Violent behaviour Vs children

We live in a violent world, and newspapers and TV carry grim reminders of this fact. Today, with so many bomb blasts happening all over world, there is no way in which people can avoid being exposed to violence.

What the experts say

Two studies have been released recently that look at violent behaviour and children. The first research, which brings together three studies one from the US and two from Japan deals with violent games. It examines the content of games, how often they are played and aggressive behaviour later in a school year. The US and Japan were chosen because, while games are prevalent in both places, crimes are not so common in Japan a fact that has often been highlighted by people who want to show that violent games don't lead to violence.

The study in the US covered 364 children, aged 9 to 12, while the Japanese study involved 1,200 Japanese youths, aged 12 to 18, and was managed by lead author Craig A Anderson, a psychology professor at Iowa State University and director of its Center for the Study of Violence.

The other study involved Web sites and was conducted by Dr Michele L Ybarra of Internet Solutions for Kids in Santa Ana, California. In this study, the researchers examined the relationship between media violence and violent behaviour. Here, violent behaviour is defined as shooting or stabbing someone, robbing someone, or committing aggravated assault or sexual assault.

The survey involved 1,588 young people, aged 10 to 15. The average age was 13 and 48 per cent were girls.

This survey found that people who frequented sites that depicted people fighting or killing were five times more likely than their peers who didn't visit violent websites to engage in seriously violent behaviour.

Growing phenomenon

While such studies are disturbing, they are not new. In fact, in 2006, a team of researchers from the University of Missouri-Columbia conducted a study of 39 game players and monitored their brain activity. Specifically, researchers looked at a type of brain activity called the P300 response, which reflects the emotional impact of an image.

This study too, predictably, found that violent games promoted violent behaviour. Additionally, in 2000, at a Congressional Public Health Summit, the American Academy of Paediatrics, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the American Psychological Association, issued an unprecedented 'Joint Statement on the Impact of Entertainment Violence on Children'.

The question is this — should we call for a ban on violent games and violent web sites? This is a hard question to answer. While people tend to malign modern entities like web sites and video games, the problem existed even before the web became popular. In fact, in 1972, the US Surgeon General issued a special report on the public health effects of media violence, concentrating specifically on TV.

Additionally, we also have to answer one simple question are violent games creating violent kids, or are violent kids showing a preference for violent games? The jury is still out on this one.

>>Studies show that violent games lead to violent kids
>>Is the Internet to blame?
>>Should violent games be banned?