An Analysis of the Social Context of Video Games, Pathological Gaming, and Depressive Symptoms

This study addresses the relationship between the social context in which individuals play video games, pathological gaming, and depressive symptoms. A sample of 265 participants recruited through local gaming communities completed an online survey asking questions pertaining to demographics, the most common social context of their gaming, depressive symptoms, and pathological gaming. Participants also responded to the open-ended question "How do you feel gaming has impacted you socially? Why?" Many participants felt gaming helped to expand their social circle, maintain existing relationships, develop social skills, and connect with others during Covid-19 lockdowns. A small minority of participants reported that gaming displaced time they could have spent with friends and family, and sometimes damaged their social skills. Using an Ordinary Least Squares regression framework, quantitative results indicate that those who gamed primarily in-person with friends displayed lower levels of pathological gaming than all other contexts. Those who gamed in-person with friends also displayed lower levels of depressive symptoms, although this was found to be somewhat a function of time spent gaming. These results indicate that perhaps in-person gaming with friends is a protective context for gaming compared with online gaming, or solitary gaming.