meaningfully models are appropriate when population parameters
converted into effect size “r.” may vary across studies, as is likely here. Thus, only ran-
3. In experimental studies, the author(s) had to con- dom effects are reported.
trast violent video game play with nonviolent All results discussed later in this article are coded such
video game play. Studies in which researchers did that positive effect sizes represent associations with nega-
not include a nonviolent video game control con- tive outcomes. Thus, a positive effect size between video
dition were not included; in addition, studies in game use and prosocial behavior, for instance, would
which researchers primarily examined media lit- represent an indication that video games harmed proso-
eracy interventions or contrasting playing versus cial behavior by reducing it. This coding was done to
watching video games were not included. represent negative effects consistently across effect sizes.
Although such studies may address important
questions, they were not central to the research
questions of this meta-analysis. Overall effects for video games on
4. A given sample was included only once in the child outcomes
meta-analyses to maintain independence. Some
samples, including longitudinal studies, may pro- As expected, studies in which control variables were used
duce multiple publications, but only one such were heterogeneous regarding which controls were used.
study was included in the current analysis.6 Some researchers controlled only for gender or, in longi-
tudinal studies, for Time 1 aggression. Personality traits
The initial search (carried out in February 2014) related to trait aggression or antisocial traits as well as
returned approximately 750 hits, the majority of which family environment variables were also commonly con-
were either nonempirical, were with college student sam- trolled across a majority of studies in which controls were
ples, or otherwise did not meet the inclusion criteria used (consistent with recommendations by Savage, 2004).
described earlier. Using the inclusion criteria, I netted 101 Peer-related variables were also controlled in some stud-
studies in the final search, of which nine were doctoral ies, but beyond these few choices, control variables were
dissertations, four were unpublished but “in press,” and quite heterogeneous and may have reflected the variables
five were unpublished data. The 101 studies in the current on-hand in a given data set rather than strategies for

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652 Ferguson

Table 2.  Meta-Analytic Results for Video Game Exposure on Outcome Variables for All Studies With Controlled
Effect Sizes (Top) and Bivariate Effect Sizes (Bottom)

Publication
Effect size k r+ rc 95% CI Homogeneity test I2 bias?
Studies with controlled effect sizes
Aggressive behavior 66 .06 [.04, .08] χ2(65) = 223.47, p < .001 70.9 No
Prosocial behavior 21 .04 [.00, .07] χ2(20) = 70.70, p < .01 71.7 No
Academic performance 12 −.01 [−.04, .01] χ2(11) = 14.34, p = .21 23.3 No
Depressive symptoms 15 .04 [.01, .07] χ2(14) = 45.60, p < .001 71.7 No
Attention deficit symptoms 6 .03 [.00, .06] χ2(5) = 14.04, p < .01 64.4 No
Studies with bivariate effect sizes
Aggressive behavior 68 .14 .08 [.12, .16] χ2(67) = 656.79, p < .001 89.9 Yes
Prosocial behavior 21 .14 [.08, .19] χ2(20) = 226.50, p < .001 91.2 No
Academic performance 19 .08 [.04, .13] χ2(18) = 143.57, p < .001 87.5 No
Depressive symptoms 19 .04 [.01, .07] χ2(18) = 125.40, p < .001 85.6 No
Attention deficit symptoms 9 .10 [.06, .13] χ2(8) = 20.03, p < .01 62.0 No

Note: This table includes both studies of violent game exposure and studies of overall game exposure together. k = number
of studies; r+ = pooled effect size estimate; rc = the effect size corrected for publication bias when applicable; CI = confidence
interval; I2 = heterogeneity statistic; publication bias = decision that is based on the Tandem Procedure.

controlling key effects. Note that simply including some and reduced academic performance but not with depres-
variables as control variables is not necessarily a panacea sion. However, controlled effect sizes show that links
to spurious effects, as the inclusion of particularly theo- between video game violence and aggression as well as
retically relevant control variables rather than the raw reduced prosocial behavior are near zero (there were too
number of control variables is most important (Baumrind, few studies in which academic performance was exam-
Larzelere, & Cowan, 2002). ined with controlled effects).
Thus, broadly speaking, across analyses, bivariate
All studies. The results for all studies of video games results are generally small to very small, and controlled
on the five child outcomes are presented in Table 2. analyses, such as those from multiple regression, tend to
Bivariate results suggest that video games may have small produce effect sizes only marginally larger than r = .00.
covaried relationships with aggressive behavior, reduced Studies in which aggression was examined were, by far,
prosocial behavior, and attention deficit symptoms, the most common, and thus moderator analyses were
although effects for depressive symptoms and reduced conducted on these studies. Heterogeneity statistics are
academic performance are close to zero. However, con- significant for studies of video game violence on aggres-
trolled effects render all results near zero. sion, suggesting the presence of moderators.

