Do increased hours of video-gaming predict differences in depression, anxiety, and cognitive flexibility?

Paper one is a literature review that investigates how childhood sexual abuse (CSA) victimisation relates to intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration in adult males. Fourteen studies were identified as relevant following a systematic literature search. The review found that there is an association between CSA victimisation and IPV perpetration in adult males. Methodological limitations have been highlighted and evaluated in this review. Clinical and research implications are discussed, as well as limitations within the review. The second paper discusses a cross-sectional quantitative study that explored the relationship between increased hours of video-gaming and depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and cognitive flexibility. It also explored whether there were any group differences between genre of videogame being played, as well as gender of the gamer, on depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and cognitive flexibility. 163 participants were recruited for the study. Three multiple regression analyses were conducted, which were followed up with two sets of three ANOVA tests. The findings suggest that increased frequency of video-gaming did not predict a significant reduction in depression or anxiety symptoms, nor did it predict a significant increase in cognitive flexibility. There were no group differences between genre of game played, or between genders. However, findings did show that when age was included, increased video-gaming did predict a significant reduction in depression and anxiety symptoms, as well as a significant increase in cognitive flexibility. The findings highlight the lack of research into casual video-gaming in adulthood. Further research and clinical implications are discussed. The final report is an executive summary of the study carried out in the thesis. The summary received valuable feedback from three people who play videogames frequently. It was written for video-gamers and those who may be interested in this area of research.