IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i23p16391-d1289879.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Beyond the Screen: Do Esports Participants Really Have More Physical Health Problems?

Author

Listed:
  • Di Tang

    (The Department of Sports Science and Physical Education, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China)

  • Kim-wai Raymond Sum

    (The Department of Sports Science and Physical Education, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China)

  • Ruisi Ma

    (The Department of Sports Science and Physical Education, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
    School of Physical Education, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China)

  • Wai-keung Ho

    (The Department of Sports Science and Physical Education, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China)

Abstract

This cross-sectional study aimed to explore the association between esports participation and physical health and examine the difference in physical health problems between esports participants and non-esports participants. A total of 1549 young adults participated in this investigation. A total of 633 participants were categorized as esports participants, and they were involved in six types of esports games: shooting games, multiplayer online battle arena games, strategy card games, sports games, real-time strategy games, and fighting games. An online survey was conducted to gather data on their demographic information, gaming behavior, traditional sports behavior, and physical health problems. The results demonstrated that esports players reported significantly higher participation in traditional sports compared to non-esports players. No significant differences were found in sleep duration or the selected physical health issues between the two groups. Overall, the findings suggest that esports participation was not associated with negative physical health in this sample of young adults. Furthermore, this study found that players who conscientiously took intermittent breaks and maintained a standardized sitting posture during gameplay had a lower likelihood of reporting neck and back pain. These findings have important implications for challenging conventional negative perceptions of esports and promoting a more objective understanding and appreciation of esports and the sustainable development of esports players. Future research is necessary to explore potential causal relationships between esports participation and health outcomes and to develop a healthier esports practice modality from a sports science perspective.

Suggested Citation

  • Di Tang & Kim-wai Raymond Sum & Ruisi Ma & Wai-keung Ho, 2023. "Beyond the Screen: Do Esports Participants Really Have More Physical Health Problems?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(23), pages 1-14, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:23:p:16391-:d:1289879
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/23/16391/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/23/16391/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Petr Parshakov & Dennis Coates & Marina Zavertiaeva, 2018. "Is diversity good or bad? Evidence from eSports teams analysis," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(47), pages 5064-5075, October.
    2. Weisheng Chiu & Thomas Chun Man Fan & Sang-Back Nam & Ping-Hung Sun, 2021. "Knowledge Mapping and Sustainable Development of eSports Research: A Bibliometric and Visualized Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-17, September.
    3. Kevin Rudolf & Peter Bickmann & Ingo Froböse & Chuck Tholl & Konstantin Wechsler & Christopher Grieben, 2020. "Demographics and Health Behavior of Video Game and eSports Players in Germany: The eSports Study 2019," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(6), pages 1-14, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jaume Garcia-Villar & Carles Murillo, 2018. "eSports: Profile of Participants, Complementarity with Sports and its Perception as Sport. Evidence From Sports Video Games," Working Papers 1059, Barcelona School of Economics.
    2. Shenkman, Evgenia & Coates, Dennis & Chadov, Aleksei & Parshakov, Petr, 2022. "Team vs. individual tournament: An organizer's dilemma," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 198(C), pages 476-492.
    3. Beine, Michel & Peracchi, Silvia & Zanaj, Skerdilajda, 2023. "Ancestral diversity and performance: Evidence from football data," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 193-214.
    4. Richard J. Paulsen, 2022. "Peer effects and human capital accumulation: Time spent in college and productivity in the National Basketball Association," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(8), pages 3611-3619, December.
    5. Enzo Brox & Riccardo Di Francesco, 2024. "The Cost of Coming Out," CEIS Research Paper 572, Tor Vergata University, CEIS, revised 16 Apr 2024.
    6. Enzo Brox & Riccardo Di Francesco, 2024. "The Cost of Coming Out," Papers 2403.03649, arXiv.org.
    7. Togo Onishi & Masayuki Yamasaki & Taketaka Hara & Tetsuya Hirotomi & Ryo Miyazaki, 2022. "Esports for Seniors: Acute Effects of Esports Gaming in the Community on the Emotional State and Heart Rate among Japanese Older Adults," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-11, September.
    8. Alfian Ferdiansyah Madsuha & Eko Adhi Setiawan & Nurhadi Wibowo & Muhammad Habiburrahman & Rahmat Nurcahyo & Sik Sumaedi, 2021. "Mapping 30 Years of Sustainability of Solar Energy Research in Developing Countries: Indonesia Case," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-21, October.
    9. Mariia Molodchik & Sofiia Paklina & Petr Parshakov, 2021. "Peer Effects on Individual Performance in a Team Sport," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 22(5), pages 571-586, June.
    10. Michel Beine & Silvia Peracchi & Skerdilajda Zanaj, 2021. "Genetic Diversity and Performance: Evidence from Fooball Data," CESifo Working Paper Series 9188, CESifo.
    11. Deniz Yalçıntaş & Suzan Oğuz & Eda Yaşa Özeltürkay & Murat Gülmez, 2023. "Bibliometric Analysis of Studies on Sustainable Waste Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-14, January.
    12. Dennis Coates & Petr Parshakov & Sofia Paklina, 2020. "Do Managers Matter: Evidence From E‐Sports," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 38(2), pages 304-312, April.
    13. Niculaescu, Corina-Elena & Sangiorgi, Ivan & Bell, Adrian R., 2023. "Venture capital financing in the eSports industry," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    14. Benti, Behailu Shiferaw & Stadtmann, Georg, 2023. "Sports and eSports: A structural comparison based on the B/Orders in Motion framework," Discussion Papers 427, European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder), Department of Business Administration and Economics.
    15. Chun-Yu Lin & Gui-Lin Dai & Su Wang & Xiu-Mei Fu, 2022. "The Evolution of Green Port Research: A Knowledge Mapping Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-25, September.
    16. Nicolas Scelles & Qi Peng & Maurizio Valenti, 2021. "Do the Peculiar Economics of Professional Team Sports Apply to Esports? Sequential Snowballing Literature Reviews and Implications," Economies, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-18, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:23:p:16391-:d:1289879. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.