A recent study reveals why many people diagnosed with autism spectrum prefer video games for entertainment. New findings suggest that individuals with autism spectrum conditions may play video games for escapism.
Research published in journals computer in human behavioradding to existing knowledge about the purpose of video games for people with autism.
The authors of the new study defined escapism as “the act of shifting the focus of attention from an unpleasant reality to a pleasant unreality.” This study examined two types of his escapism: self-restraint and self-extension.
An escapist self-suppressive style refers to “engaging in activities, including games, to suppress negative emotions, which are seen as avoidance of unpleasant strategies associated with negative emotions” (Stenseng et al., 2012, 2021). Self-augmented escapism “encourages autonomy, competence, relevance, and harmonious autonomous engagement.”
Research suggests that people with autism spectrum conditions are drawn to video games as an opportunity to escape and control themselves. Additionally, playing video games can serve as interpersonal interaction exercise when played cooperatively by people with autism spectrum conditions. It was intended to explore positive and negative motivations for video games in individuals diagnosed with the condition.
Participants were recruited from the Polish Neurodiversity Association. The participant had to have a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder, be at least 18 years old, and play video games for at least 1 hour per week. 189 people met the criteria and agreed to participate.
Participants measured escapism, gaming motivation, autistic burnout, emotional outcomes (a typical measure of mood), and hedonic tone (the ability to experience pleasure). A statistical analysis of this data revealed that people with high levels of negative affect or autistic burnout were more likely to play video games for reasons of self-restraint. Behavioral, cognitive and motor impairments, self-care failures, and emotional avoidance behaviors were all associated with motivation for self-inhibition to gaming.
Those with higher measures of hedonic tone (or how much pleasure they could experience) were more likely to report that self-expansion was the reason for their video game efforts. Self-expansion as a motivation for video games was also associated with a desire for mastery.
Observed limitations include the absence of control groups. Therefore, we cannot conclude that these results are specific to gaming or autism spectrum states. Additionally, there were significantly more females (105) compared to males (50) or nonbinary (34) in this study, so we do not know if gender affects the results.
Despite these concerns, the research team feels their study is a meaningful addition to what is known about gaming motivation and autism spectrum conditions. Understanding the motivations of affected individuals to spend time playing video games can help practitioners determine whether games are being used to address challenges that can be addressed and treated in a treatment setting.
The study “Determinants of escapism in adult video gamers with autism spectrum conditions: effects, autistic burnout, and the role of gaming motivation” was authored by Anna Pyszkowska, Tomasz Gąsior, Franciszek Stefanek, and Barbara Więzik it was done.
