Adolescent Online Gaming in Jordan: A Cross-Sectional Study on Habits and Health Perceptions Through the Health Belief Model.
Haitham Khatatbeh, Tariq Al-Dwaikat, Moawiah Khatatbeh and 7 others
PMID 42262107WHAT IT FOUND
Jordanian adolescents averaged 3.1 gaming hours daily.
More daily hours and older age were linked with lower self-rated physical and mental health. 28.8% said gaming was not physically harmful. 36.7% had never received counseling about gaming harms.
Key findings
01Adolescents averaged 3.1 gaming hours per day, and 28.8% said online games do not harm physical health.
02Older age and more daily gaming hours were linked with lower self-rated physical and mental health.
0336.7% had never received counseling about gaming harms, and parents were the most common source among those counseled (66.7%).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The cross-sectional design cannot show that gaming causes poorer health or that counseling changes health. The sample was a convenience sample from governmental schools in northern Jordan, so findings may not apply to other regions, private schools, or adolescents without internet access. Physical and mental health were single-item self-rated scores, not measured health outcomes, so responses may reflect how adolescents felt or answered the survey rather than actual health. The main Likert items had Cronbach's alpha 0.681, which the authors called adequate but is modest. The regression analyses used 255 complete cases rather than all 403 respondents, so predictor findings may not represent the full sample. Only perceived susceptibility and cues to action from the Health Belief Model were examined, and linear regression was used on 5-point ordinal health ratings.
Declared interests
The authors report no funding and no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the negative associations as proof that gaming causes poorer health, and do not read the counseling gap as proof that nurse-led counseling works. The study was cross-sectional, self-reported, and did not test an intervention.