Academic and Social Behaviour Profile of the Primary School Students who Possess and Play Video Games

Abstract

The aim of this research was to analyze the typologies of primary education students with regard to possession and use of video games, and the possible psycho-emotional and educational implications. To identify the different typologies, a latent class model using Latent Gold v4.5 software was applied in order to model relations between the variables observed, assuming that the structure of underlying relations was explained by a latent categorical variable (not observed). The results revealed two clearly differentiated clusters: one formed of boys who get better marks in Mathematics, usually play video games with gaming consoles for the TV screen, usually play video games online with friends, play video games for more than two hours at weekends, feel very happy when playing video games, and whose first choice of free-time activity is to play video games; the other consisted of girls who get better marks in Spanish Language and Literature, usually play video games on a tablet, usually with a family member, play video games for more than two hours at weekends, feel very happy playing video games, though to a slightly lesser extent than boys, and whose first choice of free-time activity is not usually to play video games.