U. MISSOURI (US) — Children and teens with autism are more likely to become preoccupied with video games and TV than their typically developing siblings, research reveals.
“Many parents and clinicians have noticed that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are fascinated with technology, and the results of our recent studies certainly support this idea,” says Micah Mazurek, an assistant professor of health psychology and a clinical child psychologist at the University of Missouri.
“We found that children with ASD spent much more time playing video games than typically developing children, and they are much more likely to develop problematic or addictive patterns of video game play.”
Mazurek studied screen-based media use among 202 children and adolescents with ASD and 179 typically developing siblings. Compared to typically developing children, those with ASD spent more time playing video games and less time on social media, such as Facebook.
Children with ASD also spent more time watching TV and playing video games than participating in pro-social or physical activities. Conversely, typically developing children spent more time on non-screen activities than on TV or video games.
