Running head: GAMING FREQUENCY AND RESILIENCY 1

Resiliency Differences in College Video Gamers

John G. Ferreira

Bridgewater State University

GAMING FREQUENCY AND RESILIENCY 2

Resiliency Differences in College Video Gamers

Abstract

On contemporary American college campuses, mental health practitioners are being

overwhelmed by the rapid increase of students seeking mental health services on campus, and by

the growing severity of their reported mental health issues (Kitzrow, 2009). One type of

therapeutic approach utilized to help mitigate and prevent mental health crises of college

students is nurturing resiliency. Programs for nurturing college students’ resiliency can be

formally conducted by mental health professionals, or informally conducted by other institutional

staff, or by means of independent self-help programs (Rose et al., 2013). The purpose of this

study is to research if playing video games on college campuses could be an independent,

informal practice for nurturing resiliency among college students. The study will examine if

there are significant differences in resiliency between different types of college video gamers.

Some of the types of gamers classified include “heavy gamers” who play video games more than

twenty hours a week and “casual gamers” who play video games less than two hours a week.

The resiliency of individual gamers will be measured by 20 questions on a five-point Likert scale

answered through an anonymous online survey. The research study will be conducted by the

Department of Counseling at Bridgewater State University and is funded through sponsorship

donations by the Alphabet Corporation.

GAMING FREQUENCY AND RESILIENCY 3

Research Question

The proposed study asks the following research question: Are there significant differences in

resiliency between different types of college video gamers?

Hypothesis

The hypothesis of the proposed study is there are significant differences in resiliency

between different types of college video gamers. The resiliency of heavy gamers (μhg) will be

significantly greater than average (μag) and casual gamers (μcg). The resiliency of average

gamers will be significantly greater than casual gamers.

HA: μhg > μag

μhg > μcg

μag > μcg

Null Hypothesis

The null hypothesis of the proposed study is that there are no differences in resiliency

among different levels of college video gamers. Heavy gamers, average gamers and casual

gamers will not have any significant differences in resiliency.

H0: μhg = μag = μcg

Project Abstract

Sample Document Notification

This document is a sample IRB application created for coursework in a graduate class on

research and evaluation. This not an official IRB application form. The document contains
GAMING FREQUENCY AND RESILIENCY 4

mock sources and information. Any mock sources will have cites and references that start with

an asterisk (*).

Literature Review

Studies show that contemporary American college students more frequently utilize

mental health services and display more severe mental health symptoms than in the past.

Administrators and staff at colleges and universities have a responsibility to resolve this issue

(Kitzrow, 2009). The American College Health Association surveyed 83,070 undergraduate and

graduate college students across 113 schools. Seven and one-tenth percent reported giving

serious thought to suicide at least once within the past school year. In the same study, at least

once 38.8% reported feeling hopeless, 31.4% felt overwhelmed, and 31.7% felt mentally

exhausted. Also, 17% reported depression as a health issue (American College Health

Association, 2009).

To help students cope with their mental health issues, colleges offer various therapeutic

approaches on campus (Kitzrow, 2009). One type of intervention that has been researched to

help alleviate mental health issues in college students is nurturing the growth of resiliency and

coping skills, where students learn how to positively adapt their behaviors to thrive in

challenging situations (Houston et al., 2017). Resiliency can be defined as a value of how well

individuals can cope with stressful issues (Connor & Davidson, 2003). In a randomized,

controlled trial, undergraduate college students participated in a group resilience and coping

intervention. Post-therapy, participants reported feeling significantly more hopeful and less

stressed and depressed (Houston et al., 2017). In another randomized, controlled trial, graduate

student participants used a self-guided stress management and resilience training software
GAMING FREQUENCY AND RESILIENCY 5

program. Post-intervention the college students self-reported experiencing less stress and having

more ability to manage control of their stress (Rose et al., 2013).

Interventions that promote resiliency and coping skills, by both mental health

practitioners and non-mental health staff, could be generally applied in practice for all students to

both help with mental health issues and prevent them (Houston et al., 2017). Stress management

and resilience training programs that are self-guided multimedia that college students can utilize

in private without the stigma of seeking mental health services could allow for broader

participation (Rose et al., 2013). Another possible private intervention for stress management

and resilience development could be playing video games (Russoniello, O’Brien, & Parks, 2009;

Tichon & Mavin, 2017).

