GRANVILLE, Ohio, March 11 (UPI) -- Owning a video-game system may hamper academic development in some children, U.S. researchers suggest.
Psychological scientists Robert Weis and Brittany C. Cerankosky of Denison University in Granville, Ohio, recruited families with boys ages 6-9 who did not own video-game systems, but had been considering buying one. The children completed intelligence tests, reading and writing assessments, while their parents and teachers filled out questionnaires on their behavior.
Half of the families received a video-game system and three age-appropriate video games immediately; the remaining families were promised a video-game system four months later.
For four months, the parents recorded their children's activities from the end of the school day until bedtime.
Boys who received the video-game system immediately spent more time playing video games and less time engaged in after-school academic activities than the other boys and registered significantly lower reading and writing scores over the four months.
The boys who received the video-game system immediately had greater teacher-reported learning problems.
The findings are published in Psychological Science.
