The Impacts Video Games Have on the Attitude of High School Students
Madhur M. Patel, Jaydon Stevanus
A thesis presented to the central magnet faculty
In Partial Fulfillment of Central Magnet School Graduation Requirements
May 2025
i
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to examine how certain categories of video games,
and the time spent playing them impacted the attitudes of high school students at Central
Magnet School. Since technology and video games are becoming an increasingly
prevalent part of the lives of many teens, it is important to study how these video games
impact the attitudes of teens. The study examined the changes in the attitudes of high
school students before and after playing a video game. Students were asked to rate their
attitudes before and after playing the video game and share any experiences that impacted
their attitude. Some students played the video game for a longer period of time than
others. After the experiment, two 2-sample t-tests were conducted to find any significant
difference in the attitudes of high school students. In the first test, the p-value was less
than the a-value of .10, so there is convincing evidence that video games do impact the
attitude of high school students. In a second test without outliers, the p-value was less
than an a-level of 0.01, so there is even stronger convincing evidence that video games do
impact the attitude of high school students.
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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank my mentor, Mr. Mitesh Patel. The input provided was
valuable in creating our survey and experiment was very helpful; this thesis would not
have been possible without his guidance.
I would like to thank my field of study advisor, Mrs. Eve Harrison. Your guidance
was incredibly helpful throughout the entire thesis process. The feedback provided has
helped me traverse through my thesis and you gave me the confidence to keep on going.
This thesis wouldn’t have been possible without you.
I would like to thank my Honors English 4 teacher, Mrs. Briony Schroeder. You
always had the time to answer my questions, and those questions helped me to format and
finalize my thesis. Your guidance helped me to complete this thesis one step at a time.
I would like to thank those that helped my and my thesis partner. Whether it was
completing the survey, participating in the experimenting, or peer reviewing the thesis,
your input was incredibly valuable in the completion of this thesis; I couldn’t have made
it this far without all of you.
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Table of Contents
List of Figures ................................................................................................... vi
Chapter 1: Introduction ...................................................................................... 1
Research Question ......................................................................................... 1
Background Information ................................................................................. 1
Purpose of Study ............................................................................................ 2
Hypothesis..................................................................................................... 3
Chapter 2: Review of Literature ........................................................................... 4
Introduction ................................................................................................... 4
Impacts video games have on people ............................................................... 4
Time .............................................................................................................. 6
Attitude and the Teenage Brain ........................................................................ 7
The Lives of Teens........................................................................................... 8
Chapter 3: Methodology ................................................................................... 11
Overview...................................................................................................... 11
Participants ................................................................................................. 11
Apparatus & Materials................................................................................... 11
Procedures .................................................................................................. 12
Data Analysis ............................................................................................... 12
Chapter 4: Findings .......................................................................................... 14
Introduction ................................................................................................. 14
Pre-experiment Data..................................................................................... 14
Experimental Data ........................................................................................ 20
Statistical Tests ............................................................................................ 24
Chapter 5: Discussion ...................................................................................... 25
Study Summary ............................................................................................ 25
Limitations................................................................................................... 25
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Implications for Future Study......................................................................... 27
Conclusion .................................................................................................. 27
References ...................................................................................................... 28
Appendix ......................................................................................................... 31
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List of Figures
Figure 1: Grade level of respondents……………………………………………………14
Figure 2: Likert Scale Questions from the Initial Survey asking participants how video
games impact them………………………………………………………………………15
Figure 3: Participant responses to questions measuring anti-aggressive behaviors……..16
Figure 4: Participant responses to questions measuring aggressive behaviors…………..16
Figure 5: Number of people that play video games for a certain amount of time during
weekdays…………………………………………………………………………… ……17
Figure 6: Number of people that play video games for a certain amount of time during
weekends…………………………………………………………………………………18
Figure 7: Number of people that play video games for a certain amount of time with
friends during weekdays…………………………………………………………………19
Figure 8: Number of people that play video games for a certain amount of time with
friends during weekends…………………………………………………………………19
Figure 9: Amount of time participants spent playing Brawl Stars……………………….20
Figure 10: Participants rating of Brawl Stars…………………………………………….21
Figure 11: Question asking whether partcipants would continue to play the game…..…22
Figure 12: Attitude of participants before the experiment……………………………….22
Figure 13: Attitude of participants after the experiment…………………………………23
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Chapter 1: Introduction
Research Question
How does time spent playing video games impact the attitude of high school
students?
