UK and U.S. neurodivergent teen gaming risks 2023

Neurodivergent young gamers in the United States and UK differed in their concerns about online gaming. A survey between September and October 2023 found that 38 percent of respondents from the United States felt concerned about being bullied while playing games online, while only 26 percent of respondents from the UK felt the same. In contrast, 41 percent of responding neurodivergent UK teens were worried about becoming addicted to gaming, yet merely 16 percent of U.S. teens shared that fear.

Risks of playing video games according to young neurodivergent gamers in the United States and United Kingdom as of October 2023

Characteristic	Overall	United States	UK
Becoming addicted to gaming	35%	16%	41%
My personal data being collected by online games (e.g. name, birthday, address)	33%	25%	36%
Games preventing me playing outside and getting physical exercise	31%	14%	36%
Being bullied when playing games online	29%	38%	26%
Strangers contacting me	29%	33%	26%
Playing the same games over and over again	28%	15%	32%
How much money I spend on games or in-game purchases	27%	27%	27%
Spending too much time playing games	26%	37%	23%
The negative impact on my behavior	23%	14%	26%
Being exposed to excessive violence when playing video games	20%	15%	22%
Difficulty communicating with others online	19%	7%	22%
Being exposed to hate speech content e.g. racism, sexism, homophobia, ableism	9%	16%	7%
None of the above	2%	2%	2%

Loading statistic...

Download

Source

Show detailed source information?

Already a member?

Sources

Use Ask Statista Research Service

Release date

March 2024

More information

Region

United Kingdom, United States

Survey time period

September and October 2023

Number of respondents

480 respondents

Age group

11 to 17 years

Method of interview

Online panel

Supplementary notes

Original question: "Here are some concerns playing games on game consoles and mobile devices can have on people. Thinking about your own gaming experience, which of the following concerns you about gaming?"

Young People survey. Base: all respondents UK n=369, US n=111

The survey was launched in the UK on the 7th September 2023 and in the US on the 15th September 2023 and closed on 15th October 2023.

According to the source, "an online survey of 12-17 year olds and their parents was promoted and distributed through UK and US charity partners and 480 surveys were completed; 77% (n=369) from the UK and 23% (n=111) from the US. Over half of parents who responded had one or more child/ren that had autism (56%, n=271), and half had one or more child/ren with ADHD (48%, n=231). Two-thirds of parents who had a child with autism (66%, n=317) said that their child had been given a formal diagnosis of autism, 13% (n=62) were in the process of getting a diagnosis and 13% (n=62) had a child with suspected autism but no formal diagnosis."

Citation formats