Published online February 1, 2007
PEDIATRICS Vol. 119 No. 2 February 2007, pp. 413 (doi:10.1542/peds.2006-2873)
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LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Lack of Association Between Video Game Exposure and School Performance

Jerald J. Block, MD
Department of Psychiatry
Oregon Health & Science University
Portland, OR 97209

To the Editor.—

I am concerned that one of the conclusions of the study "Association Between Television, Movie, and Video Game Exposure and School Performance"1 might easily be misinterpreted or overlooked. The authors examined middle school students' self-report of their school performance and correlated the resulting scores to several variables: television and computer game screen time, cable movie channel availability, and parental enforcement policies for televisions and R-rated movies.

The study's title and the authors' conclusion might lead the reader to incorrectly believe that video game exposure was correlated with poor school performance; it was not. Although at first it appeared that there was a relationship, the authors adjusted for covariants (see their Table 2). After doing so, no relationship was seen (see their Table 3). As the authors state, "video game use [was] not associated with school performance."

Thus, their hard-hitting conclusion was overreached, stating that they "found a strong, independent relationship between measures of exposure to media and poor school performance" and their data "support the recommendation that parents limit ... video game time to ≤1 hour." Such conclusions are not warranted. Although the study shows that television use does seem correlated to lower school performance, no such correlation with video game use was seen.

I applaud the authors for tackling this important issue. However, caution is indicated. The literature around media use and its relationship to achievement and violence is politically charged. In such an explosive area, it is imperative that our science and conclusions remain grounded in data.

REFERENCE

  1. Sharif I, Sargent JD. Association between television, movie, and video game exposure and school performance. Pediatrics. 2006;118 (4). Available at: www.pediatrics.org/cgi/content/full/118/4/e1061
PEDIATRICS (ISSN 1098-4275). ©2007 by the American Academy of Pediatrics




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