The Effects of Media Violence Exposure On Criminal Aggression

Abstract

The article presents a meta-analysis of studies—yielding 26 independent samples of subjects—on the relationship between exposure to media violence and violent aggression. Mean effect sizes from aggregate and experimental studies do not suggest that media violence and criminal aggression are positively associated, but findings from prospective longitudinal studies are more ambiguous. Summary statistics based on models strictly conforming to each study's original design were compared to post hoc models (in which measures or model specification were not consistent with the original description). Overall, “original” models, controlling for “trait,” did not suggest that exposure to media violence is associated with criminal aggression. The summary statistic for boys reached statistical significance, but the effect size was small, and conclusions based on this finding are attenuated because of known biases in the coefficients estimated.

A Multivariate Analysis of Youth Violence and Aggression: The Influence of Family, Peers, Depression, and Media Violence

“…Although much debate remains on the role of media violence on youth aggression, our results support the view voiced by some that efforts to regulate media violence may not be particularly helpful in reducing youth violence. [31][32][33][34][35] Finally, positive family relations were also a fairly inconsistent predictor of youth aggression.…”

Links to Prosocial Factors and Alpha Asymmetry in Adolescents during Violent and Non-Violent Video Game Play

“…Support for this claim is strengthened by findings from longitudinal (Williams & Skoric, 2005) and other published meta-analytic studies that show little to no relationship between violent video game play and aggression (Ferguson, 2007;Savage & Yancey, 2008;Ferguson & Kilburn, 2010).…”

Routine Activities and Delinquency: The Significance of Bonds to Society and Peer Context

“…A number of studies have linked violent video games to negative outcomes, including aggression (Anderson, 2004) and delinquency (Exelmans, Clusters, & Van den Bulck, 2015). Other analyses, have, however, shown no effect of violent video gaming on these and other negative outcomes (Ferguson, Olson, Kutner, & Warner, 2014;Ferguson et al, 2008;Savage & Yancey, 2008). Recently, Morris and Johnson (2014) found that adolescents with deviant peers who spent time playing video games of any type were not at risk for violence or general delinquency.…”