Video Games & Violence in Children

Video Games & Violence in Children

"It depends," Eisenman (2004) stresses in regard to whether playing violent video games, one of the primary contemporary substitutions for yesteryears' play, increases violence in youth. Eisenman (2004) concedes that although video games may, under particular circumstances, increase violence in some children, they also provide enjoyment, and likely improve perceptual and motor skills. He contends that a person predisposed toward violence could potentially more easily become more prone to displaying violent behavior when encountering violent images, whether these surface in the media, in a neighborhood, in homes or in video games. In the study conducted during 1999, by the Media Analysis Laboratory at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia, entitled "Video Game Culture: Leisure and Play Preferences of B.C. Teens," the video game industry earned 10 times the amount of children's television production: 30% of the U.S. toy market of $8.8 billion; larger than Hollywood's box office gross ($5.2 billion). ("Technology: Violence and Video Games," 1999, p. 173)

According to Reuters (2007), "For 2006, PwC's preliminary estimates are for the U.S. gaming market to have expanded 10.6% to $9 billion."

Contemporary Conflicting Consensuses

Macpherson (2002) notes in her study that, "Violence is not a new phenomenon," and notes David Gill (cited by Macpherson (2002) notes in her study that, "Violence is not a new phenomenon," David Gill (cited by Macpherson, 2002) describes violence as: "acts or conditions, which obstruct the spontaneous unfolding human potential, the inherent drive towards development and self-actualization. This may occur at interpersonal; institutional and societal levels." Dr. Anne Ganley (cited by Macpherson, 2002) describes violence as: "harm or threatened harm to a person, to assert power and control without regard to another's well being, and is done to control or dominate." Levinson (2006) presents a simple, straightforward definition of violence. He purports that violence occurs when one individual "inflicts or threatens to inflict physical or emotional injury or discomfort upon another person's body, feelings, or possessions." Another definition for students, cited by Levinson (2006), purports that "Violence is any mean word, look, sign, or act that hurts a person's body, feelings, or things." Violence may range from a rude act like breaking in line to "the Holocaust of World War II." According to the American Heritage Dictionary, six separate entries are needed to adequately define the word. At times, the setting also defines whether an act is considered violent or not, whether it occurs on a community sidewalk or at a football game. Causes Contributing to "It" the question: "What causes violence?," on the other hand, is not so easily answered. Researchers attempted answer this contemporary concern in a number of ways; however, no specific answer has yet merited the approval of the majority of researchers. In the school setting, for example, "Some experts believe that because violence has become an accepted norm in the media, children have become desensitized to the level of violence around them. Other experts say that parents contribute to the problem of violence in schools by not communicating responsible values to their children or by their own violent behavior." (Levinson, 2006) One study indicates that playing video games did not contribute to teenagers becoming more aggressive, albeit, later research proposes video games may contribute to aggressive behavior in some youth, "under some circumstances.... "(Eisenman, 2004) One has to question: Why the different results?" (Eisenman, 2004)

More recent video games, Eisenman (2004) reports, "are more violent than the one used in the earlier research by Winkel et al. (1987)." He purports that two types aggression exist: proactive and reactive. In proactive aggression, no provocation exists; however, one expects aggression to lead him/her to his/her goal. When reactive aggression occurs, a person perceives the provocation. Individuals who are habitually aggressive reportedly tend to over-perceive that others act aggressive toward them, even when this is not true.

It" the depiction of violence in video games, according to millions of Americans, Witham (2002) reports, dramatically contributes to "carnage in our streets, on our playgrounds and in our schools...." Proponents of this particular perception range from politicians to worried parents. Lieutenant Colonel David Grossman, a military "expert" regarding the psychology of killing, contends that violent video games, along with other representations of violence, "break down a natural immunity to killing our own kind, and after repeated exposures, desensitize people to committing violent acts." (Ibid) on the other side of the question regarding the impact violent video games exert on youth, however, millions of Americans argue that the opposite proves true. These individuals include First-Amendment specialists, individuals involved in producing video games, as well as a number of "America's best academic minds and experts in the fields of human behavior." (Ibid) Kill-ology? The unnamed author of "Technology: Violence and Video Games" (1999, p. 173) reports that Lieutenant Colonel David Grossman spent more than 25 years studying and learning and studying "how to enable soldiers to kill." Techniques the Army utilized to enable soldiers to kill, Grossman contends, reflect the identical techniques contemporary violent video games incorporate.

