Ten-Year Long Study Confirms No Link Between Playing Violent Video Games as Early as Ten Years Old
Ten-Year Long Study Confirms No Link Between Playing Violent Video Games as Early as Ten Years Old
Ten-Year Long Study Confirms No Link Between Playing Violent Video Games as Early as Ten Years Old And Aggressive Behavior Later In Life
December 29, 2020
Summary
A ten-year longitudinal study published in the Journal of Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking on a group in early adolescence from as young as ten years old, investigated how playing violent video games at an early age would translate into adulthood behavior.
Titled "Growing Up with Grand Theft Auto: A 10-Year Study of Longitudinal Growth of Violent Video Game Play in Adolescents" the study found no correlation between growing up playing video games and increased levels of aggression ten years later.
This study "Accounts for heterogeneity, grouping individuals who are similar and who share a set of characteristics that vary similarly over time." Participant families were recruited through "a large north-western city" beginning in 2007 via telephone directories and required to complete questionnaires.
Video game violence ratings were assessed through the Common Sense Media, known to be a viable rating body for media.
Results showed that boys played more violent video games than girls.
Groups displayed three forms of video game play, according to the study: high-initial violence which indicated individuals played a high-level of violent video games at an early age, moderate initial violence whereby violent video game play was moderate at an early age, and low initial violence.
The study concluded that group with low initial violence "Was no higher in aggressive behavior than the high initial violence group at the final time point." Therefore, it is determined that adolescents who played a high-level of violent video games at an early age did not show more aggressive behavior later in life than those who played fewer to no hours of violent video games at an early age.
Reference
Ten-Year Long Study Confirms No Link Between Playing Violent Video Games as Early as Ten Years Old and Aggressive Behavior Later in Life. (2020, December 29). Retrieved January 07, 2021, from https://gamesage.net/blogs/news/ten-year-long-study-confirms-no-link-between-playing-violent-video-games-as-early-as-ten-years-old-and-aggressive-behavior-later-in-life