JOIN USChildren who play video games for more than three hours a day are more likely to be hyperactive, get involved in fights and not be interested in school, according to a new Oxford study.
However, low levels of play - under an hour a day - might actually benefit behaviour, researchers found.
The study found that the time spent playing games could be linked with problem behaviour and this was the significant factor rather than the types of games played.
They could find no link between playing violent games and real-life aggression or a child's academic performance.
"We can see links between some types of games and children's behaviour, as well as time spent playing. However, we cannot say that game play causes good or bad behaviour. We also know that the risks attached to game-playing are small," said lead author Dr Andy Przybylski, from Oxford University's Oxford Internet Institute.
"A range of other factors in a child's life will influence their behaviour more as this research suggests that playing electronic games may be a statistically significant but minor factor in how children progress academically or in their emotional wellbeing," Przybylski said.
Although some parents might believe that by playing strategy and puzzle games their child might boost their school grades or increase their social skills, researchers found sociability and the grades of the children who played such games were no higher than their non-playing peers.
The study found that no game features typically encountered by young people could be linked with any negative patterns of behaviour; yet children who played some kinds of games were linked to some types of positive behaviour.
Children who played video games with a cooperative and competitive element had significantly fewer emotional problems or problems with peers.Children who chose to play solitary games were found to do well academically and displayed fewer emotional problems or get involved in fights.
The study relied on teachers' assessments of behaviour of individual pupils at a school in the southeast of England - instead of relying solely on data from the young people.Teachers reported whether the 200 pupils in the study group were helpful, their academic achievements, and whether they were rowdy or likely to get into fights.
These assessments were matched with the responses to a questionnaire that asked each of the pupils in the study, who were aged 12-13 years old, how long they played games each day and the type of games they preferred.
The choice given was to play solo, offline competitive team games, online cooperative and competitive games, combat and violence, puzzles and strategy, and games to do with sport and racing.The findings are published in the journal, Psychology of Popular Media Culture.