Approximately 75% of murders of children in the industrialized world occur in the United States (Communities in Schools, 1997). (Aspy, Oman, Vesely, Mcleroy, Rodine & Marshall, 2004) Grossman reportedly claimed that some violent video games serve as "good training for murder," because they teach the player to target and aim for the "enemy's" head; to use kill the targeted individual with one solitary shot. ("Technology: Violence and Video Games," 1999, p. 173) in the study Aspy, Oman, Vesely, Mcleroy, Rodine and Marshall (2004) complete, these researchers note that "antecedents to school violence offer insight into individual risk factors as well as family and community contributions to the problem." Instead of violent video games, risk factors such as bullying, juvenile delinquency, coming from a single-parent household headed by the mother; having siblings or parents previously and/or currently involved with the criminal justice system; using cigarettes, "alcohol, and marijuana at an early age; earn money selling crack cocaine; have a friend who sells drugs; have high achievement in mathematics, but not reading; have high rates of suspension and expulsion; report early sexual activity and numerous sex partners; and exhibit no aspiration for higher education (Daley & Onwuegbuzie, 1995)." (Aspy, Oman, Vesely, Mcleroy, Rodine & Marshall, 2004) in addition, research found that when a youth participated in one risk behavior, he/she put him/her self at risk for other risk behaviors (Flisher & Kramer, 2000). Carrying a weapon was noted to be a predictive indication of involvement in violence. Risk factors contributing to violent behavior were also noted to be linked to a family's available economic resources. Still another potential risk noted for violent behavior was related to being a child living in a single-parent home with a current or former teen mother. (Aspy, Oman, Vesely, Mcleroy, Rodine & Marshall, 2004) Researchers collected data from 1,350 randomly selected households with parent-teen pairs, who resided in inner-city areas of two mid-western cities with populations of approximately 500,000 and 400,000. Results noted that explanatory variables significantly associated with no physical fighting. i.e., the absence of physical violence included participants: "not skipping school; happy at school; friends stay out of trouble; resolve conflicts without fighting; speak calmly, even when angry; did not miss school because felt unsafe; never had something taken by force or threat; never threatened with a weapon; and never stayed inside because felt unsafe." (Aspy, Oman, Vesely, Mcleroy, Rodine & Marshall, 2004) Ultimately, the authors for this study point out that the implied identification with school, conflict management skills, and a safe neighborhood or school environment, but not violent video games.

Video Game Player's Brain

In 2005, Rene Weber, a researcher on the project and an assistant professor of communication and telecommunication at MSU (Michigan State University), and colleagues completed a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to explore the effect video games produce on a person's brain. According to these researchers, "There is a neurological link and there is a short-term causal relationship." (Violent Video Games, 2005) Researchers of the fMRI study observed and recorded the brain-activity patterns of 13 German male volunteers, ages 18 to 26. Participants played a minimum of five hours of video games each week, with each participant averaging 15 hours per week of video game play. The median age for these males beginning to play video games was 12 years old.

Weber and his colleagues purport:.".. playing violent video games leads to brain activity pattern that may be characteristic for aggressive thoughts." (Violent Video Games, 2005) the following image presented as figure (1), obtained from MSU, portrays: "brain activity images during video game play in characteristic regions of interest." (Violent Video Games, 2005)

Figure 1:

Brain Activity Images Recorded During Video Play ("Violent Video Games," 2005)

Positive Proponents Pointed Out Deubel (2006) points out that a positive aspect of computer games; stressing that research confirms particular games, including some online games, are successful "when designed to address a given problem or teach a certain skill..."

Research does agree, albeit, that "children express what they know." (Eagleheart, 2000) Eagleheart (2002) notes that violence does constitute a primary concern for children, particularly in schools. Rather than contributing video games as a cause of violence in children, she encourages educators and others to look deeper and consider that violene has goals; that the particular goal will depend on the individual.

