Connection, Safety, and Representation in Gaming
2026 Teens and Screens Report
Teens and Screens Gaming 2026
This gaming report is part of our annual Teens & Screens research project
About the Study
Teens and Screens is an annual research report based on a nationwide survey of 1,500 tweens, teens, and young adults conducted by the Center for Scholars & Storytellers at UCLA (CSS) to understand more about what young people care about and want to see in entertainment media. Check out prior years’ reports here. View our press release for this project on UCLA’s newsroom here.
This is the third year that CSS created a standalone report about gaming, with results highlighting what a big part of life gaming is for young people today and what barriers to inclusion and belonging persist.
1. More Than Just a Game: For the second year in a row, adolescents report at nearly 3 times the rate of positively valenced emotions than negatively valenced emotions* when speaking about gaming.
2. Safety in Gaming: 79.1% of adolescents are aware of how to report someone in the games they play, around 6 times more than those who do not know how!
3. Feeling Seen in Games: The Next Challenge:
Gaming still has a ways to go to help young people feel seen:
Young people who identify as POC, LGBTQIA+, or with a disability find it difficult to find video games with characters that look like them.
“I would love to see characters from different backgrounds and cultures that aren't commonly portrayed in popular video games.” –20 year old woman, Black, Oklahoma
These are just a few of our interesting findings. Check out the full report to view more statistics, anecdotes from participants, and data visualizations.
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Rathje, S., & Van Bavel, J. J. (2025). The psychology of virality. Trends in Cognitive Sciences,
29(10), 914–927. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2025.06.014
How to Cite This Report:
Rivas-Lara, S., & Uhls, Y. T. (2026). Level up! Connection, safety, and representation in gaming. Teens & Screens 2026. Center for Scholars & Storytellers. https://www.scholarsandstorytellers.com/2026-gaming-pull-out
Thank You to Our Sponsors!
About the Authors
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Stephanie Rivas-Lara, ACSW
Research Consultant
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Yalda T. Uhls, MBA, PhD
Founder and CEO
Founder and CEO of the Center for Scholars & Storytellers, Dr. Yalda T. Uhls is an internationally recognized, award-winning research scientist, educator, and author, who specializes in studying how media affects young people. She received her MBA and PhD in developmental psychology from UCLA, is a former movie executive at companies like MGM and Sony, and is a proud Gen Z parent.