{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,20]],"date-time":"2026-07-20T02:01:34Z","timestamp":1784512894687,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":58,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,18]],"date-time":"2026-07-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1784332800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Behavioral Sciences"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: Gaming is a common leisure activity among university students, a life stage marked by late adolescence and emerging adulthood, when digital habits and psychosocial outcomes are still developing. However, gaming behaviors and motivations differ by gender, making it important to understand these variations to identify trends and potential risks linked to excessive use. This study examines whether gender is associated with differences in gaming habits, motivations, and perceived toxicity within a sample of Italian university gamers. Methods: A total of 394 participants (M = 22.8 years, SD = 3.6; 58% male) who actively played video games completed an online questionnaire on sociodemographic and gaming variables. Data were analyzed using t-tests and linear discriminant analysis. Results: Results showed gender differences in age of gaming onset, weekly gaming time, perceived toxicity, and motivations such as violent gratification, cognitive challenge, coping, and social interaction. However, discriminant analysis identified weekly gaming hours, violent gratification, and age as key differentiating factors, but the model accounted for a limited proportion of between-group variability. Conclusions: These findings suggest that gender accounts for a limited proportion of variability, indicating a trend toward gender parity in the analyzed gaming variables.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/bs16071223","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,20]],"date-time":"2026-07-20T00:47:32Z","timestamp":1784508452000},"page":"1223","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Exploring Gender Differences in Gaming Among Italian University Students: A Discriminant Analysis"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"J\u00falia","family":"Gisbert-P\u00e9rez","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Psychology and Speech Therapy, Universitat de Val\u00e8ncia, Av Blasco Ib\u00e1\u00f1ez, 21, 46010 Valencia, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8457-6554","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Claudio","family":"Longobardi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Via Giuseppe Verdi, 10, 10124 Turin, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3305-2996","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Manuel","family":"Mart\u00ed-Vilar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Psychology and Speech Therapy, Universitat de Val\u00e8ncia, Av Blasco Ib\u00e1\u00f1ez, 21, 46010 Valencia, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4880-1774","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ali","family":"Ijaz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Via Giuseppe Verdi, 10, 10124 Turin, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4706-690X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Laura","family":"Badenes-Ribera","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Psychology and Speech Therapy, Universitat de Val\u00e8ncia, Av Blasco Ib\u00e1\u00f1ez, 21, 46010 Valencia, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"107865","DOI":"10.1016\/j.addbeh.2023.107865","article-title":"Social norms and problematic gaming among adolescents: The role of Internet use coping motives","volume":"148","author":"Angelini","year":"2023","journal-title":"Addictive Behaviors"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"569","DOI":"10.1016\/S2215-0366(14)00080-7","article-title":"The new life stage of emerging adulthood at ages 18\u201329 years: Implications for mental health","volume":"1","author":"Arnett","year":"2014","journal-title":"The Lancet Psychiatry"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1123\/jege.2022-0035","article-title":"Measuring toxicity toward women in game-based communities","volume":"1","author":"Belskie","year":"2023","journal-title":"Journal of Electronic Gaming and Esports"},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"722","DOI":"10.1080\/00273171.2019.1671162","article-title":"Testing differential item functioning in small samples","volume":"55","author":"Belzak","year":"2020","journal-title":"Multivariate Behavioral Research"},{"key":"ref_5","unstructured":"Bem, S. 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