The release of Grand Theft Auto V and registered juvenile crime in the Netherlands

Abstract

Prior research suggests that playing videogames can have a voluntary incapacitating effect on criminal behaviour. The current study investigates whether this negative association between videogames in general and crime rates can also be found for the release of a single videogame – Grand Theft Auto V (GTAV) – and for registered juvenile crime in the Netherlands. A diminishing effect was modelled to estimate the active player base of GTAV (that is, the most players are active on and directly following release, with a decline in the weeks thereafter) and correlated with the number of registered offences in 2012–15 committed by males aged 12–18 and 18–25 years in a time series analysis. The effect of the release of GTAV was negatively associated with the number of registered offences in both age categories, while controlling for covariates (for example, day of the week). Implications are discussed.

Violent video game engagement is not associated with adolescents' aggressive behaviour: evidence from a registered report

“…First, our work is based entirely on self-report data. A number of recent investigations have integrated approaches combining user and trace data with time-series analyses to draw community-level (versus individual) inferences about the effects of gaming on public reports of antisocial behaviours [84]. In our view, these kinds of data, principally held by gaming companies themselves, would provide an invaluable resource if linked with existing large-scale datasets such as the British Household Panel Study [85].…”

The role of moral reasoning & personality in explaining lyrical preferences

“…Other future studies could evaluate how behaviour directly relates to moral reasoning and media preferences, since it is known that moral foundations don't always correlate with moral behaviours [68]. Whereas it is the case that violent media, such as video games [28,29], can reduce violent behaviours, a future study could see if listening to music with violent lyrical themes serves a similar function.…”

“…As previously noted, violent media is frequently associated with negative or violent behaviour [25,26], but those studies are frequently called into question due to methodological issues or publication bias [27]. Some studies even conclude that there is an inverse relationship between violent media and actual violence, as is the case with video games [28,29]. There is limited research investigating the relationship between lyrical preferences and violence, but a recent study found that those who prefer violent lyrics are no less repulsed by violent imagery than those who do not prefer those lyrics, meaning that fictitious violence (at least in lyrical form) does not desensitize people to real violence [29].…”

Reexamining the Findings of the American Psychological Association’s 2015 Task Force on Violent Media: A Meta-Analysis

“…However, other researchers have called into question the strength of the results of such studies by indicating these associations vanish after other variables, such as gender, family environment, or mental health, are controlled (see Gunter & Daly, 2012); other researchers have failed to find evidence that such a relationship exists (see Breuer, Vogelgesang, Quandt, & Festl, 2015; DeCamp & Ferguson, 2017; Przybylski, Deci, Rigby, & Ryan, 2014). A time-series-analysis study conducted by Markey, Markey, and French (2015) even found exposure to violent video games to be associated with decreases in real-world violence, and various other studies have replicated this finding (e.g., Beerthuizen, Weijters, & van der Laan, 2017; Cunningham, Engelstätter, & Ward, 2016).…”