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Pew Study Released: Relationship between Teens, Games, and Civics
Posted by Hsing Wei on 09-17-08A recent study by Pew adds positive evidence to the debate about the impact of video games on kids. It is the first nationally representative study of teen video game play and the relationship between video gaming and civic outcomes. The tag line reads, “Teens’ gaming experiences are diverse and include significant social interaction and civic engagement.”
The survey looked at which teens are playing games, the games and equipment they are using, the social context of their play, the role of parent monitoring, and teens’ civic activities and commitments. Key findings included:
- 97% of teens ages 12-17 play computer, web, portable, or console games
- Gender and age play a factor. Younger teen boys are the most likely to play games, followed by younger girls and older boys
- Gaming is often a social experience for teens.
- Most teens play many different types of games. 80% play five or more different game genres
- The two most widely played game genres were racing and puzzle games, played by nearly 3/4 of teens in the sample.
- The most popular genres include games with violent and games with nonviolent content.
- The quantity of game play is not strongly or consistently related to most civic outcomes, but some particular qualities of game play have a strong and consistent positive relationship to a range of civic outcomes.
- The characteristics of game play and the contexts in which teens play games are strongly related to teens’ interest and engagement in civic and political activities. Teens with the most (top 25%) civic gaming experiences were more likely to report interest and engagement in civic and political activities than teens with the fewest (bottom 25%).
- Civic gaming experiences are more equally distributed than many other civic learning opportunities. Teens in the Pew study were equally likely to report having civic gaming experiences regardless of race, age, or income; in contrast to previous research findings that suggest high school civic learning opportunities tend to be unequally distributed, with higher-income, higher-achieving, and white students.
The last few bullet points are likely encouraging to the growing number of games for change developers. The notion that context and quality of game play matters is not new to the games for change community. Curious if there had been an analysis of how many teens were playing games for change (like Tiltfactor’s new game about genetically modified crops Profit Seed), and whether any differences would have emerged beyond the broader definition of “civic gaming”.
More news coverage here