NCJ Number
136308
Date Published
1988
Length
54 pages
Annotation
A questionnaire survey was administered to a national random sample of 1,946 children aged 10 to 16 in England and Wales in 1987 to determine the extent and nature of amusement machine playing with a view toward establishing the potential existence of a significant social problem requiring legislation.
Abstract
The playing of fruit and video machines emerged as predominantly a gregarious and peer group centered activity. The findings, which show the playing of fruit rather than video machines to be most likely to put young people between the ages of 10 and 16 at risk, fail to provide a strong case for imposing further restrictions on the use of amusement machines. In addition to existing restrictions, several additional measures might help to reduce the risk of a few young people falling into a pattern of excessive amusement machine playing. These include parental supervision and the provision of advice to teachers, social workers, youth workers, arcade managers, and voluntary agencies about ways to identify early signs of over-indulgence in amusement machine playing. 6 references