Video game usage influence on adolescents’ social skills

Abstract

Video games, deeply rooted in nowadays’ society, constitute a key element to understand the implications that their use has on the social and personal relationships of adolescents. The aim of this research is to determine the link between video games use and social skills in the adolescent population. The study was developed following a quantitative perspective, with a non-experimental, cross-sectional, descriptive and multifactorial design. An ad hoc questionnaire with general items on preference and frequency of video game use and a social skills questionnaire were used. Data analysis was performed using the IBM SPSS v.22 statistical package The sample consisted of 708 Galician adolescents aged between 12 and 18 years (M = 13.92; SD = 1.71). Results show that a 31.4% of adolescents see video games as their first leisure choice, with the male gender being the one that plays the most through cell phones, Tablets or consoles connected to the television. In addition, Massively Multiplayer Online games are the most played type of games, with the female population preferring Among Us, whereas the male population shows preference for Fortnite. Finally, a slight relationship has been shown between the use of video games and worse social skills. Not using video games improves both assertiveness and problem-solving skills during adolescence. On the other hand, no statistically significant relationship was found between the use of video games and communication skills. In conclusion, the use of this leisure activity implies certain negative consequences in the social sphere, resulting in slightly poorer social skills, with problem-solving skills being the most affected area.

Keywords: Videogames, Social skills, Adolescence, Gender, Quantitative research.