1999 - Critique of the Satanic and Fantasy Envelopment (SAFE) test
PsychologicalReports, 1998, 82, 182. Psychological Reports 1998PERSONALITIES OF PLAYERS
OF DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS 'ROBERT CARTER AND DAVID LESTER Center for the Study of Suicide
20 men who played Dungeons and Dragons did not differ in mean scores on depression, suicidal ideation, psychoticism, extraversion, or neuroticism from unselected undergraduates.
Previous research has shown that players of fantasy role-playing games are less empathetic and more introverted than control groups (Douse & Mc-Manus, 1993). To explore this further 20 men who played the Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game (60% college students) were given the 48-
item Eysenck Personality Inventory (Eysenck, Eysenck, & Barrett, 1965) and the 21-item Beck Depression Inventory (Beck, Ward, Mendelson, Mock, &
Erbaugh, 1961). Their scores were compared with those of control groups of male undergraduates enrolled in college courses.
For the Beck Depression Inventory, the 20 players' mean scores did not differ from those of 76 controls (Mag,=23.7 and 21.9, SDs =5.43 and 2.88)
on the Beck Depression Lnventory (Ms=6.70 and 6.15, SDs=4.59 and 7.36;t = 0.32) or for current suicidal ideation on Item 9 (Ms = 0.35 and 0.18, SDs =
0.49 and 0.39; t = 1.63).
On the Eysenck scales, the 20 players' mean scores did not differ from those of 21 controls (Mag,=23.8 and 20.5, SDs =5.4 and l.6), on Psychoticism (Ms =3.80 and 3.05, SDs= 1.67 and 1.53; t = 1.501, Extraversion (Ms =6.90 and 8.62, SDs=2.65 and 3.48; t = 1.77). Neuroticism (Ms=3.65 and 4.76, SDs=2.16 and 3.79; t=1.15), or Lie (Ms=3.95 and 3.14, SDs=2.46 and 2.67; t = 1.01). Thus, scores of Dungeon and Dragons players on personality scales appeared to resemble those of the unselected undergraduates in the present study.
Accepted December 26, 1997 'Address enquiries to David Lester, Center for the Study of Suicide, RR41, 5 Stonegate Court, Blackwood, NJ 08012-5356.
References
Beck, A. T...Ward, C. H., Mendeuon, M., Mock, J., & Erbauch, J. An inventory for measuring depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 1961, 4 , 561-571.
Douse. N. A., & Mcmanus, I. C. The personality of fantasy game players. British Journal of Psychology, 1993, 84, 505-509.
Eysenck, S. B. G., Eysenck, H. I., & Barreit, P. A revised version of the psychoticism scale. Personality and Individual Differences, 1965, 6 , 21-29.
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