Background Information
Thanks to the rapid rise and availability of technology, younger generations are
growing up with and are surrounded by technological stimuli. These stimuli consist of
tools to help one work more efficiently, easily access resources, connect, communicate,
and share experiences through social media platforms, with other people, and forms of
entertainment to escape the stresses of the everyday world; one of these forms of
entertainment are video games. Ever since its invention in 1958, video games have
captivated billions of people around the world with their endless possibilities for
adventure and ability to connect with people in a brand-new world and have captivated
many more researchers wondering about the positive and negative impacts video games
have on people. Some studies have found that playing video games can benefit one’s
social life, teach one new skills, and provide an outlet for relaxation and recuperation.
However, research also indicates that if gaming takes over one’s life (it is all they can
think about, tons of time is allocated to it, and it prevents one from fulfilling other life
aspects like school and social time), it can wreck a person’s mental health and attitude. A
factor that has been tested and has been proven to impact teens playing video games is
the amount of time spent playing video games.
There are lots of factors that impact the attitude of gamers. For example, a study
from the University of Oxford gathered the gaming data of thousands of gamers across
multiple popular video games and found that one key factor impacted the mental health
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of these gamers which is that as long as gamers didn’t sacrifice their well-being and
played the game because they loved it and wanted to play, the mental health of gamers
wasn’t negatively impacted; if gamers felt like they had to play the game, then mental
health worsened (2022). Does this conclusion mean that time spent playing video games
has a weak correlation to a change in mental health? Not necessarily. Gamers that treated
playing video games as a want may experience stronger positive changes in mental health
if they spend more time playing video games; gamers that felt like gaming was a need
might have thought like this because they spend lots of time playing video games to the
point where it was like a mental crutch for them. Ultimately, time spent playing video
games appears to be the root for the attitudinal changes for gamers.
Although there is plenty of research out there concerning video games and how
they impact children, a factor such as time seems to be able to both benefit and harm the
attitudes of teens, leading to mixed conclusions and a continuing debate about the pros
and cons that video games provide for children.
Purpose of Study
The recent rise of video games has led to many studies conducted upon the
impacts video games have on people. However, given the ever-changing rapid
development of video games, some of these studies are either outdated or aren’t able to
account for the great variety of video games. Others aren’t specifically targeted at video
games but rather technology as a whole. There is a big debate concerning all the positive
and negative impacts video games have on children and what role video games should
play in children’s lives, if at all. This study will focus on how the amount of time spent
playing video games and the category of video games will impact the attitude of high
school students who are intellectually above average. This study will hopefully bring a
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new perspective as the subjects in this study are unique and the video games in the study
will be relatively new and popular as of 2024-2025.
Hypothesis
Students that play video games for extended periods of time will experience a
greater decline in attitude (mental awareness or feeling more grumpy, tired, or annoyed)
compared to students that play video games for shorter periods of time. Irrespective of
the time spent playing video games, the attitudes of all students will decrease at some
level after playing them.
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Chapter 2: Review of Literature
Introduction
Assessing how much time teens spend playing video games and the impacts of it
is crucial; the world is going online, technology is rapidly evolving, and gaming is
becoming more and more captivating. Gaming is becoming a more dominant outlet for
teens, with 85% of American teens saying that they play video games and 41% percent
playing them every day (Gottfried & Sidoti, 2024). In addition to this, the average
amount of time that teenagers spend playing video games is about 1 hour and 45 minutes
(Duarte, 2023). Gaming already has a big foothold in the lives of teens, and it will only
continue to get larger as new games with new mechanics and technologies are released
and more teens are exposed to gaming. It is critical to understand the impact gaming and
its growth will have onto adjust to a new world and handle the problems that come with
it. To better understand the relationship between gaming and teens, it is important to look
at the impacts gaming has on people, the psychology of the teen brain, and the current
world that teenagers live in.