General videogames. The same outcomes are pre-

Moderator analyses
sented in Table 3 but for studies of general video game
use only—that is to say, studies in which researchers In Table 5, I present meta-analytic results for violent
examined total video game viewing but did not specifi- video games on childhood aggression, broken down
cally measure exposure to violent content. Analyses for across three main study types, using controlled effect
which too few studies were present are represented with sizes. Results indicate that the influence of video game
an “N/A.” Bivariate results suggest small links between violence on aggression is near zero across all three study
video game use and attention deficit problems, but other types: correlational, longitudinal, and experimental.
outcomes are near zero. With controlled effect sizes, all Meta-analytic results across categorical moderators are
results are near zero. presented in Table 6. Regarding the issue of standardized
aggression measures, results indicate that standardized
Violent videogames. The same outcomes are pre- aggression measures are associated with somewhat
sented in Table 4 but only for studies in which video smaller effects than unstandardized measures.
game violence specifically was examined. Bivariate The concern of citation/selective reporting bias was
results suggest that violent video games have small rela- also considered. It is plausible that citation bias in the lit-
tionships with aggression, decreased prosocial behavior, erature review of a study could indicate researcher biases

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Video Games and Children’s Mental Health 653

Table 3.  Meta-Analytic Results for General Video Game Use on Outcome Variables for Studies With Controlled Effect
Sizes (Top) and Bivariate Effect Sizes (Bottom)

Effect size k r+ rc 95% CI Homogeneity test I2 Publication bias?

Studies with controlled effect sizes
Aggressive behavior 11 .03 [−.01, .07] χ2(10) = 69.43, p < .01 85.6 No
Prosocial behavior N/A  
Academic performance 8 .00 −.02 [−.04, .02] χ2(7) = 11.06, p = .14 36.7 Yes
Depressive symptoms 10 .05 [.01, .09] χ2(9) = 45.33, p < .001 80.1 No
Attention deficit Symptoms N/A  
Studies with bivariate effect sizes
Aggressive behavior 20 .07 [.04, .10] χ2(19) = 124.94, p < .001 84.7 No
Prosocial behavior 5 .08 [.02, .14] χ2(4) = 23.06, p < .001 82.7 No
Academic performance 12 .07 [.02, .12] χ2(11) = 77.16, p < .001 85.7 No
Depressive symptoms 14 .05 [.01, .09] χ2(13) = 108.63, p < .001 88.0 No
Attention deficit symptoms 6 .10 [.05, .14] χ2(5) = 16.72, p < .01 70.1 No

Note: General video game use refers to studies of overall game exposure but not violent game exposure specifically. k = number of
studies; r+ = pooled effect size estimate; rc = the effect size corrected for publication bias when applicable; CI = confidence interval;
I2 = heterogeneity statistic; publication bias = decision that is based on the Tandem Procedure; N/A = not applicable.

that could influence results, particularly in regard to meth- 1. In the studies, researchers used well-validated and
odological flexibility/researchers’ degrees of freedom (e.g., standardized outcome measures. Such measures
Simmons et al., 2011). The potential for researcher bias is did not give scholars flexibility to choose from
worth considering as a moderator (Starr & Davila, 2008). among various possible outcome indices but
Studies were coded as experiencing citation bias only if rather specified in advance how aggression would
the authors did not cite a single study disconfirming their be measured. Such measures had also been well-
arguments, whether for or against effects. Studies demon- validated as measures of real-world aggression.
strating citation bias in the literature review returned larger 2. In the experimental studies, researchers carefully
effects on average than those with more balanced litera- matched video games on variables other than
ture reviews. the independent variable of interest (Adachi &
A “best practices” approach was used to examine Willoughby, 2010).
whether studies with better methodologies would dem- 3. Video games used in experimental studies accu-
onstrate higher or lower effect sizes. The following best rately reflected the content intended (e.g., nonvio-
practices criteria were used: lent video games really contained no violence).

Table 4.  Meta-Analytic Results for Violent Video Game Use on Outcome Variables for Studies With Controlled Effect
Sizes (Top) and Bivariate Effect Sizes (Bottom)

Effect size k r+ rc 95% CI Homogeneity test I2 Publication bias?

Studies with controlled effect sizes
Aggressive behavior 55 .06 [.04, .09] χ2(54) = 135.87, p < .001 60.2 No
Prosocial behavior 18 .04 [−.01, .09] χ2(17) = 49.56, p < .001 65.7 No
Academic performance N/A  
Depressive symptoms 5 .00 [−.03, .04] χ2(4) = 1.85, p = .76 00.0 No
Attention deficit symptoms N/A  
Studies with bivariate effect sizes
Aggressive behavior 48 .17 [.14, .20] χ2(47) = 309.49, p < .001 84.8 No
Prosocial behavior 16 .15 [.06, .24] χ2(15) = 155.84, p < .001 90.4 No
Academic performance 7 .11 [.02, .20] χ2(6) = 65.15, p < .001 90.8 No
Depressive symptoms 5 .02 [−.05, .09] χ2(4) = 11.85, p < .05 66.2 No
Attention deficit symptoms N/A  

Note: k = number of studies; r+ = pooled effect size estimate; rc = the effect size corrected for publication bias when applicable;
CI = confidence interval; I2 = heterogeneity statistic; publication bias = decision that is based on the Tandem Procedure; N/A = not
applicable.

