Author: Alison Pearce Stevens / Source: Science News for Students
Video games are a major part of most teens’ lives. As many as 90 percent of U.S. teens play them. Boys are more likely to play than girls.
And more violent games, such as Call of Duty or Grand Theft Auto, are among the most popular. All this has led adults to worry that violent games are making teens act violently in real life. In fact, a careful new study finds, this is not the case.Many scientific studies have scouted for links between video-game violence and real-world violence. It might seem logical that playing violent games would have lasting effects on the brain. And those effects might influence how someone acts. But research has shown mixed results. Some studies found a strong effect. Others found none. Those conflicting findings have confused many people — teens, parents and scientists included.
Psychologists Andrew Przybylski and Netta Weinstein felt that a more carefully designed study might clear the picture. Przybylski works at the University of Oxford in England, and Weinstein is at Cardiff University in Wales.
The two recruited 1,004 teens in the United Kingdom. All were 14 or 15 years old. The teens’ parents or guardians also took part. These adults answered questions about their teen’s aggressive behavior.
The teens answered a different set of questions. Some asked about their feelings. For example, would they hit someone if they got angry enough? Did they argue a lot? Did they tend to lose their temper? These responses in fact closely matched what their parents or guardians had said. The researchers now felt confident they had an accurate measure of each teen’s aggression.
The students also answered questions about the video games they played. What kinds did they play? How much time did they play them? In all, these kids reported playing 1,596 different games. Based on the games’ ratings, almost two-thirds of them were deemed violent.
Researchers then…
The post Teens who play violent video games aren’t any more violent appeared first on FeedBox.