O uso de jogos eletrônicos em adolescentes do ensino médio em Pelotas

Abstract

Electronic games are nowadays one of the forms of leisure most used by Young people around the world due to technological advances in the field of computer science. This change of behavior, bring the question whether electronic games can be beneficial or harmful to them. This volume presents a cross-sectional study that aimed to evaluate the prevalence of abusive use of electronic games and associated factors in high school students in the urban area of the city of Pelotas, RS. A self-administered questionnaire containing socio-demographic questions, the Game Addiction Scale (GAS), to measure the dependence on electronic games and the Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-20) for screening common mental disorders. The schools were selected by a draw based on the list obtained in the State Education Secretariat, of which all high school classes were invited to participate, with parental authorization for those under 18 years old, totaling 450 students. Our data showed a prevalence of significant abuse of games, being associated with males, school repetition and manifesting common mental disorders These results lead us to believe that the high prevalence of abuse of games is associated with lower school performance and the presence of common mental disorders.More deeply investigations are necessary to undertand this phenomen, since it may be one of the determinants for not achieving complete well-being physical, mental and social development of these young people.