High compliance and reduced online gaming time among Chinese adolescents after the 2021 gaming policy
Effects across all gamers, not just heavy users
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21882101 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Xinyu Zhou (0000-0002-1606-5816, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences), Min Liao (0000-0001-6777-8579, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences), Shijie Zhou (0000-0002-9358-1013, Dezhou University), Wang Liu (0000-0002-6232-5500, Hunan First Normal University), Xijing Chen (0000-0002-0317-9849, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences), Yonghui Li (0000-0003-4320-0806, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 1119-1123 |
| Publication date | 2025-09-30 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Behavioral Addictions (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2062-5871 • E-ISSN: 2063-5303 |
| Publisher | Akademiai Kiado Zrt. (PUBLISHER • HU) |
| DOI | 10.1556/2006.2025.00080 |
| PMID | 40952795 |
| OpenAlex | W4414183741 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 7 |
Government policies have been proposed to mitigate excessive online gaming among adolescents, yet empirical evaluations of their effectiveness remain limited. Following China's 2021 online gaming policy, the strictest such regulation to date, we examined the compliance rate and alternative behaviors among heavy adolescent gamers. Several methodological concerns have been raised, including the omission of the 2019 policy, the narrow focus on heavy gamers, and ambiguities in key definitions. In this response, we address these concerns by clarifying the policy's independence, expanding the analysis to all adolescent participants, and incorporating pre- and post-policy gaming time as an additional measure of policy impact. Results from a broader sample ( N = 2,715, mean age = 10.84) revealed a high compliance rate (93.6%) and a significant decrease in daily gaming time following the policy (60.12 vs. 43.52 min per day, p
Online and offline · Warrant · Child Development and Digital Technology · Digital Games and Media · Impact of Technology on Adolescents
Compliance and alternative behaviors of heavy gamers in adolescents to Chinese online gaming restriction policy
Mainland China's 2021 restrictions on under-18s' video game time were imposed when older 2019 restrictions already applied
No evidence that Chinese playtime mandates reduced heavy gaming in one segment of the video games industry
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |