ArticleNature human behaviour2024
Causal effect of video gaming on mental well-being in Japan 2020-2022.
Article in Nature human behaviour, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The trial behind it
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Effects of active video games on mental health among college students: a systematic review.BMC public health · 2024Pooled it
- Effect of Immersive Virtual Reality on Chemotherapy-Related Side Effects in Patients Receiving Paclitaxel-Carboplatin With or Without Bevacizumab: 2-Arm Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Trial
- Shifting from Proactive to Reactive Control: Cognitive Control in Action Video Game Players with Gaming Disorder.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Brain Structural Covariance Networks in Long-Term First-Person Shooter and Multiplayer Online Battle Arena Players: Cross-Sectional Study.JMIR serious games · 2026Article
- The impact of mobile internet usage patterns on employment intentions of medical students: A cross-sectional study.PloS one · 2026Article
- Comorbidity of internet gaming disorder and anxiety in first-year Chinese university students: the mediating role of behavioral inhibition and activation systems.BMC psychiatry · 2025Article
- Understanding the game experiences and mental health of youth: protocol for the Game-in-Action Quebec cohort study.BMJ open · 2025Article
- Problematic online gaming mediates the association between attention-deficit/hyperactivity and subsequent mental health issues in adolescents.Communications psychology · 2025Article
- The Positive Effect of Video-Game Play on College Students' Anxiety and Depression Symptoms During the COVID-19 Pandemic Shelter-in-Place Lockdowns: Mixed Methods Study.JMIR serious games · 2025Article
- Linguistic integration improves refugee physical and mental health.Scientific reports · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The widespread use of video games has raised concerns about their potential negative impact on mental well-being. Nevertheless, the empirical evidence supporting this notion is largely based on correlational studies, warranting further investigation into the causal relationship. Here we identify the causal effect of video gaming on mental well-being in Japan (2020-2022) using game console lotteries as a natural experiment. Employing approaches designed for causal inference on survey data (n = 97,602), we found that game console ownership, along with increased game play, improved mental well-being. The console ownership reduced psychological distress and improved life satisfaction by 0.1-0.6 standard deviations. Furthermore, a causal forest machine learning algorithm revealed divergent impacts between different types of console, with one showing smaller benefits for adolescents and females while the other showed larger benefits for adolescents. These findings highlight the complex impact of digital media on mental well-being and the importance of considering differential screen time effects.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.