Impacts video games have on people
With the evolution of gaming and teens spending more time playing video games,
more research has been conducted to discover the positive and negative impact of video
games as well as future potential for video games in real world scenarios. Video games
are rapidly evolving, so new research is needed to better understand the current role of
video games in the world. For example, although video games have been proven to
increase social connection, it also leads to greater social anxiety. This is because although
gamers are able to chat and work together with other people online, too much gaming
leads to fewer face-to-face interactions, leading to greater social anxiety (Laderer, 2023).
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Video games can positively and negatively impact the same soft skill, so it is important to
understand if there is a sweet spot where playing video games for a certain amount of
time leads to greater social connection without increasing social anxiety. That being said,
there are some positives of playing video games.
Playing video games does provide benefits for teens. Teens are able to relax and
recharge as well as learn new skills like teamwork. (“Gaming and Mental Health,” n.d.).
They are also capable of improving memory, teaching teens leadership skills, and
providing outlets for teens to compete (IEA staff, 2022). Video games can provide many
niches for teens with unique benefits that may not be found elsewhere or as easily. Many
health and psychology professionals recognize this as well; according to the American
Psychological Association, video games provide many benefits in therapy sessions. "The
repeatability aspect of video games, as compared with other media forms, is useful in
delivering manual-based interventions such as those involved in cognitive–behavioral
therapy.” Video games are also effective in group therapy sessions and are shown to
benefit the adolescent psyche (Ceranoglu, 2010). This essentially means that video games
are easily adjustable based on the therapy session, easy to use, can help stimulate group
therapy sessions, and can connect to teens that may not be responsive to other forms of
therapy. The variety of benefits video games provide has made it popular worldwide in
both everyday life and certain medical situations. However, as gaming is gaining more
popularity, concern over how gaming negatively affects teens is also rising.
There are certain pitfalls to watch out for when playing video games. Some teens
that play video games may have poor time and priority management skills, changes in
behavior or sleep schedule, and/or declining grades in school (“Negative Effects,” 2023).
For others, gaming may become so addictive to them that their life is dominated by
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gaming; these teens suffer in schoolwork, personal hygiene, interpersonal relationships,
and health (“Gaming and Mental Health,” n.d.). These problems are only becoming more
prominent as gaming becomes more widespread and continues to evolve with more
captivating gameplay. Gaming can provide many benefits to teens and solve health
problems, but it also seems that gaming solves a lot of problems that it creates. This
implies that there must be some external variable that allows video games to provide both
positive and negative impacts towards the same topic.
Time
It isn’t reasonable to conclude that video games themselves provide opposite
effects towards the same issue; there must be some external factor that influences the
impact video games provide for teens. One such variable is time. For many aspects in
life, spending too much or too little time typically leads toward negative consequences;
does this apply to video games as well? Some research indicates that too much time spent
gaming is harmful to teen health. According to Avera, a health organization, too much
time spent playing video games may lead to a behavioral health issue known as internet
gaming disorder. In this disorder, the teen is addicted to video games, negatively
impacting physical and mental health, interpersonal relationships, schoolwork, and
hygiene; they need to spend more and more time playing video games to get joy from
them (“Teens and Video Games,” 2023). Without regulating time spent playing video
games, teens get trapped in an endless loop where they must continue to game to feel
happiness, ruining their entire life in the process. However, some studies have found that
time spent gaming has little impact on the attitude of teens and that some other variable is
responsible for attitude change instead. According to a study conducted by the University
of Oxford, the amount of time spent gaming only had a potential impact on the physical
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wellbeing of gamers. The key variable that impacted the mental health of gamers was the
quality of gaming (2022). In other words, what really impacted the attitude of gamers was
the motivation to play the game. Gamers that felt like they had to play the game, whether
it be to collect some limited time reward or unlock new content, felt bad. They were
giving importance to something that was inside the game and felt forced to play and get
that important thing. However, gamers that played the game because they loved it had a
strong, positive reaction towards gaming. There was intrinsic motivation to play the
game, and these gamers placed importance on their own enjoyment, not on the game.
