Bonding with your daughter? Get out the Wii

Desperately seeking less door-slamming and curfew violations from your teenager daughter? Try playing Guitar Hero together.

A new study tracked the video-game playing habits of 287 families with kids between the ages of 11 and 16. Researchers report that daughters who spent time with mom and dad playing rounds of games such as Rock Band and Mario Kart were less likely to be aggressive or engage in delinquent behaviour, show fewer signs of depression and anxiety and be more prosocial.

(One big exception: the study, conducted by researchers at Brigham Young University's School of Family Life, found that playing games that weren't age-appropriate actually reversed the effects.)

The study's authors theorized that if dads are more often sharing screen time, perhaps the activity contributes to some healthy father-daughter bonding. "We're guessing it's a daddy-daughter thing, because not a lot of moms said yes when we asked them if they played video games," co-author Laura Padilla-Walker said in a press release. "Co-playing is probably an indicator of larger levels of involvement."

The same benefits were not seen, however, in sons who played with their parents, likely because boys just play a lot more video games so sharing Wii time with mom and dad has a less of an impact.

Instead, for boys, the researchers proposed parents might do better to restrict time on video games, rather than joining in the play.