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J Youth Adolescence (2013) 42:10411052 DOI 10.1007/s10964-013-9913-9
EMPIRICAL RESEARCH
More Than Just Fun and Games: The Longitudinal Relationships Between Strategic Video Games, Self-Reported Problem Solving Skills, and Academic Grades
Paul J. C. Adachi Teena Willoughby
Received: 10 December 2012 / Accepted: 16 January 2013 / Published online: 24 January 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013
Abstract Some researchers have proposed that video games possess good learning principles and may promote problem solving skills. Empirical research regarding this relationship, however, is limited. The goal of the presented study was to examine whether strategic video game play(i.e., role playing and strategy games) predicted self-reported problem solving skills among a sample of 1,492 adolescents (50.8 % female), over the four high school years. The results showed that more strategic video game play predicted higher self-reported problem solving skills over time than less strategic video game play. In addition, the results showed support for an indirect association between strategic video game play and academic grades, in that strategic video game play predicted higher self-reported problem solving skills, and, in turn, higher self-reported problem solving skills predicted higher academic grades. The novel ndings that strategic video games promote self-reported problem solving skills and indirectly predict academic grades are important considering that millions of adolescents play video games every day.
Keywords Problem solving Academic performance
Video games Adolescent development
Introduction
Video games are the fastest growing form of entertainment in the world, with a global market value of $67 billion in 2010 and a predicted value of $112 billion by 2015
(Biscotti et al. 2011). In fact, video game play has become ubiquitous among adolescents as 97 % of American adolescents aged 1217 years play computer, web, portable or console video games (Lenhart et al. 2008; see also Gentile 2009). In terms of frequency, 31 % of adolescents play video games every day and another 21 % play games 35 days a week. In spite of the importance of video game play to adolescents, however, over the past few decades psychologists have focused primarily on the link between video game use and negative outcomes, such as addiction and aggression (see Anderson et al. 2010, but also Ferguson and Kilburn 2010 for criticisms of this work), at the expense of...