Video games impact teen depression and smoking

by Aimee Keenan-Greene
 
More than half of all teens play video games. So how does it affect their health?  
  
Boys who game report smoking less, while female gamers are less likely to say they are depressed but tend to get into serious fights or carry a weapon to school.  
  
That's according to a new study done by the Department of Psychology at Yale University School of Medicine in West Haven, Connecticut who anonymously surveyed 4028 adolescents.  
  
The article in this months journal Pediatrics, asked teens about gaming, reported problems with gaming and other health behaviors. A total of 76.3 percent of boys and 29.2 percent of girls said they play video games.  
  
Among gamers, 4.9 percent said they'd describe their play as problematic gaming. 
'Problematic' defined as trying to cut back, experiencing an irresistible urge to play, and experiencing a growing tension that could only be relieved by playing.  

Boys were more likely to report these problems, 5.8 percent compared to 3.0 percent of girls. Problematic gaming was linked to regular cigarette smoking, drug use, fighting, and depression.  

The US Surgeon General says 1000 teens a day start smoking.  Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death in the US, according to the CDC.  Each year approximately 443,000 people die from smoking or secondhand smoke.  

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health,
reported this week that among high school seniors, cigarette use is down but smoking marijuana has increased.  In 2010, 21.4 percent of high school seniors used marijuana in the past 30 days, while 19.2 percent smoked cigarettes.  

Depression affects more than 6 percent of teen girls and 5 percent of teen boys and almost half of teens treated for depression will see it return, according to an upcoming article in theArchives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals, in March 2011.  

Teens whose depression returned had higher scores on scales of suicidal thoughts and behaviors, according to Medical News Today .  

In 2004, suicide was the third leading cause of death among youths and young adults aged 10-24 in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control, who adds more adolescents die by suicide then by cancer, AIDS, birth defects, pneumonia, influenza, and chronic lung disease combined.  

Researchers say this new study suggests gaming is largely normal in boys and has fewer reported negative health impacts. However, in girls gaming seems to be associated with more negative behaviors. It is important to note the link, and not the 'cause and effect' of gaming on behavior. It is possible girls already exhibiting unhealthy behaviors then begin gaming.  

Scientists say research is needed to define safe levels of gaming, refine the definition of problematic gaming, and evaluate effective prevention and possible intervention strategies.