Longitudinal relations between gaming, physical activity, and athletic self-esteem

Youth are increasingly engaged in digital games; while physical activity rates are declining. This study examines whether the amount of time children spend on gaming is related to physical activity and athletic self-esteem. At ages 8, 10, 12, and 14, a community sample of children (n = 751, 379 girls) was interviewed about how often they played digital games, completed questionnaires regarding their athletic self-esteem and wore an accelerometer to measure physical activity. A random intercept cross-lagged panel model using the participants as their own controls adjusting for all time-invariant potential confounding factors, revealed that increased gaming predicted reduced athletic self-esteem (B = −0.17, 95% CI: 0.26 to −0.10). Among boys aged 10 years, increased moderate and vigorous physical activity (MVPA) predicted decreased gaming (B = −0.64, 95% CI: 1.12 to −0.16) whereas increased gaming predicted reduced MVPA at the age of 12 (B = −0.08, 95% CI: 0.12 to −0.03). These effects remained evident two years later via stability in gaming and MVPA. Findings suggest a developmental window for boys in middle childhood during which changes in physical activity and gaming result in longer-term cascades that endure into adolescence: increased gaming predicts reduced MVPA, whereas reduced MVPA predicts increased gaming.