Does Media Violence Contribute to Violence in Children?

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Does Media Violence Contribute to Violence in Children?

 A concern has been raised over increased violence among children in the United States. As a result of this, there has been continued speculation over the main cause of this behavior.  Questions on whether children’s exposure to media violence correlates to the child’s aggressive behavior have been raised and therefore studies have been carried out to affirm this speculation. Some studies show that there is a correlation between children’s behavior and exposure to media violence, while others depict that there is no correlation between children’s behavior and exposure to media violence. In order to explain the assumption “Media Violence affects children’s behavior” as stated by Browne, Kevin, and Catherine, a learning approach should be utilized (Browne, Kevin, and Catherine 702-710).  Media that presents a lot of shows having some sort of violence for instance wrestling, violent video games, and many other forms of violence. With such exposure to media violence, children will tend to imitate such violence and try them when alone or with their peers as shown in the learning approach. According to the study carried out by Huston et al in the year 1991, a child would have witnessed around 200,000 violent acts once he/she turns 18 on television shows and about 40,000 murders in media (Huston). Similarly, the Kaiser Family foundation depicts that 8-14 years old children utilize most of their time interacting with computers, watching televisions, and playing game consoles than any other activity in their lives except sleeping (Roberts). 

Most studies have affirmed that those children who spend more time watching media violence tend to display violent behavior. According to Bushman and Craig, all children get affected by media violence, however, the youngest face a bigger threat since they are impressionable and are not able to figure out the difference between reality and fantasy (Bushman, and Craig 6-7) Therefore, with regard to learning approach, children’s vulnerability to media violence is as a result of their ability to observe and imitate media violence and be able to exactly execute whatever they learned from the TV show, video games or any other form of media (Bryant). The social theory further depicts that children learning depends on two things; observation and imitation through a process called modeling (Lemert). However, for the learning to occur, the child must be motivated, or else the imitation of the behavior will not be reinforced. 

The theory of Social learning is applicable to media violence since children observe the violence in media and they get motivated when they enjoy the show. However, some of this media violence can be a threat to the child for instance wrestlers fighting for a belt.  This might influence the child to copy the same in action and want to be rewarded in return. Also, violent video games that have rewards or justified tend to have a significant impact on children due to the fact that they want to be rewarded. Furthermore, in case of the violence being committed by a heroic or an attractive character, the child will copy the character’s behaviors making the child get affected significantly.  

Additionally, children who participate in playing video games experience an increase in thoughts related to violence which makes them vulnerable to violent behavior. Research shows that those children who spend most of their time playing video games end up having violent behavior as compared to those who only watch video games regularly. Nowadays, there is an increased number of television programs and video games, which has caused a significant influence on society. Due to the lack of information on video games, most children end up imitating what they have watched on games or television programs. Younger children are more vulnerable to the influence of gaming violence since video games act as stimuli. There is a significant connection between Video violent games and violent action. As such, video games pose a huge threat to children becoming violent and end up committing violent crimes. 

Similarly, there is a high tendency of young people at attender age to imitate what their elders do in real life.  The same thing is applied in media as they also imitate what they see in media or violent video games. This will probably turn children into being aggressive and violent.  Although other researchers disagree there is no way video games could influence student’s behavior, there has been enough evidence to prove that its authentic, violent video games influence student behavior significantly and their response to a different issue. For example, two researchers disagreed that violent video games do not affect the student. Ferguson and Olson’s findings did not back up the widespread belief that violent games lead to an increase in youth aggression (Ferguson and Cheryl 127-136). 

In conclusion, exposure of children to media content that has violence can result in violent behavior among such children. However, not all media content affects children's behavior and thus it is important to note the type of media content children get exposed to since the more violent the media content, the more violent the child will turn out to be.           

Work cited                                                                                    

Bushman, Brad J., and Craig A. Anderson. "Media violence and the American public: Scientific facts versus media misinformation." American Psychologist 56.6-7 (2001): 477. 

Bryant, J. Alison. "Children and the Media: A Service-Learning Approach." Integrating Service-Learning Into the University Classroom (2010): 53. 

Ferguson, Christopher J., and Cheryl K. Olson. "Video game violence use among “vulnerable” populations: The impact of violent games on delinquency and bullying among children with clinically elevated depression or attention deficit symptoms." Journal of youth and adolescence 43.1 (2014): 127-136. 

Groebel, Jo. "Media violence and children." Education Media International 35.3 (1998): 216-227.

 Huston, Aletha C. Big world, small screen: The role of television in American society. U of Nebraska Press, 1992. Lemert, Charles. What Is Social Theory?. Routledge, 2009. 

Roberts, Donald F. "Kids & Media@ the New Millennium: A Kaiser Family Foundation Report. A Comprehensive National Analysis of Children's Media Use. Executive Summary." (1999).