Although excess time spent gaming doesn’t seem to directly impact the attitude of teens,
it can still lead create negative situations which in turn worsen the attitude of teens.
However, to understand how time spent gaming impacts the attitude in teens, it is
imperative to learn what attitude is, how it impacts teens, and how the teenage brain
works.
Attitude and the Teenage Brain
Attitude refers to how someone feels and behaves towards a particular subject or
towards how people evaluate something (Cherry, 2024). It is the basis on which people
make life decisions and decide on the things they like and dislike. For many teens, one of
the most popular and liked activities is playing video games. Given the wide genre of
video games and the unlimited potential to create and experience new adventures, it isn’t
a surprise that teens have an overall positive attitude towards video games. Why is this
the case? Well, the adolescent brain develops in such a way that the prefrontal cortex,
which is the logical part of the brain, develops slower than the amygdala, which is the
emotional part of the brain. This means that teens respond to stimuli in an emotional
manner rather than a logical manner (“Understanding the Teen Brain,” n.d.). As teens
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typically think with their emotions first, they will prioritize activities that interest them
and make them feel good. As emotions are quite unstable, teens need constant
reinforcement to continue to feel positive emotions, which is where video games come in.
Video games have been known to release a neurotransmitter called dopamine, which is
what allows us to feel pleasure and happiness. Kids play video games to get a surge of
dopamine (“The Revealing Reason,” 2024). This surge of dopamine is short-lived, so
teens continue to play video games to get the next surge of dopamine, making their
attitudes positive and happy. However, over time, these constant waves of dopamine
make the dopamine receptors less receptive, meaning teens will spend more time playing
video games to reach the same level of dopamine/happiness. This cycle continues until
teens become addicted to video games and their ability to feel happiness relies on playing
video games. In addition to this, teens will become irritated by things or people that
prevent them from pursuing that next hit of dopamine, worsening their attitudes towards
everyday life and making them crankier. Although the drawbacks seem scary, they can be
avoided by preventing teens from playing video games for extended periods of time;
proper gaming time can lead to teens having more positive attitudes. However, if teens
are playing video games for extended periods of time to improve their attitudes, that
implies that there is some external factor that is worsening their attitudes.
The Lives of Teens
Being a teenager is one of the most complicated periods of life. Not only do teens’
bodies grow, their responsibilities, challenges, and characters also develop; all of these
factors create a unique journey for every teen. However, there is one place where the
paths of most teens cross, and the next few years of their lives are heavily influenced by
it: school. Whether it be extracurricular activities, homework, or group projects, a large
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part of their lives is directed by school. Unfortunately, most teens don’t like having their
lives centered around school; according to a national survey with almost 22,000
American high school students conducted by Yale, about 75% of high schoolers reported
having negative emotions such as feeling tired, bored, and stressed towards school (Belli,
2020). In addition to this, a study at NYU with 128 juniors at 2 private schools found that
38 percent of students got drunk, and 34 percent abused illegal substances to get high to
get a temporary reprieve from stress. In addition to this, 80 percent of students felt
moderate to high levels of stress and 26 percent were clinically depressed (“NYU Study,”
2015). Not only do most teens have strong, negative emotions towards school, they rely
on external coping methods to deal with this stress. A major part of teens lives revolves
around something that they greatly dislike, so over time, teens’ attitudes worsen. To
combat this, teens find an activity that they enjoy doing, such as playing video games.
Video games serve as a way for teens to escape school and enter a new world that is
stress free. They feel rewarded when playing video games, causing teens to play them for
extended periods of time; over time, this creates an unhealthy attachment between teens
and video games. They see video games as a protective barrier from the negatives of
school and will hold on to it irrespective of losses suffered in other aspects of life. This
attachment blinds them, preventing them from noticing the decline in attitude, social
isolation, and compulsive use of video games (“Video Game Addiction,” n.d.). As teens
spend more and more time playing video games, the addiction grows until their lives are
completely dominated by them. Spending too much time playing video games can cause
teens’ lives to go downhill very quickly, so it is important to understand the positive and
negative impacts video games have on teens and how time can be controlled to reduce
negative impacts.
