Men are significantly more likely than women to play games on gaming consoles: 35% of adult men say they play games on a console compared with 21% of women. Men and women are statistically equally likely to use all other gaming devices, including computers, cell phones, handheld organizers and portable gaming devices.
Blacks and Hispanics are more likely to play games on smaller, mobile gadgets. While there is no statistically significant difference in game play between ethnic groups on computers or game consoles, blacks and Hispanics are significantly more likely than whites to use cell phones and portable gaming devices to play games. One-quarter (25%) of blacks and 27% of Hispanics report using a cell phone or Blackberry to play games, while only 16% of whites reported doing so. Similarly, 18% of blacks and 21% of Hispanics use portable gaming devices, compared with 11% of whites who use these devices to play games.
Independent of other demographic categories, parents are more likely to play games than non-parents. Fully 66% of parents or guardians of children 17 years old or younger play games, compared with 47% of adults who are not parents who play games. Parents are also more likely to play games on every kind of device we asked about than respondents who were not parents.
Just 31% of parents of teens say they play video games with their child at least some of the time, however, and younger parents are more likely than older parents to do so. Four out of ten parents under age 40 (40%) play games with their children, compared with 25% of older parents. Parents of younger teens (12-14 years old) are also more likely to play video games with their children than parents of older teens (15-17 years old), 34% versus 27%.
