Older Computer Gamers and Non-gamers in the United Kingdom: Findings from the UK Biobank

Introduction Digital games are often designed with the younger adult population in mind. Yet, in recent years older adults have increasingly engaged in game play. To date, little is known about older gamers on a large scale. The current study seeks to examine the lifestyle, health, and well-being profiles of older gamers versus non-gamers. Methods We reported findings from the UK Biobank data with 73,359 participants aged 50 to 70, recruited nationally across the United Kingdom. Participants were classified as non-gamers (N = 60,540; 82.53%), occasional gamers (N = 10,961; 14.94%), and frequent gamers (N = 1,858; 2.53%), according to their computer gaming patterns reported in 2006-2010. Results Group comparison results suggested mostly negligible differences between gamers and non-gamers in the domains of demographics (e.g., age, sex), active/passive lifestyle (e.g., physical activity), social engagement (e.g., friends/family visits), sleep patterns (e.g., chronotype, insomnia), physical health (e.g., vision, cardiovascular health), and psychological well-being (e.g., satisfaction with life, depressed mood). Small effects of group differences were found in moderate exercise, TV watching, body mass index, body fat percentage and self-reported health. Conclusion These findings will help unveil the unique profile (or lack thereof) of older gamers versus non-gamers and provide insights for gerontologists and practitioners in the gaming industry.