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Researching the extent to which time spent playing video games impact attitude is
critical; teens will be able to reap the benefits that video games provide without making
their entire personality and attitude centered around video games. As video games evolve
rapidly, older research becomes less relevant. Therefore, newer research concerning the
current state of video games is needed to more accurately analyze the extent to which
time spent playing video games impacts teens’ attitude; newer research, combined with
older research, can also establish trends in how video games evolve and correlate that to
changes in teens’ attitudes, allowing future predictions to be made.
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Chapter 3: Methodology
Overview
The goal of this experiment was to see how different intervals of time spent
playing video games impacted the attitudes/mindset of teens.
Participants
High school magnet students grade 9 through 12 were used in this experiment.
Due to technological issues at school, it wasn’t as easy for people to access our survey, so
many participants were asked in person to complete the survey. The vast majority of our
participants were juniors and seniors. There were no special requirements necessary to
take the survey or be a part of the experiment. Some ethical concerns would be
participants can’t handle violent video games or are photosensitive; this was addressed by
choosing a non-violent, kid-friendly video game. Only the creators of the survey had
access to all the data.
Apparatus & Materials
A survey, mobile device, and a questionnaire were used to conduct the
experiment. The purpose of the survey was to gather some data about our participants and
determine whether they were interested in joining the experiment. The mobile device was
the medium through which the video game was played. The questionnaire was used to
measure the attitude of high school students. The survey was released from November to
December for all Central Magnet High school students. Participants filled out a form that
asked them various questions about video games and whether they were interested in
participating in an experiment. The survey consisted of multiple choice, short freeresponse, and a Likert scale. Likert scales involve a series of question with answer
choices that offer 5 answer choices ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. It
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covers a range of opinions over a certain topic, useful for measuring behaviors and
perceptions (SurveyMonkey 2024). Attitude is being measured in the experiment, which
closely lines up with the strengths of the Likert scale.
Procedures
A survey was released to all Central Magnet Students asking about how time they
spent playing video games on the weekdays and weekends, followed by whether they
play video games with friends and for time they do so. It is important to determine the
amount of time participants played video games in order to find any correlation between
more time spent playing video games and reduces mental attitude and cognitive ability. A
Likert scale was then used to determine various attitudes and opinions towards video
games, also with the purpose of finding a correlation between time spent playing video
games and attitude. The end of the survey had a question asking participants if they
would like to play a non-violent video games from 5-25 minutes. The experiment
consisted of 3 groups that played video games for 5, 15, and 25 minutes. The participants
were numbered 1-28, and using a random number generator, the first third were assigned
to playing video games for 5 minutes, the next third were assigned to play video games
from 15 minutes, and the last third were assigned to playing video games for 25 minutes.
After the allotted time passed, the participants completed a mental exercise and filled out
a questionnaire. Only 13 of the participants showed up and completed the experiment.
Data Analysis
Microsoft Excel was used to analyze the data. In the survey, the average mean and
median for time spent on video games was calculated. In the experiment, scores from the
mental performance test were recorded for each participant and were converted into
means and medians for each of the four groups. The questionnaire had numbered
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responses 1-5, and they were converted into means and medians as well. The
methodology is a mixed methods research methodology as the researcher used
quantitative data to analyze time spent playing video games, the results from the
questionnaire, and the mental performance test; qualitative data was used to analyze the
responses to the Likert-scale questions as they are subjective and investigate social
behaviors. An experiment was conducted to find a cause-effect relationship between time
spent playing video games and a change in attitude.
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Chapter 4: Findings
Introduction
There have been many tests conducted measuring various activities that impact
attitude, with video games being one of them. A survey, experiment, and a postexperiment questionnaire was used to gather data from Central Magnet high school
students.
