The Effect of Parents' Game Perception on Children's Life Satisfaction

Abstract

This study was conducted assuming that knowledge subversion between generations arising from digital technology and the resulting generational gaps are revealed through video games, a form of content. This study seeks to prove this assumption by examining whether parents’ actual perception of video games has become a significant factor in their children’s lives. The game user panel data released by the Korea Creative Content Agency includes game use data from youth children and parents. Using this, a regression analysis model was developed. The results revealed that parents’ perception did not directly affect their children’s lives. However, parental perception level of video games as judged by their children significantly impacts their life satisfaction. This suggests that, rather than parents’ perception of video games, how parents perceive and treat their children’s video gaming activities and cultures as part of the digital generation affects the latter’s happiness. The results also indicate that the difference in perceptions of video games between parents and children is a significant factor in adolescent happiness. Parents learning and mastering their adolescent children’s video game activities is not the only way for them to understand their children’s generation. Instead, it is more important to communicate with children and understand the situations in which they find themselves. The circumstances of the times have inevitably resulted in a disparity in cultural taste within the family. However, it also means that parents can positively affect their children’s lives if they communicate in ways that acknowledge and understand the differences with their children.