Article Critique

Summary

The study by King et al. (2012) sought to test the hypothesis that adolescents who played violent video games for a period of 150 minutes continuously would experience disrupted sleep compared to their counterparts who were exposed to shorter-duration of 50 minutes. The study involved a sample of 17 male adolescents who, at the time, had no sleep disorders.

The study took an experimental approach since it manipulated the independent variable to observe the reaction on the dependent variable. In this case, the dependent variable was the disturbances on sleep, while the independent variable was the amount of time spent playing a videogame. Participants were subjected to two testing nights, one week apart.

In its method, the study exposed participants to either 50 or 150 minutes of videogaming directly prior to bedtime on each testing night. The study considered fifty minutes of video gaming as regular/normal, while continuous gaming for 150 minutes was considered “prolonged.” The video games exposed to participants, Warhammer 40.000: Space Marine who is considered as fast-paced and “strongly” violent VG. Videogaming had been planned to conclude 10 minutes before the participant’s regular bedtime. To collect data, a questionnaire for sleep assessment was administered before and after videogaming sessions. Sleep disturbances were measured using polysomnography and Heart rate measures. The heart rate was documented from the start of video gaming to the following morning, while polysomnographic data was recorded from lights out to the next morning.

The results of the study confirmed the hypothesis that prolonged exposure to violent video games disrupts sleep among adolescents. The results showed that prolonged exposure to violent video games led to total sleep time among adolescents to decrease by 27 minutes. Additionally, there was a 7 percent loss of sleep efficiency as compared with regular videogaming. It was also found that objective sleep onset latency (SOL) was 3.5 minutes greater, although participants fell asleep within the “healthy” limit of 30 minutes. Sleep efficiency after normal video gaming was within the expected range. In prolonged sleep, sleep efficiency was greatly reduced to below the cut-off indicating sleep disruption. Prolonged video gaming was found to have no notable impact on sleep architecture, but a minor impact was realized on slow-wave sleep. Children who only played the video game for 50 minutes reported low satisfaction and an urge to extend. The researchers use the findings of the study to come to the conclusion that prolonged videogaming poses a clinically significant risk to sleep quantity and quality.

Critique

The study has its strengths and weaknesses. The study used a very small sample size. A small sample size skew data by making one-time or limited occurrences appear common than they actually are. Moreover, a relatively common occurrence may fail to show up at all. The study also used male participants only by arguing videogaming is more prevalent among male adolescents. This means that the study can only be generalized to the male population.

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The study also carefully analyzed and curbed any confounding variables that may have arisen. Confounding variables are other variables that the researcher did not anticipate can influence the study. Such factors can ruin the study rendering the results useless. In this case, the researchers eliminated confounding variables by selecting participants with no history of sleep disorder. Moreover, the room lighting, position of the bed, sound level of the video game, and the distance from the television- factors that may interfere with sleep, were controlled throughout the study. The health requirement, when selecting participants, also makes the study ideal.

The findings of the study are valid. The concepts of validity and reliability are concepts use to evaluate the quality of research. They communicate how well a test, method, or technique measures data. Validity indicates the degree to which the results measure what they are supposed to measure. In this case, the study aimed at measuring disturbance. The study clearly collected data leading to sleep disturbance measurement. This included measurement of sleep architecture such as time and percentage of each stage of sleep. Though the heart rate was found to be insignificant, it was a good measurement of the sleep. Overall, the results obtained from the study are valid. The clear explanation in the methodology, as well as the manipulation of variables, means that the study can be reproduced under the same conditions. The study also mentions other studies that agree with findings, which also indicates reliability.

Subjecting teens to violent games is likely to raise ethical issues. The study eliminated this issue by obtaining informed consent from participants and their parents. Moreover, the Flinders University Social and Behavioral Ethics Committee approved the study.

With rising concern over the impact of the violent videogame on children and adolescents, the study has serious implications. Social policies should address the impact that video games have on contributing to the sleep disorder. Moreover, health care providers must also screen for habitual videogaming when assessing sleep disorders, especially among the younger population. The low satisfaction in normal video game duration means that children are unlikely to be self-limiting and that parents should be responsible for them. 

Summary

The article by King et al. (2012) examined the impact of prolonged video gaming on adolescent sleep. The study tested the hypothesis that adolescents who played violent video games for a period of 150 minutes continuously would experience disrupted sleep compared to their counterparts who were exposed to shorter-duration of 50 minutes. The sample size involved 17 male adolescents who, at the time, had no sleep disorders. The research, which was an experimental study, found that prolonged video gaming posed a clinically significant risk to sleep quantity and quality.

References

King, D. L., Gradisar, M., Drummond, A., Lovato, N., Wessel, J., Micic, G., Douglas, P., & Delfabbro, P. (2012). The impact of prolonged violent videogaming on adolescent sleep: an experimental study. Journal of Sleep Research, 22(2), 137-143. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2869.2012.01060.x