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Children and teenagers who indulged in a little video-game playing were associated with being better adjusted than those who had never played and those who played for three hours or more, according to a new study. 

The study found no positive or negative effects for young people who played 'moderately' between one to three hours a day. 

The study also suggested that  the influence of video games on children, for good or for ill, is very small when compared with more 'enduring' factors, such as whether the child is from a functioning family, their school relationships, and whether they are materially deprived, the press release added. 

The study is first to examine the both aspects - positive and negative - of gaming. It considered around 5,000 young people, half male and half female from the nationally representative study of UK households. 

According to the study, three in four British children and teenagers play video games on a daily basis and that those who spent more than half their daily free time playing electronic games were not as well adjusted. 

"These results support recent laboratory-based experiments that have identified the downsides to playing electronic games. However, high levels of video game-playing appear to be only weakly linked to children's behavioral problems in the real world. Likewise, the small, positive effects we observed for low levels of play on electronic games do not support the idea that video games on their own can help children develop in an increasingly digital world," said study author Dr Andrew Przybylski from the Oxford Internet Institute, in the press release. 

"Some of the positive effects identified in past gaming research were mirrored in these data but the effects were quite small, suggesting that any benefits may be limited to a narrow range of action games. Further research needs to be carried out to look closely at the specific attributes of games that make them beneficial or harmful. It will also be important to identify how social environments such as family, peers, and the community shape how gaming experiences influence young people."

The study argued that the guidelines established by previous researches such as recommended time limits for playing video games, have little scientific benefits. 

The study "Electronic Gaming and Psychosocial Adjustment" is published in the journal Pediatrics.