Video Gaming and Psychological Well-Being Among Sexual and Gender Diverse Youth in Canada, the United States, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and Australia

Level Up
Written By INQYR

Di Cesare, D. M., Brooks, A., Doll, K., McInroy, L., Lozano-Verduzco, I., Mendoza-Pérez, J. C., McDermott, D. T., Perry, Y., Schaub, J., Byron, P., Alessi, E. J., & Craig, S. (2026). Video gaming and psychological well-being among sexual and gender diverse youth in Canada, the United States, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and Australia: Protocol for a LEVEL UP! cross-sectional survey and screenshot elicitation interview study. JMIR Research Protocols, 15, e95804. https://doi.org/10.2196/95804

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Background 

  • Sexual and gender diverse (SGD) youth face minority stressors—including discrimination, harassment, family rejection, and barriers to affirming care—that can negatively affect psychological well-being.

  • Digital spaces can also support resilience by enabling identity exploration, emotional regulation, social connection, and access to affirming information

  • Although video games may offer similar benefits through agency, character customization, storytelling, and multiplayer community, there is limited large-scale research on their specific effects for SGD youth

Study Description

  • LEVEL UP! is an international mixed-methods study of video gaming and psychological well-being among SGD youth aged 14–29 in Canada, the United States, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and Australia

  • It aimed to recruit approximately 2,500 participants for a 30–45-minute online survey available in English and Spanish; measures include gaming habits, motivations, representation, positive and negative gaming experiences, microaggressions, and allyship.

  • Canadian survey participants also joined follow-up Zoom interviews, submitting 5–10 game or gaming-community screenshots to prompt discussion of identity, representation, community, and gaming experiences

  • The project combines quantitative analysis with constructivist grounded-theory and multimodal analysis of screenshots, interviews, transcripts, and survey responses.

    Significance 

  • Video games are a major part of many young people’s social and cultural lives, but their potential role in supporting the well-being of sexual and gender diverse youth remains underexplored. This research treats gaming as more than entertainment: it can be a space for identity exploration, connection, self-expression, and coping

  • By examining both affirming and harmful gaming experiences, the study can identify what makes digital game spaces safer, more inclusive, and more supportive for sexual and gender diverse youth

  • The screenshot-elicitation method centres youth perspectives by allowing participants to show and interpret the game moments that matter to them, rather than relying only on adult-defined survey questions

  • Because the study spans five countries and attends to intersecting identities, it may clarify how gaming experiences differ across national, cultural, racialized, gendered, and sexual contexts

Conclusions

  • The study expects to clarify how video games, gaming communities, and SGD representation can influence psychological well-being in both positive and negative ways

  • Findings are intended to inform safer and more affirming gaming environments for SGD youth, caregivers, and game-industry professionals

  • Planned knowledge-mobilization outputs include affirming game and character guides, digital galleries, infographics, and practical recommendations for more inclusive game design and media use

  • Key limitations include online and social-media-based recruitment, potential exclusion of youth without reliable gaming technology or internet access, and the fact that interviews are limited to Canadian participants

INQYR
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