Playing online video games has become a popular and highly common leisure time activity among adolescents, especially boys, raising concerns about its impact on mental health. While some research has found that higher gaming intensity is negatively associated with adolescent mental health, such negative outcomes especially seem to occur for a small subgroup of gamers exhibiting more problematic gaming behavior (e.g., Internet Gaming Disorder symptoms). However, few studies have explicitly differentiated normal variation in gaming intensity from problematic gaming behavior. In this preregistered study, we therefore aim to examine the relation between gaming intensity and mental health in early adolescent boys and girls, while controlling for problematic gaming behaviors (i.e., Internet Gaming Disorder symptoms). Additionally, we will investigate whether adolescents’ motives for gaming moderate this association. We used data from the first wave of data from The Digital Youth and Identity (DiYo-I) project were used (while the second wave is currently being collected). The sample consisted of 1,438 adolescents in Grades 7 and Grade 8, who completed an online survey of approximately 40 minutes during school hours. In this study, we used information on gaming intensity (recent gaming, frequency, and intensity), gaming motives (Motives for Online Gaming Questionnaire), and mental health (e.g., depressive symptoms, loneliness, life satisfaction). We are in the final stages of preregistration, after which we will access the data. The findings from this study will offer novel insights into the distinct association between gaming intensity and adolescent mental health beyond problematic gaming behaviors, as well as the potential importance of adolescents’ motives for gaming in this association.

Parent-adolescent relationships influence adolescent development, and parents play a key role in managing adolescents’ gaming behaviors. This study investigates discrepancies between parent and adolescent perceptions of gaming frequency and gaming-related conflicts, exploring potential gender differences and their implications for adolescent mental health. Using a matched-pairs cohort (n = 859) of parent-adolescent dyads extracted from a national sample, we examined: (1) differences between parent and adolescent reports of gaming frequency and conflicts, (2) gender differences in parents’ reports of adolescent gaming frequency and gaming-related conflicts, and (3) the relationship between gaming frequency, gaming-related conflicts, and adolescent mental health and adolescent gender. Parents’ estimations of how often their adolescent gamed, compared to adolescent reports, were higher for girls than for boys. Parents reported more gaming-related conflicts than their adolescents, and boys reported more gaming-related conflicts than girls. Controlling for gaming frequency, conflicts were more strongly associated with lower mental health among girls than boys. Additionally, adolescents with lower gaming levels who experienced conflicts exhibited poorer mental health compared to both conflict-free peers and high-gaming peers who also experienced conflicts. The fit between parental and adolescents’ view of the adolescents’ gaming behavior and adolescents’ perceptions of their own gaming frequency appears to play a significant role in adolescents’ mental health. Additionally, gender differences seem to exist in the relationship between parental and adolescent reports of gaming behavior, as well as in the impact of gaming-related conflicts on adolescent mental health. These findings highlight the importance of understanding and addressing both discrepancies in parent-adolescent fit and gender-specific dynamics to foster healthier parent-adolescent relationships and support adolescent mental health. Discrepancies in parent and child reports are discussed noting gaming as a relatively gendered activity playing significant role for adolescent mental health.

Gaming is a highly prevalent leisure time activity among adolescents, which may help develop several important cognitive, emotional, and social skills. However, some adolescents’ gaming behavior is problematic, possibly resulting in addictive and high-risk behaviors such as online gambling. Parents can try to prevent these negative outcomes by imposing rules on their children’s gaming behavior (i.e., restrictive mediation). Although parents typically use such restrictive mediation in an attempt to reduce problematic gaming, research shows that the effects of parents’ restrictive mediation on adolescents’ gaming behavior are rather limited. Scholars therefore suggested that the style in which the mediation is communicated can play a role, in addition to the degree of parental restrictive mediation. It has been argued that an autonomy-supportive communication style would protect against risky gaming behaviors and that a more controlling style would enhance risk for problematic gaming.

Previous research on this topic found that, indeed, parental communication styles are associated with problematic gaming behaviors, on top of the usage of restrictive mediation as such. However, none of these studies are investigating these associations on a longitudinal basis. This presentation will show analyses based on survey data that were collected with a 1-year interval in the context of a broader project (Gameable) among adolescents in Belgium (N = 495, M_age = 13.85 years, 41.6% boys, 57.1% girls), to take a look at the reciprocal, longitudinal associations between problematic gaming behaviors, parental restrictive mediation behaviors and parental communication styles. Latent change modeling showed that higher levels of autonomy supportive mediation communication styles in restrictive mediation are predictive of a decrease of problematic gaming behavior, while increases in problematic gaming behavior in turn predicted more parental usage of restrictive mediation practices. Implications of the results for research and practice will be discussed.