According to a new study carried out by researchers at Iowa State University (ISU) and the National Institute on Media and the Family, about one in 10-video-game players exhibit signs of addictive behavior responsible for negatively affecting their family, friends and school work.

The study reveals that habitual gamers show six symptoms of being addicted to gambling from lying to family and friends about how much time they spend playing games, including using the games as an escape route to evade their problems, leading them to become restless or irritable when they are not playing games. As well, they skip homework, instead spend more or too much time playing video-games, resulting in doing poorly at school.

Issuing a statement, Dr Douglas Gentile, an assistant professor of psychology at ISU said, currently the medical community does not recognize video game addiction as a mental disorder, however, the results of this study will persuade them to discuss the positive and negative effects of video games, with the findings a wake-up call for families

The researchers studied 1,178 American children and teenagers, aged 8 to 18, finding some of them displayed 6 of the 11-symptoms, the American Psychiatric Association has defined for pathological gambling.

Those addicted to video-games played them 24-hours a week, twice the time of casual gamers, some even stealing to support their habit, according to the findings yet to be published in the journal Psychological Science.

But, let's not trash the Xbox just yet, as those addicted to reading also bury their nose in a book, or try an evade tiresome household chores, by burying their nose in a book. However, if it's time to balance the family's use of video games or other media, there are four web sites that offer media-management strategies for parents:

• Common Sense Media, with a guide to video-game addiction.
• The National Institute on Media and the Family.
• The American Academy of Pediatrics guide to media use.
• The Entertainment Software Rating Board rates video games, describing only a game's violence level and questionable language.

If, you your child's already addicted to video games, the resources will help to treat his addiction. But, the answer for most families is to simply turn off the box.