Are video games as addictive and damaging to children as gambling is to adults? In a word—yes, according to a new study of nearly 1,200 children aged eight to 18 in the U.S.

This is the first study, according to study lead author Douglas Gentile, a director of research for the Minneapolis-based National Institute on Media and the Family, to quantify ways in which gaming may damage kids' ability to function socially. Gentile, an assistant psychology professor at Iowa State University, analyzed data collected in a January 2007 Harris Poll survey and compared respondents' video game play habits to the symptoms established in The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders for pathological gambling.

The gamers (who said they played video games at least 24 hours per week) were classified as "pathological" if they exhibited at least six of 11 symptoms: salience (the activity dominates the person's life), euphoria or relief (the activity provides a "high" or the relief of unpleasant feelings), tolerance (over time, a greater amount of activity is needed to achieve the same "high"), withdrawal symptoms (the person experiences unpleasant physical effects or negative emotions when unable to engage in the activity), conflict (the activity leads to clashes with other people, work, obligations, or oneself), and relapse and reinstatement (the person continues the activity despite attempts to abstain from it).

The results of the survey, published today in the online edition of Psychological Science: that 88 percent of American kids between the ages of eight and 18 play video games occasionally or more and that four times as many boys as girls in the study were considered "pathological gamers."

Gentile concedes in his study that the results yield more questions than answers.

"We do not know who is most at risk for developing pathological patterns of play," he writes, "what the time course of developing pathological patterns is, how long the problems persist, what percentage of pathological gamers need help, what types of help might be most effective, or even whether pathological video-game use is a distinct problem or part of a broader spectrum of disorders."

孩子玩游戲能上癮嗎？

賭博讓成年人上癮且造成傷害，那么玩游戲是否也一樣讓孩子們上癮和造成傷害呢？根據對美國約1200名年齡在8至18歲的孩子們的一項新研究結果，總的來說——是的。

據該研究的第一作者Douglas Gentile稱，這次研究首次量化了游戲對孩子們社交能力的損害，Douglas Gentile是位于明尼阿波利斯的國家媒體與家庭研究所（Minneapolis-based National Institute on Media and the Family）的研究主任，他還是衣阿華州立大學（Iowa State University）的心理學助理教授。Douglas Gentile分析了Harris Poll 在2007年1月份調查所收集到的數據，他把參與調查者玩游戲的習慣與一些公認的病理性賭博癥狀做了比較。這些癥狀收集在《心里疾病的診斷和統計手冊》（The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders）一書中。

游戲玩家（他們自稱一周至少玩24小時）如果表現出11項癥狀中的6項，那么他們就可以被稱為“病態”游戲者。這些癥狀是：最重要（游戲主宰了這個人的生活）；短暫的極度快樂或者放松（玩游戲帶來了“快感”或者讓不爽的感覺得到了放松），耐受性（在長時間里，需要大量的游戲獲得同樣的“快感”），孤僻癥狀（當游戲者不能玩游戲的時候，他會感受到身體的不適或者經歷負面情緒），沖突（玩游戲導致與其他人、工作、義務或者游戲者自身的矛盾沖突），復發以及重新上癮（盡管游戲者試圖戒掉游戲，但是他還是繼續玩） 。

該調查的結果在線發表在今天的《心理學科學》（Psychological Science）雜志上，研究顯示：年齡在8至18歲的美國孩子中，有88%的人偶爾或者經常玩游戲，其中該研究中被稱為“病態游戲者”的男孩是女孩的4倍。

Gentile承認，在他的研究中，所得到的結果提出的問題比答案還多。

他說：“我們不知道誰會更易發展到玩游戲的病態地步，我們也不知道發展到這種病態的時間過程，以及這些問題會持續多久； 我們不知道需要幫助的病態游戲者的比例，也不知道何種形式的幫助最有效果，更不知道病態地玩游戲是一種獨特的問題還是疾病更大范圍內的一部分問題。”
 
Vocabulary:

Addicted: 上癮的
Quantify: 量化
Psychology: 心理學
Symptom: 癥狀
Diagnostic: 診斷的
Statistical: 統計的
Pathological: 病理學的
Salience: 最重要；顯著
Euphoria: （通常指持續時間較短的）極度愉快的心情
Tolerance: 忍受
Withdrawal: 孤僻
Relapse: 舊病復發
Reinstatement: 恢復原狀；重返崗位
Concede：承認；讓步