Kids with Addiction Issues More Likely to Play ’Choking Game’

Six percent of 8th-graders surveyed in Oregon said they had taken part in a dangerous game where kids choke each other to produce a sense of euphoria, and researchers said that adolescents with addiction or mental-health problems are among those most likely to play, the Associated Press reported Jan. 14.

The “choking game,” sometimes called Pass-Out, Space Monkey, Flatliner, or Blackout, produces its desired effect by starving the brain of oxygen. The study found that it was especially popular in rural areas.

The survey of 8,000 students at 114 Oregon schools was conducted by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and reported in the Jan. 10, 2010 issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.