Abstract
The purpose of this study was to gain a clearer understanding of the pattern of video game and internet use among college students and to examine how electronic leisure was related to risk behaviors (i.e., drinking, drug use, sex), perceptions of the self (i.e., self worth and social acceptance), and relationships with others (i.e., relationship quality with parents and friends). Participants included 813 undergraduate students (500 young women, 313 young men, M age = 20, SD = 1.87) who were mainly European American (79%), unmarried (100%) and living outside their parents’ home (90%). Results suggested that (a) video game use was linked to negative outcomes for men and women, (b) different patterns of video game and internet use existed for men and women and (c) there were different relations to risk behaviors, feelings about the self, and relationship quality based on the type of internet use, and based on gender. The discussion focuses on the implications of electronic leisure on the overall health and development of young people as they transition to adulthood.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
America’s online pursuits: The changing picture of who’s online and what they do. (2003). Report of the Pew Research Center. Retrieved November 19, 2008, from http://www.pewinternet.org.
Anand, V. (2007). A study of time management: The correlation between video game usage and academic performance markers. Cyberpsychology & Behavior, 10, 552–559. doi:10.1089/cpb.2007.9991.
Anderson, C. A., & Dill, K. E. (2000). Video games and aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behavior in the laboratory and in life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 772–790. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.78.4.772.
Anderson, D. R., Huston, A. C., Schmitt, K. L., Linebarger, D. L., & Wright, J. C. (2001). Early childhood television viewing and adolescent behavior. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 66 (1, Serial No. 264).
Arnett, J. J. (1995). Adolescents’ uses of media for self-socialization. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 24, 519–533. doi:10.1007/BF01537054.
Arnett, J. J. (2000). Emerging adulthood: A theory of development from the late teens through the twenties. The American Psychologist, 55, 469–480. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.55.5.469.
Arnett, J. J. (2004). Emerging adulthood: The winding road from the late teens through the twenties. New York: Oxford University Press.
Brown, J. D. (2006). Emerging adults in a media-saturated world. In J. J. Arnett & J. L. Tanner (Eds.), Emerging adults in America: Coming of age in the 21st century (pp. 279–299). Washington, DC: APA.
Carbery, J., & Buhrmester, D. (1998). Friendship and need fulfillment during three phases of young adulthood. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 15, 393–409. doi:10.1177/0265407598153005.
Carroll, J. S., Padilla-Walker, L. M., Nelson, L. J., Olson, C. D., Barry, C. M., & Madsen, S. (2008). Generation XXX: Pornography acceptance and use among emerging adults. Journal of Adolescent Research, 23, 6–30. doi:10.1177/0743558407306348.
Collins, W. A., & Madsen, S. D. (2006). Personal relationships in adolescence and early adulthood. In A. L. Vangelisti, D. Perlman, & A. Vangelisti (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of personal relationships (pp. 191–209). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Erikson, E. H. (1968). Identity: Youth and crisis. New York: Norton.
Gordon, C. F., Juang, L. P., & Syed, M. (2007). Internet use and well-being among college students: Beyond frequency of use. Journal of College Student Development, 48, 674–688. doi:10.1353/csd.2007.0065.
Grossman, D., & DeGaetano, G. (1999). Stop teaching our kids to kill: A call to action against TV, movie, and video game violence. New York: Crown.
Hendel, D. D., & Harrold, R. D. (2004). Undergraduate student leisure interests over three decades. College Student Journal, 38, 557–568.
Kraut, R., Kiesler, S., Boneva, B., Cummings, J., Helgeson, V., & Crawford, A. (2002). Internet paradox revisited. Journal of Social Issues, 58, 49–74.
Landers, R. N., & Lounsbury, J. W. (2006). An investigation of big five and narrow personality traits in relation to internet usage. Computers in Human Behavior, 22, 283–293.
Nelson, L. J., & Barry, C. M. (2005). Distinguishing features of emerging adulthood: The role of self-classification as an adult. Journal of Adolescent Research, 20, 242–262.
Niemz, K., Griffiths, M., & Banyard, P. (2005). Prevalence of pathological internet use among university students and correlations with self-esteem, the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), and disinhibition. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 8, 562–570.
Odell, P. M., Korgen, K. O., Schumacher, P., & Delucchi, M. (2000). Internet use among female and male college students. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 3, 855–862.
Olson, C. K., Kutner, L. A., Warner, D. E., Almerigi, J. B., Baer, L., Nicholi, A. M., et al. (2007). Factors correlated with violent video game use by adolescent boys and girls. Journal of Adolescent Health, 41, 77–83.
Roberts, D. F., & Foehr, U. G. (2004). Kids and media in America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Schulenberg, J. E., & Zarrett, N. R. (2006). Mental health during emerging adulthood: Continuity and discontinuity in courses, causes, and functions. In J. J. Arnett & J. L. Tanner (Eds.), Emerging adults in America: Coming of age in the 21st century (pp. 135–172). Washington, DC: APA.
Sherman, R. C., End, C., Kraan, E., Cole, A., Campbell, J., Birchmeier, Z., et al. (2000). The internet gender gap among college students: Forgotten but not gone? CyberPsychology & Behavior, 3, 885–894.
The Internet goes to college: How students are living in the future with today’s technology. (2002). A report of the Pew Research Center. Retrieved November 19, 2008, from http://www.pewinternet.org/reports.
William T. Grant Foundation Commission on Work, Family, and Citizenship. (1988). The forgotten half: Non-college-bound youth in America. Washington, DC: William T. Grant Foundation.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge Carolyn McNamara Barry and Stephanie Madsen for their extensive help on Project READY data collection. The authors also express appreciation to the instructors and students at all Project READY data collection sites for their assistance. We are grateful for the grant support from the Family Studies Center at Brigham Young University, as well as a junior faculty sabbatical grant from Loyola College in Maryland.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Padilla-Walker, L.M., Nelson, L.J., Carroll, J.S. et al. More Than a Just a Game: Video Game and Internet Use During Emerging Adulthood. J Youth Adolescence 39, 103–113 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-008-9390-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-008-9390-8