Gamers are less likely to go to university

GAMERS ARE LESS LIKELY to go to university, according to researchers at Oxford University, who we assume don't play video games in their spare time.

A study of 17,000 people born in 1970 revealed that those who played computer games regularly as teenagers - and did nothing else, had a reduced chance of going to college. Male gamers had a 19 per cent chance of going to university, while female gamers had a 14 per cent chance. This compares to 24 per cent and 20 per cent, respectively, for their peers who, for example, read, in their youths.

Of course, since the survey focused on people when they were 16 years of age, that means the year in question was 1986, when gaming wasn't as extensive or popular as it is now. When we add in all the handheld devices over the years, such as the Gameboy, DS, PSP, Xbox and now the 3DS, not to mention the latest consoles, motion control technology and the trusty personal computer, it's much more likely that today's teenagers are more into gaming than teens were a few short decades ago.

Despite the lower education prospects for avid gamers, the research found that there was no reduction in the likelihood that a teen gamer would end up in a managerial position by the age of 33. The study was not clear about whether or not they would manage their local Gamestop store.

Teenagers who read books at least once a month, on the other hand, had a much higher chance of going to university, as did teens who went to the threatre or participated in some other form of extra-curricular activity, such as playing a musical instrument in an orchestra. However, the research also acknowledged that much of this boiled down to the teenagers' parents being wealthier and the fact that reading has an obvious academic affinity and close correlation to scholarship.

The research will be presented today to the British Sociological Association conference by researcher Mark Taylor, according to The Guardian. µ

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