Playing violent video games might lead to depression in kids

A new study has suggested that preadolescent kids who play violent video games for a longer period of time are likelier to get depressed.

The study conducted by the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) showed that kids who played violent video games for more than two hours a day showed significantly more depressive symptoms.

Susan Tortolero, Ph.D., principal investigator and director of the Prevention Research Center at the UTHealth School of Public Health, said that previous studies had observed that how aggression related to video games, but this was the first to examine the relationship between daily violent video game exposure and depression.

Tortolero added that this association between violent video games and depression was consistent across all ethnic groups.

Depressive symptoms were described as a lack of pleasure, lack of interest in activities, concentration difficulties, low energy, low self-worth and suicidal ideation over the past year

The study is published in journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking.