![\"Binge](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/binge-gaming-associate.jpg\" "\\"Binge")
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Binge gaming was associated with depression, anxiety, and poor sleep, with boys more likely to report binge gaming than girls, in Hong Kong survey of 2,592 children and adolescents. Credit: lalesh aldarwish, Pexels, CC0 (creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/zero\/1.0\/)<\/p>\n
A team of Hong Kong researchers has found that binge gaming correlates with poorer social, academic, and mental health outcomes in schoolchildren, with distinct patterns by gender.<\/p>\n
Internet gaming occupies a central place in much of youth culture, with prior work documenting recognition of internet gaming<\/a> disorder (IGD) in DSM-5 as a condition for further study and as a formal diagnosis in ICD-11.<\/p>\n East Asia has a high IGD prevalence, and surveys in Hong Kong identify adolescents as a key affected group, particularly boys. Evidence has linked prolonged play with depressive symptoms, anxiety, and sleep problems.<\/p>\n In the study, “The roles of binge gaming in social, academic and mental health outcomes<\/a> and gender differences: A school-based survey in Hong Kong,” published<\/a> in PLOS One, researchers conducted a cross-sectional school-based survey to examine the prevalence of binge gaming, associated social, academic, and mental health outcomes, and gender differences.<\/p>\n The cohort included 2,592 primary and secondary students, 1,404 boys and 1,188 girls (mean age ~12), recruited from five primary and four secondary schools<\/a> in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n Completing a self-administered classroom questionnaire, students indicated whether they had played internet games for five or more consecutive hours in the past month. Responses included checklists for DSM-5 IGD symptoms over the prior 12 months.<\/p>\n Results indicate an overall binge-gaming prevalence of 31.7%, with 38.3% in boys and 24.0% in girls. Boys were less likely than girls to report poor sleep quality (58.6% vs. 65.5%). No gender differences<\/a> appeared in rates above mild thresholds for depression, anxiety, or stress.<\/p>\n Among boys, adjusting for age and gaming time, binge gamers showed higher adjusted mean differences in IGD, depression, anxiety, stress, and poorer sleep quality than non-binge gamers.<\/p>\n Among girls, binge gamers also showed higher IGD, depression, anxiety, stress, and loneliness, plus lower educational self-efficacy, sleep quality, and social support than non-binge gamers.<\/p>\n Compared with non-binge gamers, non-gamers had lower depression, anxiety, stress, and loneliness and higher educational self-efficacy in girls; in boys, lower stress and loneliness and higher educational self-efficacy, with no significant differences for depression\/anxiety<\/p>\n Authors conclude that binge gaming may function as a behavioral indicator and potential risk factor for adverse social, academic, and health outcomes in school-age youth, with notable gender-specific features including greater loneliness and lower social support<\/a> among female binge gamers.<\/p>\n Suggested public-interest actions include prevention targeting prolonged consecutive play, early identification using binge-gaming patterns in addition to total hours, and consideration of tailored psychosocial strategies.<\/p>\n \n Written for you by our author Justin Jackson<\/a>, edited by Sadie Harley<\/a>, and fact-checked and reviewed by Robert Egan<\/a>\u2014this article is the result of careful human work. We rely on readers like you to keep independent science journalism alive.
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