Video Games and Teen Violence Correlations

With the rising increase in teen violence, much research has been directed to determine if video games, violent television shows and other electronic media is directly related. Gentile, D.A. & Anderson C.A (2003) has done extensive research in which supports the theory that video games lead to violence. Olson, C.K. (2003) claims media violence has no correlation to youth violence. One thing is for sure is that this will be an ongoing debate for years to come as the demand for more violent games increase even if the rate of violence follows a similar rate of growth as the trend is today.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

According to Gentile, D.A & Anderson, C.A. (2003), “researchers consider as “violent” those games in which the player can harm other characters in the game… In many popular video games, harming other characters is the main activity. It is these games, in which killing occurs at a high rate, that are of most concern to media violence researchers, child advocacy groups, and parents.” (p. 351) It is further noted by Gentile, D.A & Anderson, C.A. (2003) that an increasing amount of young children are most interested in violent video games “in which the main action is predominately human violence or fantasy violence.” (p. 351) However, blaming the manufacturer is not the problem. These games are not for sale to minors and have been regulated to curtail the sale to minors. Parents should take responsibility for what games they are buying for their child.

For more on this article read: Video Games and Teen Violence Correlations