Contexts, motivations and regulation of video games among adolescents

What are the attractions of video games for adolescents and pre-adolescents? How do they fit into their daily lives? This is what the qualitative study carried out by the OFDT among 30 adolescents aged between 11 and 15 in the spring of 2021 explored.

Their accounts, gathered on the basis of semi-directive interviews, illustrate the way in which video gaming is integrated, among other activities, into their social lives as teenagers. The video gaming allows for the continuity, and even the reinforcement, of friendly relationships. Adolescents’ video game practices can be seen as interstitial, with a varied duration, because they are interspersed in the residual time between their various obligations including school, family, social and cultural life.

Their regulation is structured by school pressure that is conveyed by parents and internalised by adolescents. It is most often based on a reward system which consists of parents regulating playing time according to school performance and assiduity. The responsibility of teenagers for their playing time is pivotal, and is largely mobilised by parents.