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654 Ferguson

Table 5.  Meta-Analytic Results for Violent Video Game Use on Child Aggression Across
Study Types for Controlled Effect Sizes

Effect size k r+ 95% CI Homogeneity test I2 Publication bias?

Correlational 19 .04 [.01, .08] χ (18) = 46.37, p < .001
2
61.2 No
Longitudinal 20 .08 [.05, .11] χ2(19) = 52.29, p < .001 63.7 No
Experimental 16 .09 [.03, .16] χ2(15) = 24.26, p = .06 38.6 No

Note: k = number of studies; r+ = pooled effect size estimate; CI = confidence interval; I2 =

heterogeneity statistic; publication bias = decision that is based on the Tandem Procedure.

4. In correlational studies, researchers controlled, at gitudinal period for longitudinal studies were not signifi-
minimum, for gender and (for video game violence cant moderator variables.
studies) trait aggression (or similar constructs such
as antisocial traits). In longitudinal studies, research-
ers also controlled for Time 1 outcome variables in
Publication Bias
addition to those described earlier. It has been known for many years (e.g., Rosenthal, 1979)
that the selective publication of statistically significant
Best practice studies were associated with slightly reports can bias research fields and meta-analyses drawn
smaller effects compared with nonbest practice studies. from them. Thus, the problem of publication bias was
Regarding ethnicity, Eastern samples returned smaller carefully considered in the current analysis. One way of
effects, as did Latin/Hispanic samples, than did Western addressing this concern is to use several tests of publica-
samples. However, given that effect sizes across studies tion bias, as suggested by Ferguson and Brannick (2012).
were generally small, differences among these moderator Given that their individual weaknesses differ, combining
variables were also fairly small. Gender differences were them to make decisions about publication bias reduces
also negligible. Meta-regression analyses revealed that the potential for Type I error. Therefore, the Tandem
age of the child, publication year, and length of the lon- Procedure7 suggested by Ferguson and Brannick was

Table 6.  Moderator Analysis for Categorical Moderators of Aggression Studies on Children for Controlled Effect
Sizes

Effect size k r+ rc 95% CI Homogeneity test I2 Publication bias?

Standardization  
 Standardized 22 .04 [.02, .07] χ2(21) = 70.33, p < .001 70.1 No
 Unstandardized 43 .07 [.05, .10] χ2(42) = 121.17, p < .001 65.3 No
Citation bias  
 Yes 35 .09 [.06, .12] χ2(34) = 86.13, p < .001 60.5 No
 No 31 .03 [.00, .05] χ2(30) = 111.28, p < .001 73.0 No
Best practices  
 Yes 17 .03 [−.01, .06] χ2(16) = 65.82, p < .001 75.7 No
 No 48 .07 [.05, .10] χ2(47) = 124.44, p < .001 62.2 No
Ethnicity  
 Eastern 7 .03 [−.03, .10] χ2(6) = 24.76, p < .001 75.8 No
 Latin 4 −.03 [−.13, .08] χ2(3) = 7.78, p = .05 61.4 No
 Western 54 .07 [.05, .09] χ (53) = 187.7, p < .001
2
71.8 No
Gender  
 Male 16 .04 [.00, .08] χ2(15) = 32.69, p < .01 54.1 No
 Female 12 .05 [.03, .07] χ2(11) = 6.17, p = .86 00.0 No
Dissertation  
 Yes 5 .02 [−.03, .08] χ2(4) = 3.08, p = .55 00.0 No
  Published/in press 53 .07 .04 [.04, .09] χ2(52) = 197.63, p < .001 73.7 Yes
 Unpublished 8 .02 [−.06, .11] χ2(7) = 21.59, p < .01 67.6 No

Note: k = number of studies; r+ = pooled effect size estimate; rc = the effect size corrected for publication bias when applicable;
CI = confidence interval; I2 = heterogeneity statistic; publication bias = decision that is based on the Tandem Procedure.

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Video Games and Children’s Mental Health 655

