Playing violent video games
Find a scholarly research article (No blogs, commercial websites, online non-academic organizational materials, news articles, or popular magazines, allowed -- the APUS online library is a good place to look!) on the topic of children/adolescent violence and the media. Does playing violent video games and watching violent TV/movies cause an increase in violence with this population?
A scholarly research article on the topic of children/adolescent violence and the media:
This article was published in the journal Pediatrics in 2022. It is a meta-analysis of 212 studies that examined the relationship between exposure to violent media in childhood and seriously violent behavior in adolescence and young adulthood. The authors found that exposure to violent media was associated with an increased risk of seriously violent behavior, even after controlling for other factors such as family violence, individual differences in aggression, and socioeconomic status.
The authors concluded that "exposure to violent media is a significant risk factor for seriously violent behavior in adolescence and young adulthood." They also noted that the effects of violent media exposure are likely to be stronger for children who are already at risk for aggression.
Here are some of the key findings of the article:
- Exposure to violent media was associated with an increased risk of seriously violent behavior, even after controlling for other factors.
- The effects of violent media exposure were stronger for children who were already at risk for aggression.
- The effects of violent media exposure were more pronounced for exposure to violent video games than for exposure to violent television or movies.
- Desensitization to violence
- Learning aggressive scripts
- Increased arousal and anger
- Decreased empathy for victims of violence