Gender Differences in Video Game Frustration:

For this study, it was hypothesized that people who identified as women would report higher levels of frustration when playing a video game than people who identified as men. It was also hypothesized that men would report a higher frequency of playing video games in general. The theory was that a greater level of exposure to video games would contribute to a lower level of frustration, and a lack of exposure would contribute to greater frustration. Both hypotheses were supported, finding that men on average reported playing video games significantly more often (p < 0.01) and that women on average had higher frustration scores (p < 0.01) as measured on a post-experimental questionnaire, both with large effect sizes (d = 1.01; d = 0.80). It is important to remember that this study does not support any inherent differences in tendency towards frustration between genders, but rather theorizes that it is a lack of experience which contributed to the frustration. However, this aspect was not studied empirically for this project. This study was presented at an Eastern Psychological Association conference in Boston.

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Important Considerations

This study utilized existing data collected in the Pro-Social Behavior Impacted By Play Style & Social Context In Games study. The premise of this study is based on the existing attitudes and behaviors of people studied a decade ago, and this study in itself is several years old at this point. The findings of this are unlikely to be reflected today, as gaming habits across genders have shifted much in that time. Additionally, this study did not take into account the behaviors and attitudes of people whose gender does not exist on the binary, and is thus incomplete.

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