Pre-experiment Data
Figure 1: Grade level of respondents
Grade level of respondents
9th, 9, 16%
10th, 6, 11%
12th, 31, 54%
11th, 11, 19%
9th
10th
11th
12th
The data presented above represents the number of people that responded to our survey as
well as what grade they come from. The majority of our participants (54%) were seniors,
followed by juniors (19%). This is largely due to a combination of technological issues
and the researchers, being 12th grades, advertised their survey to their social circles,
composing predominantly of seniors and juniors. Different grades think different and
14
have different maturity levels, potentially leading to different reactions towards video
games.
Figure 2: Likert Scale Questions from the Initial Survey asking participants how video
games impact them
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Figure 3: Participant responses to questions measuring anti-aggressive behaviors
The first two pictures represent all of the Likert scale questions that were asked to the
participants. Strongly agree represents an aggressive behavior. The picture above reflects
responses to questions 2, 3, 6, 7, 9, 12, 13, 14, and 15. 54% percent of responses were
either strongly agree or agree while 28% of responses were either strongly disagree or
disagree, indicating that most respondents picked more aggressive responses and have
more volatile reactions when dealing with video games. 18% of responses were neutral,
indicating a weak connection between video games and the attitude of those repondents.
Figure 4: Participant responses to questions measuring aggressive behaviors
In the above figure, strongly disagree represents an aggressive behavior. This chart
16
reflects the responses given by participants in questions 1 and 4. 80% of the responses
were either strongly agree of agree while only 7% of responses were either strongly
disagree or disagree. This indicates that most participants for these questions picked nonaggressive responses. 13% of respondents selected a neutral response, indicating these
respondents’ attitudes aren’t impacted much by video games.
Figure 5: Number of people that play video games for a certain amount of time during
weekdays
The above
chart represents how much time participants spend on video games during the weekdays.
44 out of the 57 respondents indicated that they play video games anywhere from 1 to 4
hours, with few playing for more than 4 hours. Given how the weekdays are busy for
most school students, it makes sense that they do not have much free time, so the
responses given were expected. This lack of time spent playing video games also
indicates that the attitudes of the participants is not connected much to video games, at
least during the weekdays.
Figure 6: Number of people that play video games for a certain amount of time during
weekends
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The
above chart represents the amount of time respondents played during the weekend. On
average, there is a significant increase in the amount of time respondents spend playing
video games during the weekend compared to the weekdays, which is expected as
students have more time and freedom on the weekend compared to the weekdays. Most
respondents spend 1-6 hours playing video games on the weekend, although there are
groups that either play 8-10 hours or barely play video games. Respondents that spent 810 hours playing video games probably have interest in video games; this indicates that
video games have a significant role in their behavior. Respondents that spent less than an
hour playing video games are probably disinterested in them and hence video games have
a minimal impact on their attitude.
Figure 7: Number of people that play video games for a certain amount of time with
friends during weekdays
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The above graph displays the data for respondents who play video games with friends
during the weekdays. Since not everyone plays with friends, less respondents answered
this question. Most respondents play video games for less than 2 hours (37/42 or 88.1%).
This is expected as not only are the respondents busy during the weekdays, but so are
their friends, making it harder to find a time that is compatible with their friend group.
Even though the time spent playing video games is limited, since it requires investment
from multiple people to play video games together, this indicates that they have a
connection to video games, which could indicate a significant impact on attitude.
Figure 8: Number of people that play video games for a certain amount of time with
friends during weekends
19
The above data indicates that amount of time respondents played video games with
friends over the weekend, and as expected, since students and their friends have more
time over the weekend, they will spend more time playing video games. About 60% of
participants spend 1-4 hours playing video games with their friends on the weekend,
which is greater than the 40% of respondents that play 1-4 hours of video games with
their friends on the weekdays. This data indicates that respondents go out of their way to
schedule times with their friends to play video games, indicating that video games are a
key part of the lives of respondents and hence impact their attitudes. This impact scales
with the amount of time spent playing video games. On the contrary, those that spent less
than 1 hour playing video games with friends on the weekend most likely do not
prioritize playing video games as a group activity; video games have minimal impact on
their lives.
