Girls benefit from playing video games with a parent, according to a new study. The catch: the games have to be age-appropriate.
Researchers at Brigham Young University studied 287 male and female adolescents between 11 and 16 years of age who already played video games. Some adolescents played video games with their parents while others played by themselves or with friends. The families had diverse backgrounds with a mix of parental influences.
For the study, which was published online in the Journal of Adolescent Health this month, the group measured video game activity, aggression levels and delinquent behavior in the adolescents through a series of questionnaires.
Girls who played age-appropriate video games with a parent had more positive behaviors and feelings, the researchers found. The same relationship was not apparent in boys.
Are Video Games Art?On the other hand, girls didn't reap these benefits from playing age-inappropriate games with a parent. The authors say this may be because girls feel uncomfortable talking about the content of the game or even think the parent condones violent or mature messages in the video game.
Since co-playing requires the parent to watch and participate, the researchers speculate that quality face time between parents and their daughters is likely to contribute to these benefits.
So why didn't boys benefit from playing with mom or dad?
It's not exactly clear. Perhaps the fact that boys, on average, play more video games with friends and are more likely to play more violent, inappropriate games has something to do with it, the authors speculate.
Below is a list of the most popular games adolescents played with their parents, according to the study.
For Girls:
- Mario Kart/Mario Brothers
- Wii Sports
- Rock Band/Guitar Hero
For Boys:
- Call of Duty
- Wii Sports
- Halo
Photo credit: Corbis
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