Research project Computer gaming and educational outcomes among youth

Computer gaming has become one of the most frequent and widespread leisure activities among youth, especially among boys. This has raised questions on the potential benefits and pitfalls for many aspects of adolescents lives, including their cognitive development, school performance and school related behavior, but research are either lacking or provide inconsistent results.

This project studies whether gaming is positively related to some achievement aspects but negatively to others, whether it varies with gaming intensity and type of gaming, and whether associations hold in the long run. We also aim to empirically address one of the most frequently suggested hypotheses of negative impact of computer gaming on achievement: the time allocation argument. It assumes that video gaming crowd out schoolwork and other pro-school activities such as reading and doing home-work.

We use large-scale, nationally representative and longitudinal survey data on 14-year old students, followed in surveys and registers up until their early 20's. The CILS4EU data was first collected in 2010/2011 and the Swedish part of the survey comprises linked yearly register data on educational outcomes. With its extensive and high-quality educational measures, combined with behavioral aspects of youth, Sweden is the focus of the project.