Gaming Exposure, Developmental Vulnerability, and School Violence in Generation Alpha: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Risk Pathways and Educational Responses
Description
This dataset supports the systematic review and meta-analysis “Gaming Exposure, Developmental Vulnerability, and School Violence in Generation Alpha: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Risk Pathways and Educational Responses.” The review examined the hypothesis that gaming-related behavioral risk is not explained by gaming exposure alone, but is better understood through the interaction of gaming characteristics with developmental, psychological, family, peer, and school-context vulnerabilities. It also evaluated whether the strength and certainty of evidence differ across a behavioral-severity continuum ranging from psychological precursors and interpersonal aggression to school-related, weapon-related, and lethal violence. The dataset was compiled through a systematic search of PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science, PsycINFO, ERIC, CINAHL, and ProQuest for eligible studies published through June 30, 2026. After screening and eligibility assessment, 51 primary studies were included in the systematic review, of which 17 contributed quantitative data to at least one meta-analytic or quantitative synthesis. The repository contains study characteristics, gaming-exposure classifications, developmental and contextual variables, outcome-severity coding, quantitative effect estimates, information on overlapping cohorts, JBI design-specific critical appraisal results, PRISMA selection records, search documentation, and full-text exclusion information. The data show that the largest evidence base concerns psychological precursors and interpersonal aggression. A random-effects synthesis of five compatible studies found a moderate positive concurrent association between problematic gaming/Internet Gaming Disorder and aggression, r = .377, 95% CI [.232, .505], with substantial heterogeneity. Evidence for school-related and weapon-related violence was more limited; the pooled association for weapon carrying from two independent studies was OR = 2.46, 95% CI [0.98, 6.17], indicating a positive but imprecise association. No adequate comparative quantitative evidence was identified for lethal violence. The data should therefore be interpreted as supporting a developmental-contextual model of gaming-related behavioral risk, rather than a direct or deterministic pathway from gaming to serious violence. Stronger associations were generally observed for problematic or disordered gaming than for gaming exposure alone, while certainty decreased as outcome severity increased. The repository is intended to support transparency, reproducibility, secondary verification, and future synthesis of gaming, developmental vulnerability, aggression, school violence, and educational-response research.
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Steps to reproduce
The dataset was generated through a systematic review and meta-analysis conducted in accordance with PRISMA 2020. Searches were performed in PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science, PsycINFO, ERIC, CINAHL, and ProQuest for studies published through June 30, 2026. Search terms covered gaming exposure, problematic gaming/Gaming Disorder, aggression and violence, developmental and contextual vulnerabilities, school-related outcomes, and educational or family-based interventions. Reference lists of relevant reviews and eligible studies were also checked for additional records. Records were deduplicated, screened at title/abstract level, and then assessed in full text against prespecified PECOS-based eligibility criteria. The final review included 51 primary studies, with 17 contributing quantitative data to at least one synthesis. Data were extracted into a structured form capturing study characteristics, sample information, gaming exposure type, developmental and contextual variables, outcome measures, effect estimates, follow-up information, covariate adjustment, Generation Alpha classification, and behavioral-severity coding. Outcomes were organized into five levels: L1 psychological precursors, L2 interpersonal aggression, L3 school-related violence/safety, L4 serious or weapon-related violence, and L5 lethal violence. Methodological quality was assessed using design-specific Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) critical appraisal tools for analytical cross-sectional, cohort, randomized controlled, and quasi-experimental studies. For quantitative synthesis, compatible Pearson correlations were transformed using Fisher’s z and back-transformed to r; standardized prospective regression coefficients were retained as β; and odds ratios were used for dichotomous serious-violence outcomes. Random-effects models were applied where pooling was appropriate, with heterogeneity assessed using Cochran’s Q, I², and τ². Overlapping cohorts were identified and handled to avoid double-counting. The repository includes the study-level dataset, quantitative synthesis data, JBI appraisal results, PRISMA records, search documentation, exclusion records, and coding definitions needed to understand and reproduce the review workflow.
Institutions
- Angeles University FoundationCentral Luzon, Angeles City