used. Publication bias was also addressed through a surprising, given Sherry’s (2001) observation that effect
search for unpublished manuscripts as noted earlier. sizes were weaker for child samples than for college stu-
Moderator analyses indicate that dissertations in which dent samples. These data also fit with the epidemiologi-
video game violence on aggression was examined as cal data that have not indicated a blossoming public
well as unpublished data in general had lower effect health issue during the video game era (Olson, 2010).
sizes than did published studies overall. Tandem The absence of moderator effects for child age or longi-
Procedure results also indicate that published studies tudinal period do not lend support to common beliefs
demonstrate evidence for publication bias, suggesting that younger children may be particularly susceptible to
that publication bias remains a problem for the field. negative effects or that effects may accumulate over time.
Confidence intervals for effect size estimates are gen-
erally fairly narrow, owing mainly to the large number of
Discussion studies and the almost uniformly small size of the con-
The overall results of the meta-analysis indicate that trolled effect sizes in particular. Controlled effects that
video games, whether violent or nonviolent, have mini- reached the level of r = .30 are very rare.
mal deleterious influence on children’s well-being. This is It is worth noting that controlling for Time 1 variables
particularly true in studies in which other variables were in longitudinal studies, particularly studies of aggression,
controlled for and in which well-standardized and vali- is qualitatively different from using other control vari-
dated outcome measures were used. Furthermore, publi- ables. Because aggression tends to be highly stable over
cation bias appears to be a continuing concern for studies time, controlling for Time 1 aggression tends to limit the
of aggression. These results shed light on the relative variance in an analysis. However, arguably, this is pre-
importance of the issue of videogames on children’s cisely the importance of controlling for Time 1 aggres-
well-being, relative to other issues such as poverty, men- sion. A stable trait such as aggression may be particularly
tal health, or family violence. resistant to the influence of video games, and controlling
for prescores is crucial to eliminate variance that is due to
selection effects (see Breuer, Vogelgesang, Quandt, &
Differing results for bivariate and Festl, in press; von Salisch et al., 2011).
controlled analyses
Among other concerns, results indicate the importance of
Better studies, smaller effects
distinguishing between bivariate and multivariate con-
trolled effects. Data involving multivariate controlled Results also suggest that studies in which researchers
effects are considered to be the gold standard in media used better methodologies tend to be less likely to pro-
research (Savage, 2004). This is because bivariate effects duce evidence for negative effects. However, given that
may be spuriously high, as noted by game/aggression effects were generally weak, these differences were fairly
links being explained by boys both playing more games small. Nonetheless, the potential remains for poorly
and behaving more aggressively (Przybylski & Mishkin, in designed studies to inflate effect sizes. Studies in which
press). Results of the current analysis indicate that, indeed, researchers used unstandardized outcome measures tend
misuse of bivariate results can misinform the scholarly to produce higher, potentially inflated effect sizes. The
community and general public about video game influ- issue of citation/selective reporting bias is particularly
ences. Current bivariate results range from small to very concerning, given that such reporting biases may per-
small. Bivariate results for video game violence on aggres- petuate false beliefs in the scholarly community and gen-
sion are consistent with Sherry’s (2001, 2007) previous eral public about research results. Results of this study
meta-analyses for instance (both between r = .15 and r = suggest that researcher biases, as evidenced by citation
.17). However, multivariate controlled results are univer- bias in literature reviews, do play a role in influencing the
sally near zero, suggesting that even small video game effect sizes of resultant publications. Citation bias was
effects are probably explained by other, more critical fac- associated with increased effect sizes in this area of
tors. Studies in which researchers used controls naturally research. Citation bias is likely endemic to much of psy-
were heterogeneous in controls used, although gender, chology and science more broadly. It is not implied here
personality (particularly trait aggression), and family/ that citation bias is unique to video game research.
parenting variables were most common, suggesting that However, that it is common elsewhere does not make it
these variables are particularly recognized as important any less problematic for this field, and researchers should
control variables (see Savage, 2004). be encouraged to portray the research field more faith-
Results from controlled studies of video game effects fully in their literature reviews.
suggest that the influence of video games on deleterious One issue that often remains unclear in the field is the
outcomes in children is minimal. This is perhaps not interpretation of null effects. This is a particularly difficult