Experimental Data
Figure 9: Amount of time participants spent playing Brawl Stars
Minutes Spent Playing
25 minutes, 4,
31%
5 minutes, 4,
31%
15 minutes, 5,
38%
5 minutes
15 minutes
25 minutes
Although around 30 people signed up to complete the experiment, only 12 showed up.
These people were randomly assigned to play video games for either 5, 15, or 25 minutes.
There was roughly an equal number of people in each group, with 4 in the 25 minutes
group, 4 in the 5 minute group, and 5 in the 15 minutes group.
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Figure 10: Participants rating of Brawl Stars
On a scale of 1-10, how much did you enjoy playing
Brawl Stars?
10, 1, 8%
3, 1, 7%
4, 1, 8%
9, 2, 15%
6, 1, 8%
7, 3, 23%
8, 4, 31%
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
The above graph indicates how much participants enjoyed playing Brawl Stars, which
was the video game in the experiment. 1 represents a very negative attitude and 10
represents a very positive attitude. The mean enjoyment rating was 7.231, with a median
of 8 and a range of 7. Most participants gave Brawl Stars a high rating, indicating that it
improved the attitudes of most people.
Figure 11: Question asking whether partcipants would continue to play the game
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Would you continue to play Brawl Stars on your own
time?
Maybe, 3, 23%
Yes, 6, 46%
No, 4, 31%
Yes
No
Maybe
About half of the participants said that they would continue to play, with the other half
split between no and maybe. This indicates that most participants were able to form a
connection to the video game and might spend more time playing it.
Figure 12: Attitude of participants before the experiment
Attitude BEFORE Playing Brawl Stars (1-10)
4, 1, 8%
8, 2, 15%
5, 1, 8%
7, 4, 31%
6, 5, 38%
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
The above graph represents the attitude of all participants before playing the video game.
1 represents a very negative attitude and 10 represents a very positive attitude. The mean
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is 6.385, and the median is a 6. The range is a 4. Overall, the attitude of the participants
was slightly positive.
Figure 13: Attitude of participants after the experiment
Attitude AFTER Playing Brawl Stars (1-10)
9, 1, 8%
4, 1, 7%
5, 1, 8%
8, 6, 46%
7, 4, 31%
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
The above chart represents the attitude of the participants after playing Brawl Stars.1
represents a very negative attitude and 10 represents a very positive attitude. The mean
attitude was a 7.231, with a median of 8 and a range of 6. Both the mean and median of
the attitude of participants after the experiment is higher than that before the experiment,
indicating an overall increase in enjoyment. However, the range also increased, indicating
that some people did not enjoy the game; some of the data points might be unusual, but a
larger sample size is needed to find out if this is the case.
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Statistical Tests
A 2 sample t-test was conducted, where the null hypothesis was the attitude of
participants in the experiment before playing Brawl Stars (the video game) equals the
attitude of participants after playing Brawl Stars and the alternate hypothesis was that
there the attitude of participants in the experiment before playing Brawl Stars isn’t equal
to the attitude of participants after playing Brawl Stars. Group 1 is defined as the attitude
before playing brawl stars and group 2 is defined as the attitude after playing Brawl Stars.
The sample size of both groups was 13. The mean and standard deviation of group 1 was
6.385 and 1.1209, respectively. The mean and standard deviation of group 2 was 7.23 and
1.36344, respectively. The t value came out to be -1.72613 and the P Value came out to
be .097658. Since the p-value is larger than the significance level of 0.05, the null
hypothesis fails to be rejected. However, at a significance level of 0.10, the p-value is
smaller than the null hypothesis, so the null hypothesis is rejected. When looking at the
data again, 1 value stood out against the rest. Although most people’s attitudes increased
or had a slight decrease, one participant reported that their attitude greatly decreased from
an 8 to a 4; this result could potentially be anomaly. A second 2 sample t-test was
conducted, with the sample size, mean, and standard deviations adjusted to exclude that
one case. This test yielded a new t of -2.97842 and a new p-value of 0.006947. Since the
p-value of 0.006947 is lower than the significance level of 0.05, the null hypothesis is
rejected. Even if the significance level was 0.01, the p-value would be less than that, so
the null hypothesis would still be rejected. If a greater number of participants were in the
experiment, the distribution would approach a normal curve; it would be easier to
determine if the one participant whose attitude greatly decreased after playing the video
game was an anomaly or a somewhat common occurrence.
