The Effects of Media Violence on Children.

Author: Richardson, John E. / Ledingham, C. Anne, C.Psych. / Ledingham, Jane E., Ph.D. / National Clearinghouse on Family Violence, Health Canada
Source: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca [29.04.2004]

Abstract

(canadian text) There is a large body of research that documents the way in which exposure to television influences children generally, and much of this relates to the effects of exposure to violent content in programming. The majority of studies reviewed below deal with these two areas of content. However, the media that children are exposed to are broader than television alone. There is almost no research on the effects of violence portrayed in newspapers or books on children, and very little on the effects of films (either shown in theatres or shown in the home on VCRs) and video games. What little research there is on these latter subjects will be noted, but in general it is the research on television that has served as the model for how exposure to violence in the media affects children. This is probably because watching television is such a high frequency event for children and because violence is portrayed on television as occurring much more frequently than it is encountered in everyday life. We will, nevertheless, attempt to extrapolate from these findings to speculate on how changes in medium and technology may alter the way that children are affected.