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656 Ferguson

problem both in interpreting smaller studies that may Przybylski, 2006). Put briefly here, in both approaches,
produce null findings because of Type II error as well as media users are considered as active shapers of media,
larger studies that may produce statistically significant who consume media as active agents attempting to meet
findings with effect sizes near zero (e.g., Willoughby particular psychological needs. Therefore, for example, a
et al., 2012). It is also not clear how many null findings child may play video games to meet needs related to
are required to negate a particular theory. Certainly, most autonomy or competence that are not being met ade-
scholars would agree that a small number of null findings quately in real life. Understanding why kids play the
should not invalidate a given theory, but it may also games they do has generally been a critical factor that
become overly convenient to dismiss all null findings as has been overlooked in much of the research. Academic
Type II error (Simons, 2014), although direct replication dialogue on children and video games has largely failed
failures may be of some particularly importance (e.g., to take a motivational perspective.
Przybylski et al., 2014; Tear & Nielson, 2013). Arguably, One related theoretical perspective to consider may be
this has been one of the more intractable issues for the that of the downward spiral model in which specific at-
field. It may require considerable debate and discussion risk groups of youths actively select violent media, which,
before it becomes clear exactly when theories of video in turn, increases their aggressiveness (Slater, Henry,
game violence effects, at least the broad-based-effects Swaim, & Anderson, 2003). Studies of video game influ-
model, should be replaced. ences on specific at-risk groups remain few in number.
Some evidence suggests that video game violence may
interact with preexisting anger in college students
Practical recommendations for
(Markey & Scherer, 2009), although only for minor acts of
psychological science aggression in the laboratory. However, evidence among
The results of this study provide evidence to support youths is lacking. In one recent cross-sectional study of
various calls (e.g., Ferguson, 2013; Granic et  al., 2014; at-risk youths, DeLisi, Vaughn, Gentile, Anderson, and
Hall, Day, & Hall, 2011a; Savage, 2004; Sherry, 2007) for Shook (2013) found very small correlations between
some degree of reform or reevaluation of the video game aggression and video game violence. However, their
research field. In this section, I offer several pragmatic analysis is limited by the absence of a control group and
suggestions for how this research field may improve in reliance on asking youths to rate the violence in the
theoretical and empirical rigor. video games they played themselves as well as their own
self-reported aggression, potentially introducing demand
The need for new theory. Historically, theories of characteristics. By contrast, in another recent correla-
media effects have been focused on “hypodermic needle” tional study of youth violence, Ferguson and Olson
type theories, in which it is implied that media is essen- (2014) found no evidence for correlational relationships
tially injected into passive viewers who automatically between violent game use and aggression in a sample of
model viewed behaviors through the activation of cogni- youths with elevated mental health symptoms, although
tive scripts (see Sherry, 2004, for discussion). Such theo- this study too was limited by its correlational and self-
ries arguably have not been well supported by the current report nature (although violence exposure was calcu-
literature and may suffer from problematic assumptions lated with game ratings rather than youth self-report). In
such as that the brain treats fictional media similarly to considering at-risk youths, Unsworth et al. (2007) found
real-life violence exposure (e.g., Bushman & Huesmann, that violent game effects are idiosyncratic, having very
2014). Given that research suggests that children’s pro- variable effects on youths, sometimes increasing, some-
cessing of fictional media begins to differ from nonfic- times decreasing, but most often having no influence on
tional data at an early age and develops over time (e.g., individual youths. With that in mind, blanket statements
Woolley & Van Reet, 2006), these cognitive script theories of effects may be ill-advised, suggesting media effects
may lack the proper developmental approach to under- may be small and variable rather than large and ubiqui-
standing media effects. tous. It is also worth noting that video games are only
Two related theories, one from communication sci- one part of a child’s media use, and youths may be
ence, the other from psychology, may provide some use- exposed to violent media through a variety of media,
ful guidance, particularly in helping to understand how from books through social media.
media consumers are active shapers, seekers, and pro- Similarly, it may be increasingly important to under-
cessors of media information. These include the uses and stand children’s video game use from a perspective of
gratifications theory of communication (Sherry, Lucas, normal development (Olson, 2010)—something that,
Greenberg, & Lachlan, 2006) as well as the self-determi- once again, has generally been lacking in the literature.
nation theory in psychology (Przybylski, Weinstein, Further research is certainly needed to examine how
Murayama, Lynch, & Ryan, 2012; Ryan, Rigby, & children process media and how they may process

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Video Games and Children’s Mental Health 657

