Section 02 · Secondary Research
Esports, Youth Participation
& the Legitimacy Gap
01 · Participation
Youth play games
85%
Gottfried & Sidoti, 2024
Play daily
55%
parent-reported
Avg hrs/week
20.4
Ygam & Mumsnet, 2025
Play with others
89%
social by nature
Built friendships
47%
via gaming
02 · Parental attitudes — a paradox
Q — do parents see value?
Parents recognising ≥1 benefit of gaming
Ygam & Mumsnet, 2025
Recognise ≥1 benefit — 96%Do not — 4%
Q — what do they worry about?
Top parental concerns about gaming
Ygam & Mumsnet, 2025 · WHO
03 · Educational outcomes in structured programmes
Student outcomes
Outcomes in school esports programmes
Esports: Transforming Education, 2025
Parent expectations
Skills parents expect esports to develop
Kakihara, 2025
04 · Institutional integration gap
Teacher belief vs. classroom use — Australian secondary schools
The knowing–doing gap
Gutierrez et al., 2023
Believe gaming has educational value — 60%Actually use in teaching — 15%
91%
of parents expect schools to provide esports education
Ygam & Mumsnet, 2025
40%
of students who actually received it — a 51-point supply gap
Ygam & Mumsnet, 2025
05 · Knowledge & engagement gap
How well do parents know esports?
Depth of parental esports knowledge
Kakihara, 2025
Generally aware — 91.8%Deeply informed — 6.2%Neutral attitude — 44.5%
Does engagement style matter?
Effect of parental engagement style on esports educational perception
Kakihara, 2025 — OLS regression (β coefficients)
"Esports' core challenge in education is a legitimacy gap, shaped by cognitive bias, institutional inertia, and insufficient evidence-based communication — directly informing the proposed campaign's goals and messaging strategy."