image from Mormon Times
Today, The Mormon Times posted a write-up about a recent BYU study which suggests that daughters may benefit from playing video games with parents.
Of course this is great news to dads all over who grew up playing video games (like me).
“The study found that 11- to 16-year-old girls who played age-appropriate games with their parents (mostly dads) exhibited three times better pro-social behavior and about four times less aggression than boys. They also displayed a greater sense of connectivity to family.”
Something that was interesting, however, according to the MT article, was that boys exhibited no measurable difference in behavior when their parents played video games with them. One reason for this could be because boys generally are playing video games more often so the novelty of playing with parents is lessened. Also, the study shows that when girls, especially, played age inappropriate games, they tended to “[show] a decrease in family connectedness.” Since the study also showed that most games boys play tend to be for more mature (M rating) audiences, it could be that boys are automatically disconnected due to the game content.
Girls in the study tended to play games that were more cooperative like Wii Sports or Mario Cart, which have an E rating.
Tonight I think I am gonna break out the Wii Sports for some daddy-daughter time.
