Problematic gaming and students’ academic performance: a systematic review

Alzahrani, AKD and Griffiths, MD ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8880-6524, 2024. Problematic gaming and students’ academic performance: a systematic review. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction. ISSN 1557-1874

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Abstract

Introduction: Research indicates that videogames can have many benefits. However, gaming can be problematic for some individuals. Consequently, over the past two decades, researchers have actively studied the risk factors and consequences of problematic gaming and gaming disorder which may affect many aspects of individuals’ lives, including their academic performance.
Method: The present study is the first ever systematic review of studies examining the relationship between problematic gaming and student academic performance utilising the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. A total of 27 empirical studies met the inclusion criteria and were eligible for review.
Results: Most of the studies (n = 24) reported a negative relationship between problematic gaming and academic performance. Moreover, older studies (conducted before 2015) suggest that problematic gaming was a significant factor in predicting poor academic performance. However, most of the recent studies have found the opposite, showing that problematic gaming is not a significant predictor for academic performance and/or that academic performance is a significant factor in predicting problematic gaming. Overall, the findings suggest that poor academic performance is more likely to be a cause for problematic gaming rather than a consequence based on more recent studies.
Conclusion: Although most of the reviewed studies showed a negative relationship between problematic gaming and academic performance, research is still limited in this area because most the reviewed studies had a cross-sectional design that are unable to establish the direction of the effect. Therefore, more studies with methodological approaches that can determine the causality between problematic gaming and poor academic performance are needed.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction
Creators:	Alzahrani, A.K.D. and Griffiths, M.D.
Publisher:	Springer
Date:	10 June 2024
ISSN:	1557-1874
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1007/s11469-024-01338-5 DOI 1902679 Other
Rights:	© the author(s) 2024. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	Jonathan Gallacher
Date Added:	11 Jun 2024 13:52
Last Modified:	11 Jun 2024 13:52
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/51548

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