Children who believe their parents are nagging them are driven to play more video games, according to Michigan State University researchers. This does not mean that children game more due to actual negative behavior from their parents, just that they perceive it to be negative. While it might not be surprising to find that children use gaming to escape negative situations, this is the first study that links parental behavior to their children playing video games.
It is certainly a breath of fresh air when we are so used to hearing people blame video games for many childhood issues while parents get a free pass. The next phase of the study will investigate the root cause and whether video games are merely a way for children to escape their parents negativity or whether the video games themselves cause the children to perceive their relationship with their parents in such a way.
Although it might be tempting, as gamers, to defend video games and blame parents for everything, the way we perceive our parents when we are children is not just based on their actions. Other influences like friends, school and hobbies are just as important. Regardless, the more academic research we have available on how video games affect children, the easier it will be to dispute the baseless claims of certain groups who accuse video games of all sorts of nonsense.
Research: Nagging Parents May Drive Kids... [GamePolitics]
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Contest:
3:00 AM on 09.11.2011 | 
It's only recently been brought to light that kids growing up in violent(which is often tied to poor) neighborhoods suffer from PTSD more than soldiers who came back from IRAQ/Afghanistan.
So YOU tell ME if kids turn to videogames in the face of any discomfort, whether it be 'zomg mom, stop naggin' me 2 do my homewerk~' or 'yo nigga, trey just got popped behind your house - - nigga I know! I SAW IT!'
Fox news ftw!
Anyway, I believe it. When I was growing up my parents fought all the time. Both of them were unhappy in the marriage, and though they never really took it out on me, they always had really high expectations. Kind of like "I made the wrong decisions growing up, so I want you to excel so the same fate doesn't find you." It was really overwhelming at times.
Between just not wanting to hear my parents at each other's throats and escaping the stress of never achieving quite what they expected of me, video games made a nice escape. I probably would have gone crazy had it not been for Link, Mario, and Pokemon.
76th and Normal, bitch!
You just now catching on to this? Dtoid's agenda is simply one of confusion, hysteria, and sensationalism. No big whoop. The links almost never go to original articles anyways- just links to similar quips on other video gaming sites.
I would actually like to see the original research article- I'm sure it says a lot of things, probably least of all "nagging leads to playing more games"
If you're going to use science for your arguments, use it right. We expect the same treatment from the science-based arguments used against videogames (which often makes the same error of assuming causality based on a seemingly plausible explanation of a correlational finding)
I do find it interesting that its explicitly noted that its not just bad family situations that are leading kids to this escapism, but instead just plain, down home, natural human apathy for what your parents have to say -which brings me back to the day when putting your rock/metal music up really loud was the only way to drown them out (and piss them off).
Personally I think that sort of apathy and escape is a natural part of growing up. Most kids, no matter their home situation, get to a point where they want to just get away from what their parents are saying and doing and be their own people, which could lead to anything as harmless as not coming home right after school and staying out late at night, or gaming to using drugs, drinking heavily or joining gangs. Its about forming an identity, and I think its at that point, when examining their choice of escape hatch's, that we have to take a step back and put a fine tooth comb to figuring out why they'd choose something negative over something harmless, and what environmental factors (including parents) caused them to do such.
Overall, I don't believe they'll find that video games cause kids and teens to think their parents are the root of all evil. However I also don't think that will stop the baseless claims or make it any easier to fight them. The vaguest and most baseless claims backed by someone who believes them when they're used are really the most terrifying thing in all this, and considering folks are coming out of the woodwork lately (Super Nannies and rockstars no one really cares about, most notably) who are using essentially numberless "facts" to stage their attacks, it won't do anything more then continue to turn the whole argument into a schoolyard flame war, even when we have truths to back it up. Its an endless, vicious, cycle that won't end until something else takes its place and glosses over the whole thing.
@Miga-Oh
At 18 you were also considered an adult and -at least mentally- you were released from the restraints set by society in terms of how your parents can treat/lord over you. Not knowing exactly what you went and did when you started to play video games, I imagine -like it was for myself and countless others, I'm sure- it was stuff you probably wouldn't do prior to that release. Just like the college student who doesn't play nearly as many games because they're off with friends getting drunk or at a party till 3 or 4am or something.
Also being seen as an adult brings on more responsibility in life, which is the #1 reason most people cite for playing less games when they get older. In which case it seems about as natural to put down the games as it is to pick them up to bail out on your parents.
The original article is way too vague.
The word "perceived" is what is used in the study, I didn't put my own spin on it. I didn't mention kids being punched in the face and neither did the original article. The parents behavior was perceived by the kids as negative, maybe it was actually negative or maybe the kids just saw it that way.
@djvlive
The research article is linked in the text. It explains that negative behavior such as nagging leads to kids playing more video games, pretty much what you read here.
"An interesting research project from Michigan University that polled middle-schoolers about their game playing habits found that nagging parents may be driving their kids to play even more video games than they normally would."
That is not the research article. That, my friend, is a summation and selective interpretation of a real and/or made up opinion and/or factual report. No first hand research data (in article form or any other) was linked or shown. This is basically Dtoid saying "I heard some guy who read that someone said..."
There may not actually BE a report because we can't read it.
You're right, that's not the research article, that's the article from GamesPolitics. If you take a moment to click the other link in the text, the one that says Michigan State University (it really should have been a givaway... don't you think?), then you will see the university's article on the research and a bit more information. So this isn't a case of "some guy who read that someone said..." the information comes from the university itself, it just so happened to come via GamesPolitics, that's not the primary source.
I can understand your desire to learn more about the study, I'm also looking forward to the conclusion of the greater project so we can read about it in more depth.