Are video games as addictive and damaging to children as gambling is to adults? In a word—yes, according to a new study of nearly 1,200 children aged eight to 18 in the U.S.

This is the first study, according to study lead author Douglas Gentile, a director of research for the Minneapolis-based National Institute on Media and the Family, to quantify ways in which gaming may damage kids' ability to function socially. Gentile, an assistant psychology professor at Iowa State University, analyzed data collected in a January 2007 Harris Poll survey and compared respondents' video game play habits to the symptoms established in The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders for pathological gambling.

The gamers (who said they played video games at least 24 hours per week) were classified as "pathological" if they exhibited at least six of 11 symptoms: salience (the activity dominates the person's life), euphoria or relief (the activity provides a "high" or the relief of unpleasant feelings), tolerance (over time, a greater amount of activity is needed to achieve the same "high"), withdrawal symptoms (the person experiences unpleasant physical effects or negative emotions when unable to engage in the activity), conflict (the activity leads to clashes with other people, work, obligations, or oneself), and relapse and reinstatement (the person continues the activity despite attempts to abstain from it).

The results of the survey, published today in the online edition of Psychological Science: that 88 percent of American kids between the ages of eight and 18 play video games occasionally or more and that four times as many boys as girls in the study were considered "pathological gamers."

Gentile concedes in his study that the results yield more questions than answers.

"We do not know who is most at risk for developing pathological patterns of play," he writes, "what the time course of developing pathological patterns is, how long the problems persist, what percentage of pathological gamers need help, what types of help might be most effective, or even whether pathological video-game use is a distinct problem or part of a broader spectrum of disorders."

孩子玩游戏能上瘾吗？

赌博让成年人上瘾且造成伤害，那么玩游戏是否也一样让孩子们上瘾和造成伤害呢？根据对美国约1200名年龄在8至18岁的孩子们的一项新研究结果，总的来说——是的。

据该研究的第一作者Douglas Gentile称，这次研究首次量化了游戏对孩子们社交能力的损害，Douglas Gentile是位于明尼阿波利斯的国家媒体与家庭研究所（Minneapolis-based National Institute on Media and the Family）的研究主任，他还是衣阿华州立大学（Iowa State University）的心理学助理教授。Douglas Gentile分析了Harris Poll 在2007年1月份调查所收集到的数据，他把参与调查者玩游戏的习惯与一些公认的病理性赌博症状做了比较。这些症状收集在《心里疾病的诊断和统计手册》（The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders）一书中。

游戏玩家（他们自称一周至少玩24小时）如果表现出11项症状中的6项，那么他们就可以被称为“病态”游戏者。这些症状是：最重要（游戏主宰了这个人的生活）；短暂的极度快乐或者放松（玩游戏带来了“快感”或者让不爽的感觉得到了放松），耐受性（在长时间里，需要大量的游戏获得同样的“快感”），孤僻症状（当游戏者不能玩游戏的时候，他会感受到身体的不适或者经历负面情绪），冲突（玩游戏导致与其他人、工作、义务或者游戏者自身的矛盾冲突），复发以及重新上瘾（尽管游戏者试图戒掉游戏，但是他还是继续玩） 。

该调查的结果在线发表在今天的《心理学科学》（Psychological Science）杂志上，研究显示：年龄在8至18岁的美国孩子中，有88%的人偶尔或者经常玩游戏，其中该研究中被称为“病态游戏者”的男孩是女孩的4倍。

Gentile承认，在他的研究中，所得到的结果提出的问题比答案还多。

他说：“我们不知道谁会更易发展到玩游戏的病态地步，我们也不知道发展到这种病态的时间过程，以及这些问题会持续多久； 我们不知道需要帮助的病态游戏者的比例，也不知道何种形式的帮助最有效果，更不知道病态地玩游戏是一种独特的问题还是疾病更大范围内的一部分问题。”
 
Vocabulary:

Addicted: 上瘾的
Quantify: 量化
Psychology: 心理学
Symptom: 症状
Diagnostic: 诊断的
Statistical: 统计的
Pathological: 病理学的
Salience: 最重要；显著
Euphoria: （通常指持续时间较短的）极度愉快的心情
Tolerance: 忍受
Withdrawal: 孤僻
Relapse: 旧病复发
Reinstatement: 恢复原状；重返岗位
Concede：承认；让步