At times, goals of violence may be evident, conscious choices from a child is playing now wants. Other times, goals may not be evident nor conscious. Possible examples of goal from violence, Eagleheart (2002) suggests, include but are not limited to:

child's need to try to secure power and control;

child's expression of painful emotions (anger, fear, despair) that he/she may be experiencing;

child's method of protecting him/her;

child reenacting and experience to try to obtain a different result;

child displaying behavior but he/she learned from others.

Trouble? America's youth, particularly boys, are in trouble. According to Conderman, Heimerl and Ketterhagen (2001), the most violent non-war population of children in the world come from America. Through the methodology of Literature Research, these authors explore causes contributing to America's children ranking as the most violent.... Father's Absence These authors attribute the violence potential to the absence of a father's positive influence in their lives. Some of these youth "lack a conscience, some lack basic impulse control, others lack the ability to articulate right from wrong, others lack empathy, and others cannot get understanding from a culture that sometimes unfairly labels them as morally defective, hyperactive, or undisciplined." Even though research points out that America's boys consume more media than ever, which includes violent videos, the time substitutes for times in the past that fathers and coaches frequently spent with these youth. In recent and current times, however, these boys have routinely been exposed to views that promote anger and violence as methods they can utilize to solve problems. (Conderman, Heimerl & Ketterhagen, 2001)

Repeated Theme a primary theme repeatedly presented in the resilience literature, which Laursen (2002) notes during his Literature Review study regarding children "at risk" for violence and other negative behaviors. He purports that research confirms that:

children who overcome difficult backgrounds have connections to caring adults who bolster their courage and determination to persist, despite difficult odds." This author does not "blame" violent video games as the cause of violence and/or other current concerns challenging today's youth. Laursen (2002) stresses the fact that positive behaviors evolve from children's connections with positive adults. He purports that adults nurture and model seven specific positive habits to begin to reclaim relationships with children/youth, which will consequently contribute to countering violence and other negative behaviors. The following table (1) depicts the seven habits positive, role models practice:

Investment

Behavior

Belief

1. Trust

Does what he/she says he/she will do.

He/she is accountable to the young people he/she serves.

2. Attention

Places the young person at the center of concern.

Children and youth are valuable and worthy.

3. Empathy

Sees the world through the young person's eyes

Many versions to the same story exist and may need to be told.

4. Availability

Makes time for children and youth a top priority

Young people are important and worth an investment of an adult's time and energy

5. Affirmation

Verbalizes positive things to and about a young person and means them.

Even troubled youth have positive qualities and constructive behaviors which can be acknowledged

6. Respect

Gives young people a say in decisions which affect them Feelings are valid. Children and youth are the best on their feelings.

7. Virtue

Holds young people accountable for their behavior without blaming; lives as a role model.

Children must learn self-discipline, and those who teach them must practice what they teach.

Table 1: Seven Habits Positive, Role Models Practice (Laursen, 2002)

Violence's Market Value

Youth violence, Hoagwood (2000, p. 67) argues, will not dissipate until "it is no longer marketable to sell murder, rape, homicide, assault, or violent acts. " in his Literature Research study, this author notes that studies by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) support studies "on correlates, consequences, prevention, and treatment of antisocial behavior. The social and behavioral sciences have tackled the problem of youth violence with a vengeance," he stresses.

Resulting findings from the NIH studies warn that violence and other antisocial behaviors in youth frequently end in the adult criminal system. As persistent and difficult-to-treat behavior patterns, including violent ones, frequently begin early in a child's life, extraordinary, preventive efforts are needed. Interesting to note that none of the studies noted dealt specifically with violent video games.

Additional areas needing further study in regard to violence and other "at risk" behaviors, according to Hoagwood (2000, p. 67), include, but are not limited to:

1. Mechanisms. Early onset is an important predictor, yet late onset accounts for the largest percentage of violent behavior. The focus of most research to date has been on markers, not on underlying mechanisms or processes by which aggressive behavior develops. Similarly, no attention has yet been paid to the termination of delinquency, to why some youth divest themselves of delinquent acts and stop their involvement in violence.

2. Involvement in Gangs. This is a major risk factor, but almost no researchers have investigated either the mechanisms of transmission of risk whereby some children get involved and others resist, or the efficacy of existing programs for preventing involvement in gangs.

