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Wednesday 15 December 2010

Video games and Violence

The verdict is still out on Video Games - Do violent games cause aggression in children?

Well this recent study found that, no, in this case they showed no significant effect on children!

So this study recruited 302 (mainly Hispanic) children between 10 and 14 as part of a larger study of youth violence. They were interviewed twice - once at the start of the study and again 12 months later.

Their exposure to violence both in video games and on television as well as negative life events, including neighborhood problems, negative relationships with adults, antisocial personality, family attachment, and delinquent peers were all taken into account, as well as the styles of family interaction and communication, adolescents' exposure to domestic violence, depressive symptoms, serious aggression, bullying and delinquent behavior.

One year later they found that only 7% of the children who played violent videogames reported engaging in at least one criminally violent act. Only 19% reported engaging in at least one non-violent crime.

The researchers concluded that violent video games were not a good predictor of violent behaviour.

But what they did find was that depressive symptoms were a strong predictor for youth aggression and rule breaking, and their influence was particularly severe for those who had pre-existing antisocial personality traits.

This evidence doesn't end the argument about video games, but it's another step towards finding out the truth!

Link to Article

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