The Gaming Paradox: Violent Video Games, Video Modeling and ASD
Laurie Sperry
Yale University
Laurie Sperry, PhD, BCBA-D is an Assistant Clinical Faculty at Yale University. In addition to a PhD, and a degree in Forensic Psychology and Criminology, she is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst- Doctoral Level. In 2006 she was added to the Fulbright Scholarship’s Senior Specialist Roster for Autism. She moved to Australia in 2010 and worked at Griffith University in the Department of Arts, Education and Law. Her research focuses on people with ASD who come in contact with the criminal justice system to ensure their humane treatment within the system. She has served as a Special Interest Group Chairwoman at the International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR) providing mentoring and leadership in the field of criminality and ASD. She has provided training to secure forensic psychiatric facility staff in England and presented at the International Conference for Offenders with Disabilities. She was an expert panelist at the American Academy of Psychiatry and Law conference where she spoke on Risk Assessment, Management and ASD. She has completed ADOS evaluations in prisons, has testified as an expert witness in sentencing hearings and has written amicus curiae briefs that have been considered before the state supreme court.
Abstract
Background Following the mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut by a person with autism, there is an emerging body of research specifically focused on video game use in adolescents with ASD. Adolescents with ASD spend a... [ view full abstract ]
Background
Following the mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut by a person with autism, there is an emerging body of research specifically focused on video game use in adolescents with ASD. Adolescents with ASD spend a considerable amount of their leisure time playing video games to the exclusion of other pursuits. Often the content of these games is violent. It is unclear what impact the consumption of violent video games (VVG) has on the behavior of adolescents with ASD or whether this results in increased risk for contact with the juvenile justice system (JJS).
Rationale
This study examined the relationship between amount of VVG consumption, scores on the Aberrant Behavior Checklist (ABC) and contact with the JJS in a group of adolescents with ASD and co-morbid psychiatric conditions (N=20) who were placed in a Neuropsychiatric Special Care (NSC) Unit.
Main Points
The adolescents played an average of 8.4 hours of video games a week with the majority of these games (67%) containing violent content. There was a significant positive relationship between VVG play and the ABC subscale score of Lethargy/Social Withdrawal and a weak negative relationship between VVG play and the subscale score of Inappropriate Speech. A Spearman’s rho analysis revealed that adolescents who played the most violent games the most frequently had the highest scores on the ABC subscales of Hyperactivity, Irritability, Lethargy/Social Withdrawal and Inappropriate Speech.
Conclusion
These findings are discussed and suggestions are provided for future research and the development of reasonable viewing guidelines for gamers with ASD.
Ethics and permissions statement and / or disclosure of potential conflict of interest (if relevant)
Ethics Approval Statement: This research was approved by three ethics boards. Approval was obtained through the institutional review board (IRB) at Regis University, the Colorado Multiple Institutional Review Board, and the... [ view full abstract ]
Ethics Approval Statement:
This research was approved by three ethics boards. Approval was obtained through the institutional review board (IRB) at Regis University, the Colorado Multiple Institutional Review Board, and the University of Liverpool Ethics Committee in order to complete a retrospective chart review of medical records (CCIF and ABC) of patients admitted to the NSC unit over the course of a 5 month period (June 2015-October 2015). The study met criteria for an exempt review because it was a study of existing data. The information available to the researcher was documented in such a way that participants could not be identified either directly or through identifiers linked to the participants. Moreover, this records review posed no more than minimal risk to the respondents and no more risk than they would typically experience in their everyday routines. The PI in this study was a research fellow at hospital during the time of this study and did not work directly with the vulnerable population of adolescents with ASD. The PI examined archival data (CCIF and ABC) that the parents provided about their child at intake into the NSC.
There are no conflicts of interest. No funding was provided for this study.
Authors
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Laurie Sperry
(Yale University)
Topic Area
Topics: Research
Session
V12 » Oral Posters: Using technology to communicate and empower (17:30 - Saturday, 17th September, Moorfoot Room)
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