Research on playing video games has mostly focused on negative psychological health

effects, such as amplifying aggressive behaviors in players. However, research on the positive

psychological effects of video gaming has increased over the last decade (Jones, Scholes,

Johnson, Katsikitis, & Carras, 2014). Researchers have observed that one possible positive

psychological effect of playing video games is reducing stress (Russoniello et al., 2009; *Vega,

2012; *Yamazaki, 2014). A random, controlled study found that when participants played casual

video games their brain waves indicated an improved mood when compared to before playing.

Casual video games are games that are easy to learn and play with no previously practiced

abilities required and can be completed in a short time. The subjects (with an average age of 24)

also self-reported significantly reduced fatigue, anger, and tension, and large decreases in

depression after playing the video games (Russoniello et al., 2009). When reviewing the

literature, several studies found that playing other types of video games significantly reduced

stress and depression for young adults (*Vega, 2012; *Yamazaki, 2014).
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Along with reducing stress, video games may also nurture resiliency (Tichon & Mavin,

2017; Wyeth & Sweetster, 2005). The design of video games forces the players to experience

resiliency. A common enjoyment factor designed into the video game experience is having

players consistently given challenges when playing that both aggravate them for being tough

obstacles to overcome, but also give them joyful experiences from successfully completing the

challenging tasks (Wyeth & Sweetster, 2005).

Literature explains that video gamers experience resiliency due to the design of video

games, but very few studies have examined if playing video games actually increases an

individual’s resiliency. However, a qualitative study explored video game blog posts for

narratives of resiliency. The researchers found that many video game players described playing

video games as their main source for developing their holistic resiliency. Players describe video

games as training them to bounce back when failures or unplanned changes happen in their lives.

(Tichon & Mavin, 2017).

The purpose of this study is to further research if playing video games is a possible

private and public non-stigmatized intervention for enhancing college students’ resiliency. For

this research, video games will be defined as any game played on an electronic device. Statistics

show that playing video games would be an accepted intervention among college students

because 70% of college students play video games (*National Academic Advising Association,

2009). Exploratory qualitative research has found that individuals develop resiliency from

playing video games, but no quantitative research has been conducted to see if playing video

games promotes resiliency (Tichon & Mavin, 2017).

Along with no quantitative research being conducted for video games promoting

resiliency, no literature exists for how the frequency of playing video games effects resiliency.
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The research question posed is, are there significant differences in resiliency between different

types of college video gamers? The researcher hypothesizes that heavy college video gamers,

who in this study are defined as playing video games for 20 or more hours a week, will be

significantly more resilient than college video gamers that play for less hours a week.

The proposed study examines if video games can nurture resiliency in college students.

Nurturing resiliency is utilized to help treat and prevent mental health issues such as anxiety and

depression (Connor & Davidson, 2003; Houston et al., 2017). Literature discusses that the

treatment and prevention of mental health issues is an administrative requirement on

contemporary American college campuses (Kitzrow, 2009). If playing video games develops

resiliency in individuals, video game playing could be applied to campus wellness programs as

an informal treatment and preventative of mental health issues for students.

Data Collection

An email will be sent to college students invited to participate in the study. The email

will have three sections. The top part will describe the study, who should participate, and any

possible compensation for participating. See Appendix C for the top section. The second section

will give adult informed consent notification. See Appendix B for the second section. Finally,

the email will have the link to the study for participation.

The first part of the study will be five survey questions asking about students’ video game

playing habits and interests to categorize each participant as heavy, average, or casual gamers.

See Appendix D for the list of questions asked. A “heavy gamer” will play 20+ hours a week and

select at least 5 titles from the list of last year’s bestselling video games they have played within

the last two years, and gaming will be their top activity for fun. Heavy gamers will be members

of video game playing clubs and/or online forums.

GAMING FREQUENCY AND RESILIENCY 8

An “average gamer” will spend 2 – 20 hours a week playing video games, and gaming

will be their 2nd or 3rd top activity for fun. Average gamers will select less than 5 titles from the

list of last year’s bestselling video games they have played within the last two years. A “casual

gamer” will play 2 hours or less a week, and gaming will be their 4th or 5th top activity for fun, or

not a top 5 activity for fun. A casual gamer may select no titles from the list of last year’s

bestselling video games that they have played within the last two years.

