Tölvuleikjanotkun nemenda á aldrinum 14 til 20 ára á höfuðborgarsvæðinu

Abstract

Studies in North-America and Europe indicate that video game playing among adolescents has increased over the last decade. The aim of this study was to view video game playing of Icelandic adolescents between 14 and 20 year of age. The participants were 595 adolescents conveniently chosen from schools in Reykjavik and close municipalities. The results showed that 84% of students had played video games over the last year and 68% played each day. Around 2.6% played video games each day for six hours or more. First person shooter was the most popular video game genre whereas around 20% of the adolescents played them a lot. Boys played most video game genres more than girls. Video games are predominantly played at homes and the adolescents played very rarely in video game arcades. The results also showed that 13% of the adolescents agreed playing too much in video games and 4% agreed that their video game playing caused them a problem. Boys more frequently agreed that their video game playing caused them problems than girls. Finally the results showed that adolescents who agreed that their video game playing caused them a problem played more and rather in first person shooter, strategy war games and in massively multiplayer online games. In general, the results indicate that video game playing is a popular free-time activities among adolescents and some adolescents consider that they play too much or have problems because of video game playing.