different media, such as advertising and fictional media, outcomes. More rigorous research will help guide both
in different ways. More theory is also needed to under- scientific position statements and public policy with
stand the developmental processes that children use to good, rigorous data.
understand and interpret the media they use. Generally,
a developmental focus to video game studies has been The need to study mental illness. The results of the
lacking, and in traditional theories, the experience of current analysis suggest that, at least with samples of typ-
gaming is not put into a larger developmental focus. ical community children, the influence of video games is
From a developmental perspective, it would be valu- negligible. However, the current data are not yet capable
able to incorporate literature on children’s reality testing. of answering whether specific subpopulations of vulner-
Further, it would help to understand how motivational able children are more prone to negative influences of
factors for video game use change across age periods. video games. For instance Markey and Markey (2010),
How, also, does video game use fit in with or compete working with college students, found that violent video
with other developmental processes, such as the influ- games may have small interaction effects with the psy-
ences of family and peers? choticism personality trait. However, in samples of chil-
dren, researchers have not always found evidence for
The need for standardized measures and rigorous such an interaction effect (e.g., Ferguson, 2011b), and in
methods. As researchers in the field become aware of one recent analysis, Ferguson and Olson (2014) found
methodological flexibility/researchers’ degrees of free- little evidence for video game violence effects in a sam-
dom issues, reviewers and journal editors should insist ple of children with preexisting mental health symptoms.
that researchers use standardized, well-validated out- Likewise, another recent study found that neither indi-
come measures. Recent evidence has clarified that viduals with autism spectrum disorders nor those without
unstandardized outcome measures have significant influ- are influenced by violent video games (Engelhardt et al.,
ence on potentially spurious effect size estimates (Elson in press). Nonetheless, samples of children with preexist-
et  al., 2014). It is not enough for authors to claim that ing mental health symptoms are lacking in the literature
they do not intend their studies to be generalized to and may help answer questions about potentially vulner-
socially relevant public health concerns, as this will hap- able subpopulations, even if video games do not have
pen whether study authors intend it or not. Thus, research general negative effects on the majority of children.
on children’s exposure to video games should be held to
a very high clinical standard. Moving beyond the concept of violent video
Outcome measures in the field also tend to be highly game.  One issue for the field that became apparent in
heterogeneous. Despite this, they continue to be concep- the current analysis was the ambiguity with which the
tualized as a unitary construct of “aggression” and are term “violent video game” is used. The concept of violent
often generalized to serious acts of social violence. Some video game is defined so broadly that almost all video
authors have argued for the validity of this approach, games could be considered violent, including those
suggesting that such heterogeneous measures correlate intended for children (K. M. Thompson & Haninger,
well with each other (Anderson, Lindsay, & Bushman, 2001). In one recent murder case, a testifying psycholo-
1999). However, given problems with lack of standard- gist acknowledged that even games such as Pac Man
ization of these measures, such correlations may be could conceivably be considered violent (Rushton, 2013).
reflective of experimenter expectancy effects rather than Thus, it should not be surprising that video games treated
true intercorrelations. Further, recent reanalysis of these as violent vary widely among studies, and yet they are
observed intercorrelations has proven less sanguine treated by researchers in the field as if occupying a sin-
regarding the interreliability of these heterogeneous mea- gle, meaningful, conceptual space. However, compiling
sures (Mitchell, 2012). As long as outcome measures con- primitive old-school games such as Pac Man with multi-
tinue to be heterogeneous and unstandardized, the ability player games such as World of Warcraft with shooter
of researchers in the field to measure true population- games such as Call of Duty under the concept of violent
approximate effect sizes from samples regarding the con- video game is likely about as meaningful as compiling
struct of aggression may be limited. the Christian Bible, the Red Badge of Courage, and Cujo
Rigorous methodology also entails careful attention to together as “violent literature” in a single conceptual
matching of video games in experimental conditions space because all happen to contain violence.
(Adachi & Willoughby, 2010) and avoiding the introduc- Thus, it is possible that the very concept of violent
tion of expectancy effects and other confounds in all video game is of limited utility, serving mainly a political
research (Boot et al., 2011). Further, in more experimen- and moral purpose rather than a scientific one. It may be
tal studies, researchers should consider including careful valuable for researchers in the field to move beyond such
pretest/posttest designs, without which it is unclear simplistic and moralistic concepts to better understand
whether video games increase or decrease negative the full range of video game experiences.

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658 Ferguson

Caution in public statements. The incautious state- possible to test for moderator effects with relatively limited
ments of some scholars following the Sandy Hook shoot- pools of research in other areas. There clearly remains a
ing risked damaging the credibility of the field, particularly need for studies of child samples in which potential men-
when such statements were not consistent with available tal and behavioral health issues outside of aggression are
data (see Hall, Day, & Hall, 2011a). Scholarly statements examined. Second, although publication bias was assessed,
linking Sandy Hook with video games were often made in such assessments, researchers examine only for bias
before any official data were available regarding the indi- that is due to nonpublication of null results. They do not
vidual perpetrator’s media use history. Such statements assess for bias that is due to methodological flexibility
risk contributing to an atmosphere of moral panic (Fer- issues that also may bias results. For example, method-
guson, 2013) that can distract society from more pressing ological flexibility may allow for the conversion of a null
issues related to violence. Particularly in light of the offi- finding to a statistically significant finding without neces-
cial investigation report in which the Sandy Hook shooter sarily using increased sample sizes. Thus, the true amount
was found to be more interested in nonviolent games of bias in the field is difficult to assess. Third, all meta-
than violent games (State’s Attorney for the Judicial Dis- analyses are only as good as the studies that are included
trict of Danbury, 2013), this example should serve as a within them. As indicated, there remains great need for
cautionary note for the field. researchers in this field to increase the rigor of their meth-
This is not to say that scholars can never express the odology. Thus, results from the current crop of video game
opinion that video games may be linked with negative studies should only be generalized to public health-related
outcomes for some individuals, just as scholars can issues with caution.
express the opinion that video games have no such links Although there are reasons to express concern about
with negative outcomes. Indeed, although there are good bias in the field, it is interesting to see that null studies for
studies that suggest video games have no effect on chil- video game effects remain common. However, it also
dren, there are also good studies that suggest video may be interesting to examine the relative penetration of
games may have some deleterious effects, at least on null and statistically significant findings both in the field
some consumers (e.g., Giumetti & Markey, 2007; Markey and in the general public. It may be, for instance, that
& Scherer, 2009; Willoughby et  al., 2012). However, even if research results remain inconsistent, studies sup-
scholars must be cautious to avoid common headline- porting a particular view may be reported more often
worthy but untrue “talking points” such as that research both in the field and in the general public, thus creating
consistently demonstrates negative effects, effects are a false impression of research results.
similar to important medical effects, or that the existing
research is easily generalizable to societal violence (F. Concluding statements
Farley, 2012). Thus, scholars should, at minimum, hon-
estly inform the public about debates and discrepancies The field of video game violence is riven with contro-
within the field and caution that most studies of aggres- versy and politics. Given how enmeshed this field is with
sion cannot easily answer “big V” questions about soci- tragic events in society (whether rightly or wrongly), the
etal violence (F. Farley, 2012). Groups such as the APA controversy is unlikely to dissipate in the near future.
also would be well served by soliciting opinions from Debates among scholars with different views on this
experts on all sides of politicized academic debates (an topic are potentially healthy and elucidating for all
approach which they have thus far consistently involved. By contrast, incautious statements not carefully
eschewed). Further, position statements should not be representing the often inconsistent research are likely to
written by scholars heavily invested in a particular posi- damage the credibility of the field in the long term (Hall,
tion on an issue. Rather a jury-like, voir dire process may Day, & Hall, 2011a). It is hoped that the current analysis
help constitute review committees of objective, unin- may provide some small guidance in these discussions
volved scholars who are able to review a research field moving forward.
without prior convictions about what conclusions a posi-
tions statement should reach. Unfortunately, this did not Appendix A
occur for either the 2005 task force or the current task
force working as of this writing. Effect size estimates
One issue that has arisen as a potential problem for meta-
analyses is the proper extraction of effect size estimates.
Limitations
To meet the homogeneity assumption of meta-analysis,
As with all studies, the current meta-analysis has limita- most conductors of meta-analyses have extracted the
tions. First, studies of video game violence on aggression equivalent of bivariate “r,” particularly from correlational
outnumbered other areas of study. Thus, it was not or longitudinal data. However, this approach risks

