Therefore, boys most likely
spend the majority of time playing video games without a parent
present, making any effects of co-playing comparatively smaller for
boys as compared with girls. Furthermore, other research [2,3] has
shown that boys tend to play more violent games than girls. We
found that parents are more likely to play age-inappropriate (and
most likely more violent) games with their sons than with their
daughters. Boys may already be playing such games, and parents
might assume that co-playing the games is a successful mediation
strategy and mitigates any negative effects of playing video games.
However, our study suggests that co-playing was not a particularly
useful mediation strategy for boys; in fact, co-playing video-games
(even age-appropriate ones) showed no effects for boys. Other mediation
strategies, including restrictive (e.g., setting rules on time
and content) and active (e.g., discussion on content) forms, may
prove to be more fruitful in mediating video game play for boys.