Little video-gaming in adolescents can be protective, but too much is associated with increased substance use

Abstract

Background: Studies have demonstrated inconsistent results regarding the association between video gaming time and substance use in teenagers. Understating intricacies of this association can help with substance use reduction in teenagers. Objectives: This study aimed to untangle this complex relationship by theorizing and examining a U-shaped association. Methods: We analyzed two large samples (n 1 = 7313 [52.5% female] and n 2 = 8079 [51.6% female]) of 8th and 10th graders in the United States. Substance use was operationalized as the sum of self-reported number of lifetime use instances of 14 unprescribed substances. Video game use time (hours per week) was self-reported on a 1 (none) to ..