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Video Games and Children’s Mental Health 659

providing spurious estimates of effects. For instance, with game effects, after other factors were well-controlled, this
video games, it is well established that boys are both approach was viewed as valuable.
more aggressive and more prone to playing violent video Although it was not common, in several articles, results
games (Olson et  al., 2007). Thus, bivariate correlations were reported as nonsignificant without an effect size
between aggression and video game use may simply be reported or data sufficient to calculate an effect size.
due to gender, and it is essential that gender is controlled. When this occurred, attempts were made to contact the
Given that well-controlled multivariate analyses are con- original authors for relevant data. If such data were no
sidered the gold standard in aggression research (Savage longer available, or if authors did not respond, null effects
& Yancey, 2008), for meta-analyses to rely solely on were entered as zero so as not to spuriously exclude null
bivariate r leads to increased risks of misleading causal effects from the analysis. Effect size estimates for the
conclusions coming from these analyses. For a meta- included studies are provided online at http://www
analysis to remain rooted to bivariate r, it would be theo- .christopherjferguson.com/Book1.xlsx. This file provides
retically possible for every single study to have the the most conservative effect size drawn from each study.
conclusion that any correlation between video games All effect size estimates are weighted for sample size.
and negative outcomes was reduced to nonsignificance
after other factors were controlled; however, it would Declaration of Conflicting Interests
also be theoretically possible for a meta-analysis of these
The author declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the
studies to have the conclusion that significant effect authorship or the publication of this article.
existed. In this circumstance, reliance on the bivariate r,
when examining well-controlled multivariate correla-
tional and longitudinal studies in meta-analysis, is Notes
problematic. 1. In the official investigation report by the State of Connecticut,
If reliance on bivariate r is problematic, the solution is it was revealed that Lanza owned both violent and nonvio-
unclear. Several authors have suggested that betas indeed lent video games, although most games he owned were old
can be used as effect size estimates in meta-analyses. As and outdated. However, the report clarified that Lanza was
most involved in playing nonviolent video games—such as
Rosenthal and DiMatteo (2001) noted, betas can be used
Dance, Dance Revolution, and Super Mario Brothers—rather
as effect size estimates, with the cautionary note to recall than violent games. Investigation files released by the State of
that betas use multivariate controls as opposed to rs. Other Connecticut also include examples of police officers warning
authors have echoed this basic view ( J. U. Farley, Lehmann, victims’ families not to pay too much attention to video game
& Sawyer, 1995; Raju, Fralicx, & Steinhaus, 1986). or other “hoax” theories circulating in media reports. Many of
In the present analysis, a dual approach is used. That the rumors about Lanza’s alleged obsession with violent games
is, results from both bivariate and multivariate controlled appear to have been based on unreliable sources rather than
effect sizes are presented. This allows scholars to exam- the official investigation. In the official report, investigators did
ine the difference between them. The effect size r was not link violent games to the crime (State’s Attorney for the
used in this analysis both because of the inclusion of Judicial District of Danbury, 2013).
numerous longitudinal and correlational effect sizes in 2. The APA has assigned a new task force to review its policy
statement on video game violence, although this task force has
the analysis and because r tends to be straightforward as
also been controversial. In 2013, a group of approximately 238
an effect size and easy to interpret. scholars (Consortium of Scholars, 2013) wrote to the APA ask-
In some cases, researchers presented more than one ing them to retire their policy statement, in part out of concern
effect size relevant to a single construct (e.g., using two or that the new task force, much like the 2005 task force, was
more separate measures of aggression or depression). In mainly composed of scholars with a priori antigame positions
these cases, they were aggregated for an average effect without moderating voices.
size. Similarly, in some cases, a single data set may have 3. These designs include both pretest/posttest experimental
produced several publications in which the same out- and control groups as well as experimental and control groups
come for the same time point for the same sample was without pretest. Such designs allow for testing of both the
considered. Unless the data represented different time experimental manipulation, allowing for changes over time as
points (i.e., correlational and longitudinal data in separate well as any potential confounds that are due to testing effects.
4. The Taylor Competitive Reaction Time Test involves players
publications), data sets were included only once in the
who think they are playing a reaction time game against a con-
meta-analysis. In some articles, researchers presented senting opponent. The player sets levels of static noise in terms
multiple competing statistical models with different effect of loudness and duration that his or her opponent will hear if
size estimates, particularly for multivariate analyses. When he or she loses. The consenting nature of the task as well as
this occurred, the most conservative model was used as the official sanction for the behavior in the form of researcher
the effect size estimate for the controlled analyses. Given instructions likely violate most definitions of aggression.
the question of how much variance remains for video However, the task is also unstandardized, allowing multiple