3. Positive Parenting Strategies. The risks associated with harsh parenting practices have been amply demonstrated to be predictive of later delinquency, but less attention has been paid to developing specific interventions that promote positive parenting practices in very young children. Such studies are needed.

4. Environmental Factors. Programs exist in neighborhoods, communities, and a variety of "host" environments. Little is now known about the ways in which different neighborhood environments moderate, accelerate, or exacerbate the effects of violence. Studies of the ways in which differences in resources affect a neighborhood's ability to mobilize efforts to respond to or reduce violence are especially needed. In addition, socialization processes extend beyond person-to-person exchanges. What aspects of environments socialize aggression? These are questions worthy of investigation.

5. Organizational Capacity. As effective interventions are becoming available, the next generation of studies will need to focus on the types of organizational capacities (e.g., strength of leadership, workplace flexibility, employee autonomy) that are necessary to support the implementation of these programs. Issues such as financial capacity, investment of stakeholders, organizational structure, and motivational sustainability are components of capacity that warrant attention.

6. Fidelity. Even effective treatments or services cannot be sustained if fidelity to the programs' principles and practices is not upheld. Studies are needed on how to sustain fidelity to treatment models, how to strengthen the quality of the program as delivered, how to maintain integrity as the intervention is implemented in local sites, how to judge when a modification will affect a program, and how much change is legitimate before it interferes with the integrity of the program.

7. Dissemination and Sustainability. The transportability of effective services into different schools or community settings is not automatic. An important new area of research involves attention to characteristics of communities, neighborhoods, organizations, schools, clinics, and other settings that will facilitate the long-term sustainability of effective services. Questions such as how much technical assistance to provide and for how long, how and when to certify trainers, and how or why policymakers do or do not adopt effective programs are components of this area of research. Important to this area of research are cost-benefit studies that employ full benefit analyses of programs. Insofar as studies of the effectiveness of services explicitly address issues of transportability, progress in understanding the disseminability of programs will be made. (Hoagwood, 2000, p. 67)

Skills to Counter Violence

Emotional intelligence, Lantieri, 2001 (p. 33) proposes, constitutes what young people need to be successful in the 21st century. As a former teacher and school administrato, he co-founded the Resolving Conflict Creatively Program (RCCP in 1985 with the non-profit organization Educators for Social Responsibility. He cites Daniel Goleman, social psychologist and mental health writer for the New York Times, to define EQ, or "emotional quotient" as people's human skills. These skills, taught in the RCCP program, he stresses "may be as important as IQ for success in life."

One U.S. government study found that 25% of teenagers are "at risk for failing to cope with the demands in their lives (National Research Council, Panel on High-Risk Youth, 1995)." (Lantieri, 2001, p. 33)

Dr. Lawrence Aber, principal investigator of comprehensive, scientific studies related to violence, states, "We found out that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of metal detectors. Aber (1999, cited by Lantieri, 2001, p. 33) During this study, 5,000 young people two years participated in learning "concrete skills in managing their emotions and resolving conflict actually deterred the developmental pathways that could lead to later violence and aggression."

Empowering young people to make positive choices and accept responsibility for learning, this author posits, best counters violence.

Whether or not this includes the use of video games, he did not state.

More Study Findings

In 2004, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 33% of youth aged 10 to 19 years had been involved in a physical altercation in the prior 12 months, resulting in many injuries and disabilities (Miller, Cohen, & Wiersema, 1996)." (Wright & Fitzpatrick, 2006) in the study completed by Wright & Fitzpatrick (2006), these authors explored the realm of select risk and asset factors and their relationship to the frequency of fighting in an African-American child and adolescent sample, the sample population of 1,642 students were enrolled in a central Alabama school system in Grades 5-12. These voluntary participants completed an annual Student Health Risk Assessment Survey during May 2000. Approximately 65% of participants completed the questionnaire. Findings from this study indicate fighting (violence) can be reduced by "parental monitoring, academic achievement, and school connectedness." Results also suggest the importance of continued support for child abuse preventive efforts, outreach to parents, and further efforts to reduce or eliminate the community factors that promote proliferation of gangs. When untreated, aggressive behavior or violence can devastate a child's potential to succeed in all areas of his/her life. Purported violence-prevention programs abound, Amendola & Scozzie (2004), purport, albeit, most promising results evolve from comprehensive, evidence-based, research, as they also build positive skills and strengths children and youth. They point out and stress: "Cognitive interventions have been shown to promote learning and confront behavioral challenges among youth." Amendola & Scozzie (2004)relate the following six model evidence-based interventions, Aggression Replacement Training (ART), routinely tullized in schools and treatment programs to counter violence. (Amendola & Scozzie, 2004)

1. Social Skills Building/Skillstreaming.... Sessions include actual life situations outside of classes.

2. Anger Control Training.... Prior to violence erupting, youth learn to identify signs of aggression in themselves and others.

