Researchers at the Utah-based Brigham Young University's School of Family Life recently studied a group of 287 families to measurechildren's behavior, attitude, mental health and overall familial bonds after engaging in co-play game sessions with their parents. After tallying their responses, researchers found that the daughters had made noticeable, positive gains in each category while the boys remained relatively unchanged.
"The surprising part about this for me is that girls don't play videogames as much as boys," explained the study's lead professor and author, Sarah Coyne, adding, "But they did spend about the same amount of time co-playing with a parent as boys did."
As to which of the parents benefited most from game playing, co-author Laura Padilla-Walker noted, "We're guessing it's a daddy-daughter thing, because not a lot of moms said yes when we asked them if they played videogames."
The study was conducted using age appropriate games, among which Mario Kart, Mario Brothers, Wii Sports, Rock Band and Guitar Hero were picked as the favorites among girls and games like Call of Duty, Wii Sports and Halo ranked high amongst the boys.
As we're constantly bombarded with the supposed negative effects of games, it's always nice to hear about positive results. Sure, any study that attempts to quantify the emotions of children is open to a ton of interpretations, but we'll take what we can get.
[Source: U.S News via GamePolitics]
Feb 1, 2011
