The journal, Psychological Science (May, 2009 Douglas Gentile. Pathological Video Game Use among Youth 8 to 18: A National Study) sampled youth aged 8 to 18.
Iowa State University Assistant Professor of Psychology, Douglas Gentile, found that 8.5% of the gamers to be pathological players. Gentile bases his statistics on standards established for pathological gambling. So, while parents often cite that their child is ‘addicted’ to video games, Gentile’s standards necessitated that video game play actually caused family, social, school or psychological damage due to video game playing habits.
“What we mean by pathological use is that something someone is doing – in this case, playing video games – is damaging to their functioning,” Gentile said. “It’s not simply doing it a lot. It has to harm functioning in multiple ways.”
On average, the pathological gamers in the study played video games at least 24 hours per week. This is nearly twice as much as non-pathological gamers. Parents of pathological gamers also allowed their children to have video game systems in their bedrooms far more often than non-pathological gamers.
According to Science Daily, Gentile found that pathological gamers reported having more trouble paying attention in school and thus received poorer grades in school, had more health problems, were more likely to feel “addicted,” and even stole to support their habit.
The study also found that pathological gamers were twice as likely to have been diagnosed with attention problems such as Attention Deficit Disorder or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
“There is still much we do not know,” Gentile said. “We don’t know who’s most at risk, or whether this is part of a pattern of disorders. That’s important because many disorders are co-morbid with others. It may be a symptom of depression, for example. And so we would want to understand that pattern of co-morbidity because that would help us know how to treat it.”
Gentile is continuing his own research, currently conducting both longitudinal and clinical studies to determine risk factors and symptoms found in pathological youth gamers.
It is wise for parents to limit use of video games and TV. Treat them as you would dessert; limited portions used as a reward.
PDF 
Our free webinar is your opportunity to see Play Attention live on your desktop PC, and to get answers to your most difficult questions from an ADHD expert. 
