The Role of Violent Media Preference in Cumulative Developmental Risk for Violence and General Aggression

Researchers found a conclusive link between media violence and real world violence in young people. Media depictions of violence were declared a “critical risk factor” for aggression in adolescents by the study’s author, Paul Boxer.  The study found that link even when other risk factors for violent behavior—such as exposure to violence at school or in the community—were present.  Even for those lowest in other risk factors, a preference for violent media was found to be predictive of violent behavior and general aggression.

The Influence of Media Violence on Youth

Short-term exposure increases the likelihood of physically and verbally aggressive behavior, aggressive thoughts, and aggressive emotions. Recent large-scale longitudinal studies provide converging evidence linking frequent exposure to violent media in childhood with aggression later in life, including physical assaults and spouse abuse. Because extremely violent criminal behaviors (e.g., forcible rape, aggravated assault, homicide) are rare, new longitudinal studies with larger samples are needed to estimate accurately how much habitual childhood exposure to media violence increases the risk for extreme violence.

Short-term and Long-term Effects of Violent Media on Aggression in Children and Adults

The short-term effects of violent media were greater for adults than for children whereas the long-term effects were greater for children than for adults. The results also showed that there were overall modest but significant effect sizes for exposure to media violence on aggressive behaviors, aggressive thoughts, angry feelings, arousal levels, and helping behavior.  The results are consistent with the theory that short-term effects are mostly due to the priming of existing well-encoded scripts, schemas, or beliefs, which adults have had more time to encode. In contrast, long-term effects require the learning (encoding) of scripts, schemas, or beliefs. Children can encode new scripts, schemas, and beliefs via observational learning with less interference and effort than adults.

Longitudinal relations between children's exposure to TV violence and their aggressive and violent behavior in young adulthood: 1977-1992.

The current study examines the longitudinal relations between TV-violence viewing at ages 6 to 10 and adult aggressive behavior about 15 years later for a sample growing up in the 1970s and 1980s. Follow-up archival data and interview data reveal that childhood exposure to media violence predicts young adult aggressive behavior for both males and females. Identification with aggressive TV characters and perceived realism of TV violence also predict later aggression. These relations persist even when the effects of socioeconomic status, intellectual ability, and a variety of parenting factors are controlled.

The Role of Media Violence in Violent Behavior

Media violence poses a threat to public health inasmuch as it leads to an increase in real-world violence and aggression. Research clearly shows that fictional television and film violence contribute to an increase in aggression and violence, both in the short term and across the life span. Television news violence also contributes to increased violence, principally in the form of imitative suicides and acts of aggression. Video games are clearly capable of producing an increase in aggression and violence in the short term, although no long-term longitudinal studies capable of demonstrating long-term effects have been conducted. The relationship between media violence and real-world violence and aggression is moderated by the nature of the media content and characteristics of and social influences on the individual exposed to that content. Still, the average overall size of the effect is large enough to place it in the category of known threats to public health.