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Chapter 5: Discussion
Study Summary
The purpose of this study was to find whether or not playing video games for
different periods of time had an impact on the attitudes of high school students. The
hypothesis was that students that spend more time playing video games will have more
negative attitudes compared to students who spend less time playing video games. This
hypothesis was not supported; although there was a statistical significance between the 2
experimental groups, indicating that video games do impact attitude, playing video games
across all three groups generally raised attitudes. This is supported by the fact that the tvalue for both tests was negative, indicating that attitude scores after playing the video
game were high than attitude scores before playing the video game. The results from this
study line up with that from an Oxford study where they found that it didn’t matter much
if gamers played video games for extended periods of time but gamers felt worse if the
quality of gaming was low (2022). Most participants reported feeling better after playing
video games, and the few that didn’t described factors that would have lower the quality
of the gaming experience. In addition, according to Laderer, video games can lead to
increased social connection and serve as an outlet for stress and anxiety relief (2023).
Many of the participants’ gaming experience included things along these lines, including
feeling more joyful, getting satisfaction from victory, feeling more engaged with the
game, and enjoying the game music and background conversations.
Limitations
There were multiple issues that limited the research. One of these issues was
technology. There was a technological shutdown at school for an extended period of
time, preventing many people from being able to access our survey; even if they had
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technology at home, it was unlikely that they would remember to actually find and do the
survey. Because of this, we had less respondents in our initial survey and even fewer in
our experiment. The researchers had to ask many people (predominantly friends who
were juniors and seniors and people who the researchers shared a class with) in-person to
complete our survey, introducing some potential bias within the experiment. This
introduces an element of bias within the study as certain demographics of students are
favored and those who are friends of the researchers are likely to think similar to them.
Another issue that impacted the research was the sample size. Although we had
around 30 people in the initial survey who were interested in completing the experiment,
only 13 showed up. This means that each group had about 4 to 5 people in it, making the
sample less reflective of the population and increasing the odds for error. This also made
it more difficult to determine if there were any outliers or skewed data points within the
experiment, which could distort the results of a significance test. Having a smaller sample
leaves a greater probability that the particular sample is a highly unlikely, abnormal data
set.
The last major limitation that impacted the data was that the participants weren’t
isolated. It would have been very difficult to schedule individual times for each
participant, and if participants were unsupervised, it could have lead to false data (for
example, someone was supposed to play the game for 5 minutes but instead played for 10
minutes). Since the participants were all playing the game in the same room, this lead to
participants playing the video game with other participants and background
conversations; these factors may have lifted attitude scores up instead of the video game,
leading to a false high in attitude levels. There is less focus on playing and connecting
with the video game, reducing attitudinal changes, if any.
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Implications for Future Study
The research indicates that playing video games did improve the attitude of high
school students, but due to a very small sample size, it was not great at finding which
group had the greatest increase in attitude. Besides increasing the sample size, some
better methods of testing how time impacts the attitude of high school students would be
increasing the intervals of time spend playing video games (for example, instead of
having 3 groups play video games for 5, 15, or 25 minutes, have 3 groups play for 20, 40,
and 60 minutes), having more groups that play video games for different periods of time,
and having multiple video games included in the study. These video games could have
varying levels of violence, cover different genres, or be single or multiplayer. Some
potential future research studies could research whether the level of violence in a video
game impacts attitude or whether playing video games alone or with others has an impact
on attitude and to what extent it does. In this field of research, I would repeat the study
but with more participants and longer time intervals for each group in order for time to
have a greater impact on the results and to conduct more accurate hypothesis tests.
Conclusion
To conclude, there is some convincing evidence that the attitudes of high school
students increase when playing video games, with many of the students reporting feelings
of joy and satisfaction from victory. Time does not appear to have a major impact on the
change in attitude of high school students, but other factors such as the type of game and
playing with friends may be the cause of a more positive attitude.
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Appendix
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