After the gamer categorization questions, the 20-question resiliency survey will be

displayed to the participants. The 20 questions are to understand the participant’s measured

resiliency score with each question being a score on a five-point Likert Scale. After the

resiliency questions, four questions are displayed for participants to give general demographics

about themselves. All questions can be skipped. See Appendix A for the main resiliency survey

questions and demographics questions. Finally, the survey data will be submitted and collected

(via a submit button at the bottom of the survey), and a final screen will appear asking

participants if they want to be emailed data results of the study in the future. The final screen

will also ask if they would like to give an email to enter the drawing for one of twenty gift cards.

See Appendix E for the final screen displayed.

All survey data collected will be stored for seven years on encrypted cloud storage

purchased through Bridgewater State University’s Department of Counseling. The department

will purchase the option for the data to be stored at 3 remote sites, allowing for duplication and

disaster recovery. The data engineer on the research team will create custom software for the

department that will export data records and any required statistics from the data. The gateway

connection between the Data visualizer and the data storage will be 128-bit encrypted.
GAMING FREQUENCY AND RESILIENCY 9

Research Personnel

No research personnel will be in direct contact with the participants. College student

participants will be sent an automated invite email to participate in the study. The research

personnel will be at minimum five members. The first member will be the graduate student

researcher, John Ferreira, who is a M.Ed. in Student Affairs Counseling candidate at Bridgewater

State University. He has been trained in proper empirical research and evaluation methods in the

field of Counseling. The study will be led by a doctorate-level faculty member from

Bridgewater State University’s Department of Counseling with decades of experience in

quantitative research. A doctorate-level sociologist will be part of the research team, who is an

expert in gaming behavior, and can expertly profile individuals as heavy, average, or casual

gamers.

Software engineering experts will also join the team for software design and data

management. A data engineer from Google will be on the team to design and create the

software’s data collection and encryption, participant anonymity, and statistical analysis

automation. A web developer will design the various web pages for the research survey’s web

application and handle cloud hosting of the web application. All research team members outside

the Department of counseling of Bridgewater State University will sign a letter of cooperation.

Possible Participant Risks

There is a slight chance that the questions asked may make a participant realize that they

are addicted to video games or are not very resilient. These realizations may cause mild mental

trauma or anxiety. To mitigate the risk, a national 24/7 crisis hotline and text services will be

provided on the final screen of the survey. See Appendix E for the final screen displayed. If any

possible participant has concerns before taking the study they can reach out to one of the
GAMING FREQUENCY AND RESILIENCY 10

researchers. Researchers’ contact information will be presented on the consent form. See

Appendix B for Consent form.

Benefits to Participants

For the most part, there is no direct benefit to the participants. A possible benefit to the

participants may be becoming aware of their own personal resiliency through reflecting on their

answers to the resiliency survey questions.

Benefits to Society and Scientific Community

There are benefits to society. If the results show that playing video games regularly

allows for development of resiliency, colleges and universities may directly apply these findings

by creating video game arcade rooms on campus. Currently, colleges have created programs

such as hikes, yoga sessions, and adult coloring for positively affecting the wellness and mental

health of college students. Having students participate in “gaming hours” as an offered campus

activity could possibly become another option to positively affect mental health and wellness.

The major benefit to the scientific community is a study explicitly showing that video

games are a significant factor for helping develop resiliency in individuals. If the hypothesis is

proven, further research could be explored to understand the exact mechanisms that make video

games a tool for resiliency development.

Study Timeline

The study is expected to take six months. The first three months will be spent working

with 20 universities to get administrative permission to email their students and get the email

lists. During these months, the software engineers will also build all the required software

systems. During the fourth month, the emails will be sent, and the survey will be open for

students to participate. The last two months, data will be analyzed.

GAMING FREQUENCY AND RESILIENCY 11

Funding Status

The study will be externally funded through a sponsorship donation from the Alphabet

Corporation. The funding from Alphabet will be used to pay the software engineers developing

the software, the other researchers, the cloud data storage and application hosting, and for the gift

cards. The American College Health Association will be working with the 20 institutions for

participant recruitment as a voluntary activity for the professional association’s student mental

health task force. A research collaboration agreement letter will be signed by both Alphabet and

the American College Health Association. In the letter’s contents the entities will agree the study

and its collected data is owned solely by Bridgewater State University. As part of the agreement

the research team will be required to write up a research study and submit for publishing. It

should be noted that the software development members of the research team will be employees

of Alphabet Corporation, who have been assigned to work on this research project.

Recruitment

All full-time or part-time enrolled college students aged 18+, from 20 geographically-

dispersed colleges of diverse classifications will be sent an email to participate in the survey.

