Andre Yoskowitz
18 Aug 2009 3:07
According to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the average age of adult video gamers is now 35, and video gamers are also fatter, less healthy and more depressed than non-gamers.
The study used data from 500 adults in Washington aged 19-90. About 45 percent of the adults studied reported playing games. Washington was chosen because Seattle has the highest Internet usage level in the US.
The CDC team, says the BBC, studied the perception of "mood, personality, health status, physical and mental health, body mass index (BMI) and quality of life" of the gamers.
The study found that female video gamers were less healthy and were more depressed that non-gamers while male gamers had higher BMIs.
CDC's James B. Weaver added:
"Health risk factors, specifically a higher BMI and a larger number of poor mental-health days, differentiated adult video game players from non-gamers. Video game players also reported lower extraversion, consistent with research on adolescents that linked video-game playing to a sedentary lifestyle and overweight status."