Looks and Gaming: Who and Why?

Citation

Chung A, Hamermesh D, Singleton C, Wang Z & Zhang J (2025) Looks and Gaming: Who and Why?. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization.

Abstract
Americans spend 2.5 percent of their waking hours video-gaming. Using the American Add Health Study, we show that adults who are better-looking have more close friends. Gaming being costlier for them, they engage in less of it. Physically attractive teens are less likely than others to game at all. Attractive adults are less likely than others to spend any time gaming; if they do, they spend less time on it than other gamers. The reverse is true among teens and adults for some other non-market activities-sports and hobby groups. Using the longitudinal nature of the Study, we find that these relationships may be causal for adults: good looks decrease gaming time, not vice-versa. The results provide new evidence on how looks affect non-market time use and perhaps indicate the role that they play in personal development.

Keywords
physical attractiveness; beauty; time allocation; social activity; teen behavior

Notes
This Version: November 2025 Initial Version: May 2024; Accepted in Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization *We are grateful for helpful comments from the Editor, two referees, Sarah Jewell, Simonetta Longhi, Samantha Rawlings, Rachel Scarfe, Dominik Schreyer, and Paul Telemo, and from participants in seminars at several universities.