Along with diversity in institutional type and geographic regions, all selected schools will have a

section on “creating a diverse student community” as part of their mission statements to allow

for full, diverse demographic representation of American college students. The geographic

regions the colleges come from include: Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, Southwest, South, and

Central. The classifications of the colleges include: Research University, Liberal Arts School,

Community College, Religiously-Affiliated College, Junior College, and Master’s College.

Members of the American College Health Association will contact the health and

wellness centers of each college to get institutional administrative permission to send the email
GAMING FREQUENCY AND RESILIENCY 12

to enrolled students, and to get the lists of emails to send. All institutions affiliated with the

study will sign a letter of cooperation. All members of the American College Health Association

affiliated with the study will sign a letter of cooperation.

Under FERPA, general requests of email addresses are considered directory information.

No private records will be accessed. An estimated 100,000 college students will be invited to

join the study. To prevent coercion of participants, Bridgewater State University will not be one

of the 20 schools. See Appendix A for the demographic questions that will be asked at the end of

the survey.

Confidentiality

Students who participate in the study will be anonymized through the study’s online

software. When the student clicks the link in the email to participate in the study, they will visit

the study’s online web application with a 128-bit encryption. An algorithm will be run (from

encrypted binary code) on their college email address to create a non-translatable unique user

identifier (UUID) number. At this point the participant’s survey data record will be anonymized.

The UUID will be rejected if the record was already created to prohibit college students from

participating more than once.

Compensation

Participants will be entered into a random drawing to win one of 20 $50 digital VISA gift

cards which will be sent to winners’ college email addresses as a gift for participating in the

research at the close of the survey participation period. The compensation is being used to

incentivize participants to take part in the study since college students are asked to take part in a

lot of studies. Every participant is not being compensated to prevent coercion of participation
GAMING FREQUENCY AND RESILIENCY 13

among non-gamers. Because the study takes around 15 minutes or less to complete,

compensatory incentivization from random drawings was considered enough compensation.

Consent

Because adults are filling out an online anonymous survey with very few risks, and

informal electronic consent form was created. To allow for no semblance of coercion into taking

the study, the consent form stipulates participants will not gain any benefits from taking the

study. Any concerns possible participants of the study have been handled by giving the contact

information of one of the researchers to ask questions. The consent form spells out that the

survey will ask questions about participant’s resilience and gives an explicit example from the

survey. The form further describes the various parts of the survey (including the categorization

survey process). Possible participants will be able to comprehend what types of questions they

will be asked and can decide whether to volunteer or not.

GAMING FREQUENCY AND RESILIENCY 14

Appendix A: Resiliency Survey for College Student Video Gamers

This survey will ask you questions about aspects of your personality to understand your
resilience. Please select one answer per question. At the end of the survey, we will also ask a
few questions about your general demographics. Thank you so much for your participation in
our research!

1) How often are you able to find the humorous side to events that happen in your life?

Never Rarely Sometimes Frequently Always

2) Do you agree with the statement, “I adapt to change that occurs in my life”?

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

3) Do you agree with the statement, “I have close, solid relationships with others in my
life”?

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

4) How often do you try to put your best effort into whatever it is you are working on?

Never Rarely Sometimes Frequently Always

5) When you have a problem, how often do you know where to turn for help?

Never Rarely Sometimes Frequently Always

6) Do you agree with the statement, “I can deal with whatever comes my way”?

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

7) How often do you believe that you can achieve your goals?

Never Rarely Sometimes Frequently Always

8) How often do you like being challenged?

Never Rarely Sometimes Frequently Always

9) Do you agree with the statement, “Under pressure, I can think clearly to get things
done”?

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

GAMING FREQUENCY AND RESILIENCY 15

10) How often do you feel you are in control of your life?

Never Rarely Sometimes Frequently Always

11) Do you agree with the statement, “I am a strong-minded person”?

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

12) Do you agree that everything happens for a reason?

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

13) When you’re in a group that needs to solve a difficult problem, how often do you
take the lead?

Never Rarely Sometimes Frequently Always

14) Do you give up when things look hopeless?

Never Rarely Sometimes Frequently Always

15) Do you agree with the statement, “I am not easily discouraged by failure”?

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

16) How often do others describe you as a patient person?

Never Rarely Sometimes Frequently Always

17) Do you agree with the statement, “I always beat challenges, they don’t scare me”?

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

18) Do you agree with the statement “I avoid making difficult decisions”?

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

19) Do negative emotions make you feel anxious?

