{"id":1528,"date":"2010-12-14T09:56:34","date_gmt":"2010-12-14T16:56:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/?p=1528"},"modified":"2014-09-12T11:46:50","modified_gmt":"2014-09-12T17:46:50","slug":"violent-games-not-to-blame-for-youth-aggression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2010\/12\/14\/violent-games-not-to-blame-for-youth-aggression\/","title":{"rendered":"Violent games not to blame for youth aggression"},"content":{"rendered":"Approximate Reading Time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

Finally! A study that looks for the keys where they were lost rather than under the streetlight.<\/p>\n

Violent games not to blame for youth aggression<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ferguson found that depressive symptoms were a strong predictor for youth aggression and rule breaking, and their influence was particularly severe for those who had preexisting antisocial personality traits. However, neither exposure to violence from video games or television at the start of the study predicted aggressive behavior in young people or rule-breaking at 12 months.<\/p>\n

Ferguson concludes: “Depressive symptoms stand out as particularly strong predictors of youth violence and aggression, and therefore current levels of depression may be a key variable of interest in the prevention of serious aggression in youth. The current study finds no evidence to support a long-term relationship between video game violence use and subsequent aggression. Even though the debate over violent video games and youth violence will continue, it must do so with restraint.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This comes on the heels of another study I came across the other day that was more like the typical “videogames cause violence” studies:<\/p>\n

Violent Video Games…oh wait, no…Demand Characteristics Have Long-Term Influences<\/a><\/h3>\n

The study being discussed is here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Very briefly, as is typical, the study authors randomly assigned college students to play either a violent (e.g. Mortal Kombat…which got me wondering if anyone even still plays that anymore) or non-violent (e.g. Grand Turismo 5, Guitar Hero) game.\u00a0 Some of the participants (again randomly assigned) were then told to think about the game they had played for the next 24 hours.\u00a0 They then returned to the lab the next day to be tested on their “aggression” using the commonly used “noise burst” TCRTT that has come under increasingly fire for poor validity recently (Kutner & Olson, 2008; Ritter & Eslea, 2005; Tedeschi & Quigley, 1996).\u00a0 The authors claim results indicated that college students (the males at least, not the women) instructed by the experimenters to think about the video games over the intervening 24 hours were more “aggressive” whereas college students not so instructed were not.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Apparently, crap like this is publishable. Hmmmmm<\/p>\n

People think more about videogames for 24 hours when told to think about videogames for 24 hours. Great.<\/p>\n


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