A study published today by non-profit Pew Research Center shows that video gaming is widespread among American teens. A study among 1,102 teens aged 12 to 17 showed that 97% of them played video games, whether PC games, on the web, portable or console games. While a large percentage of both boys and girls play video games (99% for boys, 94% for girls), older girls tend to play less, only 92%. Also, of daily gamers, roughly 65% are male, while 35% are female. Half of the teens responded that they played a game “yesterday.”

So the wide majority of teens are gamers in one way or another. What effect does this have on them then? A good one apparently, according to the study.

The research indicates that kids with more frequent “civic gaming experiences,” such as participating in forum activities, or being part of guilds in online games, tend to be more civically active in real life as well. The study shows that teens who play games which result in more frequent civic gaming experiences tend to get more involved in such actions as keeping themselves informed on political and civic events, giving and raising money for charity, volunteer, and participate in demonstrations. For example 70% of teens who have frequent civic gaming experiences give money to charity as opposed to 51% in the case of those who don’t. The study has not shown any correlation whatsoever between the amount of time spent playing video games and civic engagement; same for the frequency of play.

The study has shown an interesting thing however: parents of teens who do play video games do not consider them to be influenced badly by them, with only 13% of these parents considering video games have a negative effect on their children. Not only that, but roughly a third of parents play video games with their children. The incidence of parents who believe video games have a negative effect is much higher among parents whose kids don’t play games. A telling find indeed.