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660 Ferguson

methods for extracting aggression with the same sample out- *Allahverdipour, H., Bazargan, M., Farhadinasab, A., &
comes, which can be quite variable. Misuse of this instrument Moeini, B. (2010). Correlates of video games playing among
has, by now, been well-documented (see Ferguson, 2013, for adolescents in an Islamic country. BMC Public Health, 10,
extended discussion). Article 286.
5. Aggression was defined here as purposeful behavior intended American Academy of Pediatrics. (2009). Media violence policy
to harm another. Thus, in the current analysis, I focused on statement. Pediatrics, 124, 1495–1503.
behavior. It is acknowledged that how aggressive behavior is American Psychological Association. (2005). Resolution on vio-
conceptualized across studies varies widely and has, at times, lence in video games and interactive media. Retrieved from
been controversial (see Ritter & Eslea, 2005). All studies in https://www.apa.org/about/policy/interactive-media.pdf
which researchers attempted to measure some form of aggres- Anderson, C. A., & Dill, K. (2000). Video games and aggres-
sive behavior are included here, although in the analysis I also sive thoughts, feelings and behavior in the laboratory and
examine some methodological issues, such as lack of standard- in life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78,
ization, that may influence outcomes. 772–790.
6. One study (Gentile et al., 2009) was not included out of con- *Anderson, C. A., Gentile, D. A., & Buckley, K. E. (2007). Violent
cerns of multi-collinearity. In this study, the authors attempted video game effects on children and adolescents. Oxford,
to calculate separate violent and prosocial game categories. England: Oxford University Press.
The authors noted that these were highly correlated, yet they Anderson, C. A., Lindsay, J. J., & Bushman, B. J. (1999).
entered them together into regression equations. The authors Research in the psychological laboratory: Truth or trivial-
then found “bouncing beta” standardized regression coeffi- ity? Current Directions in Psychological Science, 8, 3–9.
cients in opposing directions, despite the predictor variables doi:10.1111/1467-8721.00002
being highly correlated. The authors also reported variance *Anderson, C. A., Sakamoto, A., Gentile, D. A., Ihori, N.,
inflation factor levels near 10, which tend to produce spurious Shibuya, A., Yukawa, S., . . . Kobayashi, K. (2008).
multi-collinearity results. Longitudinal effects of violent video games on aggression
7. The Tandem Procedure is a conservative estimate of publica- in Japan and the United States. Pediatrics, 122, e1067–
tion bias, in which researchers reduce Type I error by using e1072. doi:10.1542/peds.2008-1425
a decision matrix for identifying publication bias. The meta- Anderson, C. A., Shibuya, A., Ihori, N., Swing, E. L.,
analytic effect size is examined for fragility, with near-trivial Bushman,  B.  J., Sakamoto, A., . . . Saleem, M. (2010).
effect sizes considered most prone to bias. Several correlation Violent video game effects on aggression, empathy, and
approaches for sample size and effect size are also considered, prosocial behavior in Eastern and Western countries: A
as is the trim and fill procedure for potential missing studies. meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 136, 151–173.
Agreement among measures is considered evidence for publica- doi:10.1037/a0018251
tion bias. However, this procedure is very conservative, and it is Australian Government, Attorney General’s Department. (2010).
likely that many cases of publication bias, particularly those aris- Literature review on the impact of playing violent video
ing from QRPs, will not be identified by this procedure. Thus, games on aggression. Commonwealth of Australia.
this should be considered only as a conservative test for bias. Azar, B. (2010). Virtual violence: Researchers disagree about
whether violent video games increase aggression. Monitor
on Psychology, 41(11), 38.
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