3. Moral Reasoning.... Youth experience various perceptions of others in the group which challenges them to utilize "more mature moral reasoning and decision-making in social situations." (Amendola & Scozzie, 2004)

Second Steps and Thoughts

The Second Step program, noted by these authors, enables teachers to recognize ways to positively contend with student's disruptions and behavior issues. Simultaneously, children begin to learn "to recognize and understand feelings, make positive and effective choices, and keep anger from escalating into violence." (Amendola & Scozzie, 2004). This program, which evolved from more than 15 years of classroom application and study centers empathy, impulse control and problem solving, along with anger management, essential competencies children need to possess to decrease risks of violence in their lives. Although Borzekowski and Robinson (1999) focused on television viewing in their study, findings from the 10 family participants may be considered applicable to this paper.

As do a number of researchers in regard to the impact of video games, the researchers question.".. The alarming statistics presented in television research.... children are viewing too many violent acts... " One difference, however, deserves consideration. When watching tv, children's attention frequently varies, whereas when playing video games, attention is generally intense. Another point regarding testing may also be applicable to tests/studies regarding violent video game playing. In both instances, confirmation of actual times spent watching/playing may not always be accurately recorded.

Game Choices

Funk and Buchman (1996, p. 19) report that although game choices are generally violent, adolescents regularly value playing video games as a leisure activity. Their study documents "current adolescent electronic game-playing habits, and explores associations among preference for violent games, frequency and location of play, and self-concept." Ultimately, these authors posit self-concept serves to indicate adolescents' core attitudes and coping abilities. Lachlan, Smith and Tamborini (2005) report that playing popular video games in the U.S. often includes violent, graphic scenes, which in turn, contributes to a number of social critics verbalizing concern regarding possible harm from children playing these games. Playing violent video games, many individuals argue, contributes to anti-social behavior..".. Exposure to violent video games has even been cited as a possible contributory factor in the schoolyard massacres at Columbine High and Westside Middle School (Flatin, 2000; Gegax, Adler, & Pedersen, 1998). (Lachlan, Smith & Tamborini, 2005) Even though some experimental studies linked video game playing and aggressive thoughts and behavior, few studies, Lachlan, Smith and Tamborini (2005) contend, "examined potentially problematic contextual features associated with this violence, such as attributes related to violent perpetrators, which may contribute to these aggressive responses." These authors analyzed the content of 60 popular home video games and evaluated features linked with perpetrators and victims that could enhance game violence's nefarious effects. Lachlan, Smith and Tamborini (2005) note:

Violence is defined as "any overt depiction of a credible threat of physical force or the actual use of such force intended to physically harm an animate being or group of beings." Violence also included certain depictions of physically harmful consequences against an animate being/s that results from unseen violent means (see Smith et al., 1998). A total of 1389 violent interactions were documented across 600 minutes of video game content, or an average frequency of about 2.3 per minute across all video games. (Lachlan, Smith & Tamborini, 2005)

Across 1389 violent acts in 60 popular video games, 988 of the acts (71%) were committed by human characters. The only other perpetrator types worthy of note are that of animal (89, 6.4%) and anthropomorphized animal (57, 4.1%). Clearly, the majority of characters being presented as violent actors are human.... As a whole, the findings can be considered in terms of Social Cognitive Theory (S.C.T.). SCT tells us that people imitate characters they find attractive. By examining the findings of this study we can get an idea of who may be most at risk in terms of exposure to certain types of violent video game content. However, implicit in these statements is the need for future research exploring the behavioral and attitudinal outcomes of these presentations in video game violence. (Lachlan, Smith & Tamborini, 2005)