Media Violence and Child Development: What Research Shows

Introduction: Media Violence as a Public Health Concern

"Extensive viewing of television violence by children causes greater aggressiveness. Sometimes watching a single program can increase aggressiveness. Children who view shows in which violence is very realistic, frequently repeated, and/or unpunished are more likely to imitate what they see." — American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry

There have been many studies and a great deal of debate about what effect the violence that children and young people encounter on television and in other media has on their development. This paper reviews the literature with reference to those issues and points to the technologies children have access to in terms of the potential harm that exposure can do to their development.

Most of the blame for the violence that children reportedly learn from media is placed on television, but Monique A. Levermore writes in the Forensic Examiner that violent video games should be brought into the discussion as well. When it comes to terribly violent video games like Mortal Kombat and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, the goal is always "murder and theft," and the skill level that these games teach children is based on a criminal code of ethics "that purports specific rules and norms" (Levermore, p. 39). Parents who allow their young children to play these viciously violent games may not be paying attention to just how sadistic and brutal some of them really are.

Video Games, Television, and Learned Aggression

Levermore begins her research paper by insisting that when it comes to interventions regarding children and violence, the emphasis should be placed on prevention. "Children learn through observation," Levermore explains; children "mimic behaviors and absorb new ways of accomplishing tasks" (Levermore, 2004, p. 38). Children also practice what they learn and attempt to "optimize their competence and mastery of behaviors" through a process of reinforcement, Levermore explains. In many cases, parents teach children to "let go of behaviors that are unacceptable" by punishing them or selectively ignoring certain behaviors; moreover, competent, caring parents use "reinforcement to teach children to hold on to acceptable behaviors" (Levermore, p. 39).

However, when children are left for "countless hours" in front of the television set and are free to watch "violent, aggressive, and salacious acts that appear to be acceptable," rather than viewing these violent acts with apprehension and fear, the child begins to have "a sense of excited anticipation" (Levermore, p. 39). The child becomes "desensitized" to that normal sense of apprehension and is drawn "voyeuristically" to enjoy the violent acts.

Levermore observes that as crime rates rise and the label "delinquent" is attached to more and more young people, society continues to use punishment rather than prevention as its primary tool. It is known that deviant behavior "begins in childhood," the author asserts, and although the United States officially declared violence a "public health epidemic" in the 1990s, very little has been done to address "this nationwide crisis that has paralyzed us" (p. 38). What is the solution, in Levermore's opinion? "Parents must become fully aware of the carnage that their children are exposed to in the media," and society must develop "programs that promote observational learning and model pro-social behavior to youngsters at early ages" in order to counterbalance the "bombardment of violent television programming and violent videogames" (p. 42).

Preschool Children and Media Exposure Research

A research article in the journal Early Childhood Research & Practice examined the behavior of 70 preschool children at play and the relationship of those children to television violence and regulatory status. The authors claim that children between the ages of 2 and 18 participate with media — all forms, including the Internet and electronic games — between 38 and 45 hours a week, on average (Daly, et al., 2009, p. 1). Daly writes that at least 26 of those hours are spent watching television, and therein lies one of the central problems: more than 60% of all television programs show some violence. By the time the typical child finishes elementary school at age 12, he or she will have seen 8,000 murders and "at least 100,000 other acts of violence" on television. These are empirical findings that Daly is reporting, not estimates.

Part of those empirical findings confirm that when children are exposed to media violence they face an "increased probability of aggression." Certain research studies show that boys are particularly prone to aggression after viewing extended hours of television violence. One study Daly references points out that boys who watched violent television programs during childhood were "aggressive and antisocial" ten years later (Daly, p. 1).

The study that Daly references, using 70 preschoolers, took place in Lake County, California. The children — 32 girls and 38 boys — spent about 25 hours a week in school and watched television for approximately 19.3 hours a week. Parents and teachers were both surveyed, and the researchers employed the Temperament and Atypical Behavior Scale (TABS) and the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised (ECERS-R). The children's play behaviors were coded as "prosocial, assertive, or verbally or physically aggressive" (Daly, p. 4).

The bottom line the researchers present is that "violent content and poor self-regulation were independently and significantly associated with overall aggression and physical aggression" (p. 7). Several additional generalizations emerged from the study: (a) "Poor self-regulation influences aggressive behavior in preschool children"; (b) "The children who were seen as having the least self-regulation expressed the most verbal aggression"; (c) "Boys were three times as aggressive as girls"; and (d) "Children who watched violent programs alone were significantly twice as verbally aggressive as those who watched violent programs in the company of others" (p. 7). The most important result was that "poor self-regulation" is associated with "aggression independent of how much violent content the child viewed" (Daly, p. 9).

Conclusion

Violence is an enormous public health issue in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, homicide is the "second leading cause of death for people in the 15- to 24-year-old age group." In fact, more than one-third of all homicide victims are young people. The problems of delinquency, school failure, and substance abuse — which the CDC reports are increasingly believed to be risks for children and young people — cannot all be attributed to television and violent video games. But the research presented in this paper lends considerable credence to the belief that when children are exposed to too much media violence (television, video games, movies, and other formats), they may themselves become involved in violence, delinquency, or substance abuse. Parents need to be educated about the danger to their child's development when he or she spends endless hours in front of the television or playing extraordinarily violent video games.

Works Cited

American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. (2002). Children and TV Violence. Retrieved Dec. 22, 2010, from http://www.aacap.org.

Borzekowski, Dina L.G., and Robinson, Thomas N. Viewing the Viewers: Ten Video Cases of Children's Television Viewing Behaviors. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media. 43(4), 1–25.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2010). Violence and Homicide Among Youth. Retrieved Dec. 21, 2010, from http://www.cdc.gov.

Daly, Laura A., and Perez, Linda M. (2009). Exposure to media violence and other correlates of aggressive behavior in preschool children. Early Childhood Research & Practice. 11(2).

Escobar-Chaves, Soledad Liliana, and Anderson, Craig A. (2008). Media and risky behaviors. The Future of Children, 18(1), 147–181.

Foley, John T., Beets, Michael W., and Bryan, Rebecca. (2007). Parental role in reducing television viewing in kindergartners: findings from a national study. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 78(1), a-27–29.

General OneFile. (2007). FCC report finds violent TV harms children. Broadcast Engineering (Online Exclusive). Retrieved from General OneFile Dec. 22, 2010.

Gentile, Douglas A., Oberg, Charles, Sherwood, Nancy E., Story, Mary, Walsh, David A., and Hogan, Marjorie. (2004). Well-child visits in the video age: pediatricians and the American Academy of Pediatrics' guidelines for children's media use. Pediatrics, 114(5), 1235–1242.

Levermore, Monique A. (2004). Violent media and videogames, and their role in creating violent youth. The Forensic Examiner, 13(3), 38–42.

Tamburro, Robert F., Gordon, Patricia L., D'Apolito, James P., and Howard, Scott C. (2004). Unsafe and violent behavior in commercials aired during televised major sporting events. Pediatrics, 114(6), 1661–1662.