Does Digital Game Play Affect Social/Emotional Child Wellbeing?

Jan L. Plass; Bruce D. Homer; Meagan Bromley; Fabian Froehlich; Yuli Shao; Jessica Young

doi:10.1007/978-3-031-44751-8_11

Does Digital Game Play Affect Social/Emotional Child Wellbeing?

Jan L. Plass, Bruce D. Homer, Meagan Bromley, Fabian Froehlich, Yuli Shao, Jessica Young

Administration, Leadership & Technology

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

Abstract

Can digital game play enhance child wellbeing? Applying a wellbeing framework that identified six dimensions of wellbeing (competence, agency, relatedness, curiosity, optimism, and reduced stress) we conducted a playtesting study (N = 25) to develop wellbeing profiles for six games. These profiles informed an experimental study in which 8- to 12-year-olds (N = 62) either played tablet-based casual games over an 8-week period (play group) or engaged in other activities (control group) in an afterschool program. We administered the Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction Scale (BPNSFS) as pre-test, and the KIDSCREEN-27, a standardized measure of wellbeing, as pre- and post-intervention test. We found that for children with specific psychological needs, the play intervention improved related domains of wellbeing. Results have theoretical and practical implications, including guidance for game designers to add features supporting child wellbeing.

Original language	English (US)
Title of host publication	Serious Games - 9th Joint International Conference, JCSG 2023, Proceedings
Editors	Mads Haahr, Alberto Rojas-Salazar, Stefan Göbel
Publisher	Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH
Pages	155-170
Number of pages	16
ISBN (Print)	9783031447501
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-44751-8_11
State	Published - 2023
Event	9th Joint International Conference on Serious Games, JCSG 2023 - Dublin, Ireland Duration: Oct 26 2023 → Oct 27 2023

Publication series

Name	Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
Volume	14309 LNCS
ISSN (Print)	0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)	1611-3349

Conference

Conference	9th Joint International Conference on Serious Games, JCSG 2023
Country/Territory	Ireland
City	Dublin
Period	10/26/23 → 10/27/23

Keywords

Digital game play
experimental design
wellbeing

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Theoretical Computer Science
General Computer Science

Access to Document

10.1007/978-3-031-44751-8_11

Cite this

Plass, J. L., Homer, B. D., Bromley, M., Froehlich, F., Shao, Y., & Young, J. (2023). Does Digital Game Play Affect Social/Emotional Child Wellbeing? In M. Haahr, A. Rojas-Salazar, & S. Göbel (Eds.), Serious Games - 9th Joint International Conference, JCSG 2023, Proceedings (pp. 155-170). (Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics); Vol. 14309 LNCS). Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-44751-8_11

Does Digital Game Play Affect Social/Emotional Child Wellbeing? / Plass, Jan L.; Homer, Bruce D.; Bromley, Meagan et al.
Serious Games - 9th Joint International Conference, JCSG 2023, Proceedings. ed. / Mads Haahr; Alberto Rojas-Salazar; Stefan Göbel. Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2023. p. 155-170 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics); Vol. 14309 LNCS).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

Plass, JL, Homer, BD, Bromley, M, Froehlich, F, Shao, Y & Young, J 2023, Does Digital Game Play Affect Social/Emotional Child Wellbeing? in M Haahr, A Rojas-Salazar & S Göbel (eds), Serious Games - 9th Joint International Conference, JCSG 2023, Proceedings. Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics), vol. 14309 LNCS, Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, pp. 155-170, 9th Joint International Conference on Serious Games, JCSG 2023, Dublin, Ireland, 10/26/23. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-44751-8_11

Plass JL, Homer BD, Bromley M, Froehlich F, Shao Y, Young J. Does Digital Game Play Affect Social/Emotional Child Wellbeing? In Haahr M, Rojas-Salazar A, Göbel S, editors, Serious Games - 9th Joint International Conference, JCSG 2023, Proceedings. Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH. 2023. p. 155-170. (Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)). doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-44751-8_11

Plass, Jan L. ; Homer, Bruce D. ; Bromley, Meagan et al. / Does Digital Game Play Affect Social/Emotional Child Wellbeing?. Serious Games - 9th Joint International Conference, JCSG 2023, Proceedings. editor / Mads Haahr ; Alberto Rojas-Salazar ; Stefan Göbel. Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2023. pp. 155-170 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)).

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abstract = "Can digital game play enhance child wellbeing? Applying a wellbeing framework that identified six dimensions of wellbeing (competence, agency, relatedness, curiosity, optimism, and reduced stress) we conducted a playtesting study (N = 25) to develop wellbeing profiles for six games. These profiles informed an experimental study in which 8- to 12-year-olds (N = 62) either played tablet-based casual games over an 8-week period (play group) or engaged in other activities (control group) in an afterschool program. We administered the Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction Scale (BPNSFS) as pre-test, and the KIDSCREEN-27, a standardized measure of wellbeing, as pre- and post-intervention test. We found that for children with specific psychological needs, the play intervention improved related domains of wellbeing. Results have theoretical and practical implications, including guidance for game designers to add features supporting child wellbeing.",

keywords = "Digital game play, experimental design, wellbeing",

author = "Plass, {Jan L.} and Homer, {Bruce D.} and Meagan Bromley and Fabian Froehlich and Yuli Shao and Jessica Young",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.; 9th Joint International Conference on Serious Games, JCSG 2023 ; Conference date: 26-10-2023 Through 27-10-2023",

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booktitle = "Serious Games - 9th Joint International Conference, JCSG 2023, Proceedings",