Children with autism spectrum disorders spent significantly more time than their typically developing siblings playing video games, and playing certain types of video games was associated with behavioral issues, according to two studies published in Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders and in the Journal of Autism and Development Disorders.
But children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) spent significantly less time than their typically developing (TD) siblings on social media and socially interactive games, as well as on all nonscreen activities in general, such as homework, socializing, or sports.
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According to new studies, children with autism spectrum disorders spend more time playing video games than typically developing siblings.
Meanwhile, boys with ASD who played video games showed addictive behaviors in their gaming if they played them for more hours or if they played shooter or role-playing games, and problem behaviors were positively associated with inattention and oppositional defiant symptoms, the researchers found.
The findings on video game behaviors among boys with ASD were reported on Feb. 13 by Micah O. Mazurek, Ph.D., and Christopher R. Engelhardt of the University of Missouri, Columbia (Res. Autism Spectr. Disord. 2013;7:316-24). Dr. Mazurek and her colleague Colleen Wenstrup reported the screen behavior findings in ASD children and their siblings in 2012 (J. Autism Dev. Disord. 2012 Sept. 22 [doi: 10.1007/s10803-012-1659-9]).
The researchers recruited the parents of 202 children and teens with ASD and their 179 TD siblings through the Interactive Autism Network Project at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore. The project is sponsored by the Autism Speaks Foundation. The predominantly white children were aged 8-18 years; the mean age of the children in the ASD group was 12.1 years, and the mean age for the sibling group was 12.5 years.
Among the 202 ASD children, 53.5% had autistic disorder, 27.2% had Asperger’s disorder, and 17.3% had pervasive developmental disorder, not otherwise specified (PDD NOS). A subgroup of the ASD children, comprised of 169 boys who played video games, was evaluated for the study on video game playing and problem behaviors.
Parents were surveyed via the Web for information on their children’s video game usage. In addition to information on age, race, parent marital status, household income, number of siblings, the autistic child’s estimated IQ (if known), and diagnostic information, the parents estimated how much time their children spent in hours each weekday and each weekend day on the following activities:
• Reading for pleasure.
• Doing homework/studying.
• Spending time with friends.
• Playing sports/other physical activity.
• Watching TV.
• Playing video or computer games.
• Using e-mail, Facebook, or texting.
Parents whose children played video games also were asked whether the children played the games with other children in the same place and whether they play multiplayer networked games. Parents also answered questions for the Problem Video Game Playing Test (PVGT) to assess problematic aspects of the children’s video gaming.
ASD children spent 62% more time on screen-based activities (mean, 4.5 hours daily) than on all nonscreen activities combined (mean, 2.8 hours daily), and a substantial portion of this additional screen time included video games, where ASD children outplayed their TD siblings. ASD children spent an average of 2 hours each weekday and 3.1 hours a day on weekends playing video games, compared with 1.2 daily weekday hours and 1.7 weekend daily hours spent by the TD children.
Dr. Mazurek, a clinical child psychologist at the Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders, University of Missouri, Columbia, said there are several possibilities she and colleagues are exploring related to why ASD children play more video games. "One theory is that children with autism have really strong visual spatial skill and are really drawn to visual stimuli," she said in an interview. "These games also are designed to provide really frequent reinforcement: They’re engaging, but they have a lot of structure, and that can be reinforcing for kids with ASD." She added that video games don’t require a lot of face-to-face interaction like other social games might require.
ASD boys spent an average of only 0.2 hours daily on social media, compared with 0.8 hours daily among TD boys, and ASD girls spent 0.3 hours daily on social media, compared with 1.2 hours daily among TD girls. Time spent with friends showed similar patterns: ASD boys spent 0.4 hours daily and ASD girls spent 0.2 hours daily socializing with friends, while TD boys spent 1.8 hours daily and TD girls spent 1.7 hours daily.
The ASD children were not getting additional social interaction from their video game play: 48% of the ASD boys and 61% of the ASD girls had never played video games with other people, and 76% of boys and 90% of girls had never played online multiplayer games. Only 15% of boys and 6.5% of girls played video games once a week with others.