- Websites linked to violent behaviour
- The Herald Sun
- 06/11/2008 Make a Comment
- Contributed by: The Rooster ( 264 articles in 2008 )
YOUNG people exposed to violent media are more likely to lash out violently themselves, new research published in Pediatrics shows.
"Our findings add to the growing evidence that violence in the media is related to aggressive behaviour, including seriously violent behaviour among youths," Dr. Michele L. Ybarra of Internet Solutions for Kids reported.
"Reduction in youths' exposure to violent media should be viewed as an important aspect of violence prevention."
Many studies have examined exposure to violent media and violent behaviour among young people, Dr Ybarra and her team said.
In fact, they point out, the American Academy of Pediatrics calls media violence "the single most easily remediable contributing factor" to youth violence.
The researchers examined the relationship between media violence and "seriously violent behaviour," defined as shooting or stabbing, robbery, committing aggravated assault, or sexual assault, in a survey of 1,588 young people 10 to 15 years old. The average age was 13 years old and 48 per cent were girls.
Five per cent of those surveyed reported having engaged in some type of seriously violent behaviour over the past year, while 38 per cent said they had visited at least one type of violent website.
With each additional type of violent website a study participant reported viewing, the likelihood of violent behaviour increased by 50 per cent.
Young people who said that "many, most or all" of the websites they frequented featured "real people fighting, shooting or killing" were five times more likely than their peers to engage in seriously violent behaviour.
The odds of violent behaviour also rose with the number of types of violent media a young person consumed, but the effect of violent TV, movies, music, games or web cartoons was much smaller than that of internet violence depicting real people.
Dr Ybarra and her colleagues suggested the interactive nature of the web may make its influence more powerful than other media.
But the current study doesn't answer the question of whether violent media is turning kids violent, whether violence-prone youth are more likely to seek out violence on the internet. The researchers said it was probably a bit of both.
"Our findings add to the growing evidence that violence in the media is related to aggressive behaviour, including seriously violent behaviour among youths," Dr. Michele L. Ybarra of Internet Solutions for Kids reported.
"Reduction in youths' exposure to violent media should be viewed as an important aspect of violence prevention."
Many studies have examined exposure to violent media and violent behaviour among young people, Dr Ybarra and her team said.
In fact, they point out, the American Academy of Pediatrics calls media violence "the single most easily remediable contributing factor" to youth violence.
The researchers examined the relationship between media violence and "seriously violent behaviour," defined as shooting or stabbing, robbery, committing aggravated assault, or sexual assault, in a survey of 1,588 young people 10 to 15 years old. The average age was 13 years old and 48 per cent were girls.
Five per cent of those surveyed reported having engaged in some type of seriously violent behaviour over the past year, while 38 per cent said they had visited at least one type of violent website.
With each additional type of violent website a study participant reported viewing, the likelihood of violent behaviour increased by 50 per cent.
Young people who said that "many, most or all" of the websites they frequented featured "real people fighting, shooting or killing" were five times more likely than their peers to engage in seriously violent behaviour.
The odds of violent behaviour also rose with the number of types of violent media a young person consumed, but the effect of violent TV, movies, music, games or web cartoons was much smaller than that of internet violence depicting real people.
Dr Ybarra and her colleagues suggested the interactive nature of the web may make its influence more powerful than other media.
But the current study doesn't answer the question of whether violent media is turning kids violent, whether violence-prone youth are more likely to seek out violence on the internet. The researchers said it was probably a bit of both.
Source: https://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24610665-5005961,00.html
1Will not be visible to public.
2Receive notification of other comments posted for this article. To cease notification after having posted click here.
3To make a link clickable in the comments box enclose in link tags - ie.<link>Link</link>.
4To show an image enclose the image URL in tags - ie.<image>https://fredspage.com/box.jpg</image>. Note: image may be resized if too large
To further have your say, head to our forum Click Here
To contribute a news article Click Here
To view or contribute a Quote Click Here