The Role of Violent Media Preference in Cumulative Developmental Risk for Violence and General Aggression

Abstract

The impact of exposure to violence in the media on the long-term development and short-term expression of aggressive behavior has been well documented. However, gaps in this literature remain, and in particular the role of violent media exposure in shaping violent and other serious antisocial behavior has not been investigated. Further, studies of violent media effects typically have not sampled from populations with confirmed histories of violent and/or nonviolent antisocial behavior. In this study, we analyzed data on 820 youth, including 390 juvenile delinquents and 430 high school students, to examine the relation of violent media use to involvement in violence and general aggression. Using criterion scores developed through crossinformant modeling of data from self, parent/guardian, and teacher/staff reports, we observed that childhood and adolescent violent media preferences contributed significantly to the prediction of violence and general aggression from cumulative risk totals. Findings represent a new and important direction for research on the role of violent media use in the broader matrix of risk factors for youth violence. KeywordsMedia; Violence; Delinquent; Aggression; Risk Correspondence to: Paul Boxer, pboxer@rutgers.edu. HHS Public Access Author Manuscript Author ManuscriptAuthor Manuscript Author ManuscriptOn June 24, 2008, six teenagers from Long Island, NY, launched a two hour long crime spree in which they committed a violent mugging and several break-ins and thefts before finally being caught after a carjacking attempt (Crowley 2008). According to the authorities investigating the crimes, the teenagers had determined to replicate the actions of Niko Belic, the thuggish protagonist from the new video game "Grand Theft Auto IV." Although this particular event represents an extreme example of how violence in the media can promote violence in "real life," it is wholly consistent with the fact that for decades, exposure to violent media has been acknowledged as a risk factor for aggressive and violent behavior (Anderson et al. 2003; US Surgeon General 1972).Broadly speaking, antisocial behavior in adolescence is multiply determined, with risk factors at multiple levels spanning biological, psychological, and contextual influences (Dodge et al. 2006;Frick 2006;Hoge Guerra and Boxer 2008;Huesmann and Eron 1989). Theoretical models of the development of antisocial behavior have embraced this equifinality, acknowledging the numerous ways in which different loci of risk can interact to promote habitual antisocial responses (Dodge and Pettit 2003;Frick and Morris 2004;Guerra and Huesmann 2004). Contemporary strategies for the assessment of youths' violent and nonviolent antisocial behavior involve multiple methods and multiple informants to ensure that the full spectrum of risk is covered (Borum and Verhaagen 2006;McMahon and Frick 2005). Best practice approaches to the treatment of antisocial behavior require multicomponent interventions involving the interlocking personal and contextual s...

Reassessing media violence effects using a risk and resilience approach to understanding aggression.

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“…Our survey revealed that some children caused pain to dogs unintentionally but others deliberately teased and provoked the dogs by causing them pain as also reported by Akhtar et al (2006). This fact deserves close attention since it may result from overall increasing aggressiveness of children exposed to violent video games connected with lower empathy and stronger proviolence attitudes (Funk 2006), and to media and cartoon violence (Kirsh 2006;Boxer et al 2009). …”