Video Games and Crime

Abstract

Psychological studies find that video game play is associated with markers for violent and antisocial attitudes. It is plausible that these markers indicate either whetted or sated preferences for antisocial behavior. I investigate whether a proxy for video gaming is associated with the prevalence of various crimes and find evidence that gaming is associated with significant declines in crime and death rates. These results are robust to various alternative specifications. Other youth-related leisure activities-sports and movie viewing-generate smaller or no effects. These results cast doubt on the desirability of proposed restrictions on video game marketing. (JEL L86, D18, I18)

Violent Video Games and Violent Crime

“…It is likely that any effect of video games will be localized where gaming demand is higher. Ward () exploited this idea by relating changes in various crimes in a county from year to year to changes in the number of video game stores. As mentioned before, we do not have cross‐sectional variation in video game sales.…”

“…Yet to date, because the field has not moved beyond suggestive laboratory studies, we argue their external validity to understanding the impact on crime is limited. With the exception of Ward (), social scientists have yet to move beyond the laboratory to understand whether concerns about game violence's causal effect on crime are warranted.…”

“…This link has not been found with crime data however. Ward () found a negative association between county‐level video game store growth and the growth in crime rates. In a relevant study, Dahl and DellaVigna () find that popular violent movies caused crime to decrease in the evening and weekend hours of a movie's release lasting into the following week, with evidence that violent movies were drawing men into theaters and away from alcohol consumption.…”

Understanding the Effects of Violent Video Games on Violent Crime

“…In fact, two recently published studies analyzed the effect of violent media (movies and video game stores) on crime, and found increased exposure may have caused crime rates to decrease (Dahl and Dellavegna 2009;Ward 2011). These studies, unlike the laboratory studies, were conducted with observational data, which poses unique scientific challenge to establishing causality.…”

Preferencias, dedicación y problemáticas generadas por los videojuegos: Una perspectiva de género

“…Por su parte, Hussain y Griffits (2009) demuestran la incidencia de la dependencia a los videojuegos a partir del descuido de ciertos hábitos relacionados con la: higiene, comida, trabajo y escuela. En otro orden de cuestiones, algunos estudios han puesto de manifiesto que, desde el entorno familiar el seguimiento, del tiempo que dedican a los videojuegos sus hijos y/o hijas, es prácticamente nulo (Muros et al, 2013;Tolsá y Bringué, 2012;Ward, 2010). El fuerte rol autoritario ejercido en el pasado en la tutela se ha relajado considerablemente en la actualidad.…”