More than 40% of teen gamers in the United States avoid media that portrays women in “stereotypical and harmful ways,” according to a new study.
The Teens and Screens 2025 report, conducted by the Center for Scientists and Storytellers (CSS) at UCLA, surveyed 1,500 teenagers (ages 10 to 24) about their experiences with the game.
The report found that 42.1% of women and girls avoid games that portray women in a derogatory manner, as do 36.8% of boys and men.
One of the biggest concerns among those interviewed was the fear of being persecuted.
The study found that more than half of women and girls gamers felt they had to “behave in a certain way” while gaming because of “gender, race or other identity.”
Boys and men had similar sentiments, with 64.5% feeling the same pressure to behave differently when playing.
“Overall, regardless of identity, adolescents reported feeling pressure to conform socially, performance or skill expectations, and enacting or resisting stereotypes,” the CSS noted.
“The social features that make video games a place for community can also lend themselves to social pressure.”
Diversity also remains an important topic for teen gamers, with 41.6% considering “racial diversity of characters and storylines” when choosing games to play.
However, 47.8% of respondents said they have difficulty finding games with characters that represent them.
This problem particularly affected more than half of players of Asian descent (55.9%) and Hispanic or Latino (56.3%).
On a positive note, the Teens and Screens report found that 88% of respondents found a “small community” through gaming, with nearly 70% helping them feel more connected to friends.
The study also found that 52.3% of respondents believed that gaming helped regulate their emotions, with less than a third reporting that gaming made them “feel more aggressive” (32.9%) or “tense” (27.8%).
