The Association between Video Game Time and Adolescent Mental Health: Evidence from Rural China

Lili Li (), Cody Abbey (), Huan Wang, Annli Zhu, Terry Shao, Daisy Dai, Songqing Jin and Scott Rozelle
Additional contact information
Lili Li: School of Economics, Hangzhou Dianzi University, Hangzhou 310018, China
Cody Abbey: Stanford Center on China’s Economy and Institutions, Freeman Spogli Institute of International Studies, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
Huan Wang: Stanford Center on China’s Economy and Institutions, Freeman Spogli Institute of International Studies, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
Annli Zhu: Stanford Center on China’s Economy and Institutions, Freeman Spogli Institute of International Studies, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
Terry Shao: Stanford Center on China’s Economy and Institutions, Freeman Spogli Institute of International Studies, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
Daisy Dai: Stanford Center on China’s Economy and Institutions, Freeman Spogli Institute of International Studies, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 22, 1-15

Abstract: As digital devices like computers become more widely available in developing countries, there is a growing need to understand how the time that adolescents spend using these devices for recreational purposes such as playing video games is linked with their mental health outcomes. We measured the amount of time that adolescents in rural China spent playing video games and the association of video game time with their mental health. We collected data from primary and junior high schools in a poor, rural province in northwest China ( n = 1603 students) and used the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales (DASS-21) to measure mental health symptoms. The results indicated that the average video game time was about 0.69 h per week. There was a significant association between adolescent video game time and poorer mental health. Each additional hour of playing video games also increased the chance of having moderate or above symptoms. Moreover, boys and non-left-behind children had worse mental health if they played more video games. Our study contributes to literature on the links between recreational screen time and mental health, and it sheds light on an issue addressed by recent government legislation to limit the video game time of minors in China.

Keywords: adolescent health; video game time; mental health; rural China; developing countries (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/22/14815/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/22/14815/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:22:p:14815-:d:969221

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().