Salud mental en una muestra argentina de gamers: ¿Juegan porque se sienten bien/mal? ¿Se sienten bien/mal porque juegan? Mental health in an Argentine sample of gamers: Do they play because they feel good/bad? Do they feel good/bad because they play?

There is still no consensus in the scientific community in the debate on the relationship between mental health and the use of video games. This study examined the association between mental health, in terms of well-being and psychological symptomatology, and video games use, in terms of hours of use and positive or negative experiences. The sample consisted of two groups of Argentine participants, one made up of 189 gamers (Mage = 30.1 years, SD = 9.46; 66.1% male) and a second group formed by 91 non-gamer participants (Mage = 33.4 years, SD = 11.1; 87.91% female). The results showed no linear or curvilinear relationship between mental health and the number of hours spent gaming, and no differences in the level of mental health between gamers and non-gamers. Associations were found between psychological symptomatology and negative gaming experiences, as well as between well-being and positive gaming experiences. The results would support the displacement, compensation, and bidirectional hypotheses. Mental health and gambling experiences do not appear to be independent phenomena. The moderated interaction hypothesis is proposed as a new hypothesis for future research. ; Aún no existe consenso en la comunidad científica en el debate sobre la relación entre la salud mental y el uso de videojuegos. En este trabajo se examinó la asociación entre la salud mental, en términos de bienestar y sintomatología psicológica, y el uso de videojuegos, en cuanto a horas de uso y experiencias de tipo positivas o negativas. La muestra estuvo constituida por dos grupos de participantes argentinos, uno formado por 189 videojugadores (Medad = 30.1 años, DT = 9.46; 66.1% varones) y un segundo grupo formado por 91 participantes no jugadores (Medad = 33.4 años, DT = 11.1; 87.91% mujeres). Los resultados mostraron una ausencia de relación lineal o curvilínea entre la salud mental y la cantidad de horas dedicadas al juego, así como no diferencias en el grado de salud mental entre los jugadores y los no jugadores. Se encontraron ...