Fact+&+Fiction

Like everything they encounter early in life, what children see and hear in the media makes an impression in their lives.
===From Shakespeare to the Sopranos, violence is ingrained in our popular entertainment. More than 60 percent of TV shows contain violence. Young viewers see up to 10,000 violent acts a year. (Villani, 2001) ===

**__//Normalizing Violence//__**
===Researchers have associated exposure to violent media with subsequent aggressive or risky behavior by children, teenagers and young adults. Media violence may instill a meaner, more frightening view of the world, making violence seem like a normal part of life and an acceptable way of solving problems. (Cantor, 2003) ===

===Screen violence may also blunt the normally negative human reaction to real violence and its consequences.No one suggests that watching media violence is the sole reason that children commit violent acts, either as youth or adults. But it is one risk factor for youth violence. (Cantor, 2003) ===

===**Makers of movies, television programs and video games argue that their products do not directly cause real-life violence. Many watch these media but few commit serious acts as a result, they say. An “association” of media exposure with aggression or violence could work both ways, they note: Violent children may be more drawn to violent media. This warning is either valid, or there to appease interest groups. **===

__**The Facts: **__
 * A review of research in the 1990s concludes that there is a positive and significant correlation between television violence and aggressive behavior, regardless of age. Media exposure in general also increases alcohol and tobacco use, and leads to earlier onset of sexual activity. (Villani, 2001)


 * Viewing media violence is thought to increase hostile feelings, decrease emotional response to the depiction of violence and injury and lead to violent behavior through imitation. (Cantor, 2002)


 * A 15-year study found that childhood exposure to media violence, identification with aggressive TV characters and perceiving TV violence as real all predict aggressive behavior in young adults. (Huesmann, 2003)


 * A U.S. surgeon general’s report on youth violence said that while there is strong evidence that exposure to media violence can increase children’s aggressive behavior in the short term, many questions remain regarding long-term effects on violent behavior. (US Department of Health, 1993)

   
 * The effect that media violence has on behavior is greater that the effect of lead exposure to low IQ in children, is twice the size of the relationship between calcium intake and bone density, and was second only to the association between smoking and lung cancer, according to one frequently cited study. (Paik and Comstock, 1994)
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: medium;">A large body of experimental, correlational and long-term research on TV and movie violence indicates that media violence causes real-world aggression. (Villani, 2001)
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Adolescents and young adults who watch a lot of television are more likely to commit aggressive acts against others. (Johnson et. al, 2002)
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Playing violent video games causes increases in aggressive behavior as well as in several other aggression-related variables and causes decreases in socially acceptable behavior. (Johnson et. al, 2002)
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Regardless of attempts by government and other interested groups to limit the amount of violence reaching American families, parents play a critical role in guiding what reaches their children. (Anderson CA, 2003)
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Most evidence indicates that violent behavior seldom results from a single cause, but rather from multiple factors converging over time, the surgeon general’s report says. The influence of the mass media is best viewed as one of the many potential factors that help to shape behavior, including violent behavior. (Huesmann, et. al, 2003)

=__<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">References __=

Anderson CA. Video games and aggressive behavior. In Ravitch d and Viteritti, JP, eds, //Kid Stuff: Marketing Sex and Violence to America’s Children//. 2003. Baltimore and London:The Johns Hopkins University Press. 157.

Anderson CA, Bushman BJ. Effects of violent video games on aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition, aggressive affect, physiological arousal, and prosocial behavior: A meta-analytic review of the scientific literature. //Psych Science//. 2001 Sept;12(5):353-359.

Cantor J. The psychological effects of media violence on children and adolescents. Presented at the Colloquium on Television and violence in Society. Montreal, PQ, Canada. April 19, 2002. []. Accessed September 5, 2003.

Huesmann LR, Moise-Titus J, Podolski C, Eron L. Longtiudinal relatiosn between children’s exposure to TV violence and their agtgresive and violent behavior in young adulthood: 1977-1992. //Dev Psychol//. 2003 Mar;39(2):201-21.

Johnson JG, Cohen P, Smailes E, Kasen S, Brook JS. Television viewing and aggressive behavior during adolescence and adulthood. //Science//. 2002 Mar 29;295:2468-2471.

Paik H, Comstock G. The effects of television violence on antisocial behavior: a meta-analysis. //Communication Research//. 1994;21:516-546.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. //Youth Violence: A Report of the Surgeon General//. Rockville, MD. 91

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. //Youth Violence: A Report of the Surgeon General//. Rockville, MD. 94.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. //Youth Violence: A Report of the Surgeon General//. Rockville, MD. 87.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. //Youth Violence: A Report of the Surgeon General//. Rockville, MD. 1993.

Villani S. Impact of media on children and adolescents: a 10-year review of the research. //J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry//. 2001 Apr;40(4):392-401