Effect of Violent Games on Children

The Effect of Violent Games on Children

Do you like to play video games? Why are violent video games the best seller games? Do you have kids who like to play violent video games? Comparable to new kind of media, violent video games have been the topic of disagreement as they promote aggressive behaviors leading to their restriction in the market. Controlled through an age limit, several video games can only be purchased by an adult over 18. A popular game among teenagers is Grand Theft Auto. Video games have also been linked to addiction and aggression. Violent video games have a large effect on children in many different ways such as child aggression, moral ethics. It also negatively impacts the development of children and leads to anti-social behaviors.

Child aggression refers to increased anger and violence which are a direct result of video games. Children are the primary market for video games of all types, however violent games are highly demanded for. Child aggression has become a serious problem to parents these days and as their kid’s behaviors are becoming more violent and aggressive after playing specific violent video games. These games are highly engaging rewarding children by violent behavior which activates their anger centre. In the new study, Dr. Craig A. Anderson, Ph.D., of Iowa State University in Ames, and his colleagues looked at how children and teen's video game habits at one time point related to their behavior three to six months later. The study included three groups of kids: 181 Japanese students’ ages 12 to 15; 1,050 Japanese students aged 13 to 18; and 364 U.S. kids’ ages 9 to 12. The U.S. children listed their three favorite games and how often they played them. In the younger Japanese group, the researchers looked at how often the children played five different violent video game genres (fighting action, shooting, adventure, among others); in the older group they gauged the violence in the kids' favorite game genres and the time they spent playing them each week. Japanese children rated their own behavior in terms of physical aggression, such as hitting, kicking or getting into fights with other kids; the U.S. children rated themselves too, but the researchers took into account reports from their peers and teachers as well (Anderson, 2008). In every group, children who were exposed to more video game violence did become more aggressive over time than their peers who had less exposure. This was true even after the researchers took into account how aggressive the children were at the beginning of the study a strong predictor of future bad behavior. Furthermore, Professor of Psychology Craig Anderson has made much of his life's work studying how violent video game play affects youth behavior and he says a new study proves conclusively that exposure to violent video games makes more aggressive, less caring kids regardless of their age, sex or culture.