Timesplitters: playing video games before (but not after) school on weekdays is associated with poorer adolescent academic performance. A test of competing theoretical accounts
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Afternoon video game use is either not associated with academic performance or positively associated with it.
“This is demonstrated in the several studies analyzing afternoon video game use which find either no association with academic performance (Tak & Catsambis, 2023;Drummond & Sauer, 2020) or a positive one (Islam et al., 2020).”
From Extracurricular Video Game Use and Academic Achievement: A Systematic Literature Review (2026) · cites this paper as Drummond & Sauer, 2020
Gaming during the morning is associated with lower academic achievement.
“Gaming during the morning was associated with lower academic achievement (Drummond & Sauer, 2020)”
From Extracurricular Video Game Use and Academic Achievement: A Systematic Literature Review (2026) · cites this paper as Drummond & Sauer, 2020
This finding neither concurs with the results of other research demonstrating the facilitative effects of gaming on foreign language achievement (e.g., Ref. [63,64]), nor with the results showing that exam grades are negatively correlated with gaming frequency [28,29].
“This finding neither concurs with the results of other research demonstrating the facilitative effects of gaming on foreign language achievement (e.g., Ref. [63,64]), nor with the results showing that exam grades are negatively correlated with gaming frequency [28,29].”
From Exploring the relationship between digital gaming, language attitudes, and academic success in EFL university students (2024) · cites this paper as [29]
One contributing factor may be that students neglect academic responsibilities to spend more time gaming [28,29].
“One contributing factor may be that students neglect academic responsibilities to spend more time gaming [28,29].”
From Exploring the relationship between digital gaming, language attitudes, and academic success in EFL university students (2024) · cites this paper as [29]
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- Authors
- Drummond, A., & Sauer, J. D.
- Affiliations
- Massey University (NZ)
- University of Tasmania (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Drummond, Aaron
- Venue
- Computers & Education
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2020-01
- Volume
- 144
- Pages
- 103704
- ISSN
- 0360-1315 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2974737754
- Cited by
- 42
- References
- 34
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 1
- FWCI
- 8.56
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- figshare.com
- Locations
- Computers & Education (publishedVersion)
- UTAS Research Repository (submittedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Royal Society Te Apārangi (MAU1804)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Educational Games and Gamification
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Digital Games and Media
- Keywords
- video gaming, adolescent academic performance, false discovery, media psychology, educational research methodology
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