Never Rarely Sometimes Frequently Always

GAMING FREQUENCY AND RESILIENCY 16

20) Do you agree with the statement “I failed, so I’ll never try again”?

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

21) Are you currently a full-time or part-time enrolled college student?

Yes ___ No ___

22) What is your age? ___

23) What gender do you identify as?

Female ___ Male ___ Other ___

24) What race(s)/ethnicitie(s) do you identify as?

African American ___ Asian ___ Black ___ Hispanic ___

Latin(x) ___ Native American ___ Other ___ Pacific Islander ___ White ___

Survey questions adapted from factors of the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (Connor &

Davidson, 2003).
GAMING FREQUENCY AND RESILIENCY 17

Appendix B: Participant Informed Consent

You have been invited to participate in a survey that will ask questions about resilient aspects of
your personality (your preference for difficult problems, etc.). If you decide to participate in this
study, your participation will involve answering a few questions about your video game playing
habits and interest, followed by answering 20 scale-type questions about resilient aspects of your
personality. The survey should take no more than 15 minutes. Survey submissions will be
confidential and fully anonymized. Although you may not personally benefit, this study is
important to science and society for studying the personality traits of gamers. There are no
foreseeable risks, and you may refuse to answer any questions or withdraw from the study at any
time. Your confidentiality will be kept to the degree of anonymity being created by the
technology being used.

All participants in the study must be age 18 or over. At the completion of the study you will be
asked for an email address if you wish to enter in a drawing to win one of twenty VISA gift
cards. The email address will in no way be associated with your survey submission.

If you have any questions for concerns about the study, please feel free to reach out to John
Ferreira at Bridgewater State University (J14Ferreira@student.bridgew.edu)

If you are age 18 or over, and you agree to participate, please click on the link below to continue
to the survey. You will have the option to refuse to answer individual questions and may change
your mind and leave the study at any time without penalty.
GAMING FREQUENCY AND RESILIENCY 18

Appendix C: Top Section of Email Invitation Describing Study

Dear [Affiliated University Name] Student,

Do you play video games? We are researching your resilience from gameplay. It does
not matter if you casually play with friends on weekends or if you are a hardcore gamer
who competes in tournaments, we still want to hear from you! For giving us the 10 - 15
minutes required to complete the survey, we will also enter you in a drawing to win one
of 20 $50 VISA digital gift cards. And don’t worry, you will not be writing any essays or
paragraphs for this survey, leave that work for your classes.
GAMING FREQUENCY AND RESILIENCY 19

Appendix D: Categorization Survey for College Student Video Gamers

Let’s first find out a little bit about your gamer lifestyle and interests

1) On average, how many hours per week do you spend playing video games?

2 or less 2 – 20 hours More than 20 hours

2) Are you a member of a video gamer social club?

Yes ___ No ___

3) Are you a member of any online video game player forums?

Yes ___ No ___

4) If you were to tell us your top five activities for fun (with one being your favorite
activity and five being the least favorite), what number would playing video games
be?
1 __ 2 __ 3 __ 4 __ 5 __ Gaming is not a Top Five activity for fun __

5) Tell us which of the following video games you have played in the last two years:

• __ Candy Crush Saga

• __ Red Dead Redemption 2

• __ Super Smash Brothers Ultimate

• __ Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey

• __ Helix Jump

• __ Subway Surfers

• __Call of Duty Black Ops 4

• __ Marvel’s Spider-Man

• __ Far Cry 5

• __ Madden NFL 2019

• __ NBA 2K19
GAMING FREQUENCY AND RESILIENCY 20

• __ Love Balls

• __ Grand Theft Auto 5

• __ Mario Kart 8

• __ God of War 2018

• __ FIFA 19

• __ The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

• __ Monster Hunter: World

• __ Super Mario Odyssey

• __Battlefield V

• __ [Other]
GAMING FREQUENCY AND RESILIENCY 21

Appendix E: Sample Survey Completion Screen

Thank you for completing the study!

Check the box if you wish to be emailed the results of the study upon its completion. [ ]

If you wish to be entered into the drawing to win one of twenty visa gift cards, please supply us
with an email address [ ________________________________________ ]

If you feel that you need to talk to someone after completing this study, below is a web resource
for finding mental health services for college students. Also listed are 24/7 free text and phone
crisis lines.

Ulifeline: http://www.ulifeline.org/

Need help now? Text "START" to 741-741 or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255)

GAMING FREQUENCY AND RESILIENCY 22

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GAMING FREQUENCY AND RESILIENCY 23

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