Effects of Co-playing Video Games on Parent-Child Relationships Anneliese Sheffield (
[email protected]) University of North Texas
“Family Rock Band” photo series Images: madichan @ flickr.com, Creative Commons
Agenda ¤ Family gaming trend ¤ Family systems theory ¤ Characteristics and behaviors of parent-child co-gamers ¤ Co-playing to strengthen relationships ¤ Pilot study ¤ Upcoming research
Family gaming trend ¤ Nintendo Wii 2006 (Chambers, 2012) ¤ Family-centered gaming ¤ Social disengagement ¤ Constant access (Chambers, 2012; Jiow & Lim 2012) ¤ Can co-playing video games (co-play) improve parent-child relationships? Image: Ricky Flores @ flickr.com, Creative Commons
Family systems theory ¤ Individuals best understood with an understanding of family system ¤ Is concerned with family dynamics ¤ Structure ¤ Roles ¤ Communication patterns ¤ Boundaries ¤ Power relationships (Charles, 2001; Rothbaum, Rosen, Ujiie, & Uchida, 2002)
Characteristics and behaviors of cogamers ¤ Co-gaming parents ¤ 1/3 adolescent children co-play (Ipsos MORI, 2009; PadillaWalker et. Al, 2012) ¤ 81% active parent gamers co-play ¤ Few non-gaming parents co-play ¤ Believe games can have a positive effect on children (Nikken et. al., 2007) ¤ Are younger (Nikken et. al., 2007) ¤ Play video games on their own (Nielsen, 2008)
Characteristics & behaviors of co-gamers (cont.) ¤ Co-playing ¤ No difference between mothers and fathers (Nielsen, 2008) ¤ Contradiction: ¤ No difference with sons and daughters (Coyne et. al., 2011; Padilla-Walker et al., 2012) ¤ Slightly more (58%) with sons (Ipsos MORI, 2009) ¤ Co-play lasts 30-60 mins. a few times a week ¤ Games co-played: active technology/fitness games; racing games; educational games (Ipso MORI, 2009)
Characteristics & behaviors of co-gamers (cont.) ¤ Parents who co-playing say: ¤ Improve children’s cognitive skills ¤ Monitor content of the games ¤ Spend time with children
¤ Parents who don’t co-play say: ¤ Don’t enjoy
¤ Children’s who co-playing say: ¤ more fun ¤ not playing with a parent: less fun
¤ Children who don’t co-play say: ¤ Less fun (Ipsos MORI, 2009)
Co-play to strengthen relationships ¤ Fostered family harmony ¤ Reported higher connectedness ¤ esp. in girls when playing age-appropriate games (Coyne et al., 2011)
¤ Fostered shared interest ¤ Co-playing btw father and child improved family functioning (Buswell, et al., 2012)
The literature suggests: ¤ Co-playing may positively impact family relationships ¤ Girls may benefit more than boys through co-play ¤ Co-playing fathers may have a greater influence than mothers in improving relationships ¤ Co-playing parents need to be aware of unintended consequences of co-playing games with violence or sexual content ¤ A need for more research
Instrument ¤ Demographic information
¤ Frequency of co-play
¤ Acceptance scale Parent Child Interaction Questionnaire (PACHIQ-R) (Lange, Evers, Jansen, & Dolan, 2002)
Participants ¤ n=32 ¤ 53% female, 47% male ¤ 94% White, 6% Asian ¤ 100% married ¤ (94%) bachelor’s or master’s degrees ¤ 44% children between 7yrs and 10 yrs old
Co-play Relationship vs Co-play 3 4
Never 16 9
< once .5-1 hr 2-4 hrs
Methods ¤ Reliability and validity ¤ Cronbach’s α ¤ Exploratory factor analysis
¤ Correlation significance ¤ One-way ANOVA ¤ Effect size
Reliability ¤ α = .77 good ¤ Removed item ¤ “I ask my child to do things all the time”
¤ α = .80 good
(Devellis, 2012)
Construct Validity ¤ 2 constructs ¤ Parental Nurturingα = .82 good ¤ Work Ethic α = .50 unacceptable (Devellis, 2012)
Correlation Mean Response
Co-play vs. Relationship Quality 4.8 4.7 4.6 4.5 4.4 4.3 4.2 Never
< Once
.5-1 hr
2-4 hrs
Conclusions from pilot study 1.
Excess child gaming
2.
Excess parent gaming
3.
Game content
relationship
relationship
relationship
Image: Nate Grigg @ flickr.com Creative Commons
Recommendations ¤ Diversity of responses (SD-SA) ¤ Increase sample size ¤ Use complete PACHIQ instrument ¤ Future: study co-play generally ¤ Modern co-play includes video game influence
Thank you! Contact: Anneliese Sheffield (
[email protected]) University of North Texas
