The effects of violent video games on adolescents, the overlooked influence of development.

Viewing aggression as a multivariate construct: GAM and violent video games

A variety of factors have been shown to contribute to aggressive behavior across adolescence. Gender, family (e.g., low parental involvement, verbal, and physical aggression), peer (e.g., aggressive or nonaggressive, popularity), school (e.g., achievement, dropout status), and personality (e.g., self-esteem, trait hostility) factors have all been linked to aggression. For instance, a positive correlation between parental rejection and peer-nominated aggression. Low academic orientation and dropping out of school with violent behavior. Research also indicates that peers of both adolescent boys and girls tend to encourage and reinforce aggressive behavior. Furthermore, the potential influence of peers, parents, and school may vary across adolescence. For instance, conformity to antisocial peer pressure increases throughout early adolescence, peaking around age 15.

Like video game play, peer, family, and school factors are considered situational factors in the GAM. Although many factors contribute to aggressive behavior across adolescence, when assessing the impact of video game violence on aggression, the most frequently assessed factors (other than violent video games) are gender and personality. Although physical aggression (e.g., fighting, bullying) and violent crimes (e.g., school shootings) are typically perpetrated by adolescent boys, the effects of violent video games do not consistently vary by gender. Similarly, research assessing the influence of video game violence as a function of personality has contradictory findings. For instance, whereas some studies find greater effects of video game violence on aggression for individuals high in trait hostility, other studies find no moderator effects for trait hostility and video game violence.

One possibility for the inconsistent moderator effects involving violent video games, gender, and personality is that other situational factors associated with aggression during adolescence (e.g., peers and family factors) were not assessed. Given that aggression is a multivariate construct, a multivariate assessment of the major personological (e.g., hostility, impulsivity) and situational factors (e.g., peers, parents, school) that contribute to aggression during adolescence is warranted. Research on television violence suggests that such an assessment would be valuable. For instance, a combination of exposure to television violence, lack of parental monitoring, and amount of television watched best accounted for aggressive behavior in elementary and middle-school children. The number of risk factors affecting children and adolescents is an important determinant of aggression. Garbarino feels that most children can cope with one or two risk factors (e.g., impoverished family, exposure to violence) without increasing their aggressive behavior. However, when three or more risk factors are present, aggressive behavior is more likely than not. It may be that violent video games primarily impact the aggressive behavior of adolescents who have a certain number of risk factors associated with aggression (e.g., impulsivity, violent home, low parental involvement, aggressive peer group). Adolescents without these risk factors, in contrast, may face little to no risk of increasing their aggressive behavior by playing violent video games.

The construct of "risk of violence" is determined by "contextual," "dynamic," and "continuous" influences. Risk of violence is "contextual" in that violent acts occur in particular settings (e.g., school) and under certain circumstances (e.g., peer rejection). The potential for violence changes from day to day, and therefore, the risk of violence is "dynamic." Finally, risk of violence is "continuous" in that the probability of violent acts varies along a continuum. Risk assessment moves beyond identifying "dangerous" adolescents. Instead, risk approaches to violence determine the likelihood of an adolescent acting violently and the nature of that violence (e.g., physical or verbal assault) given certain circumstances (e.g., bumped into) and contexts (surrounded by aggressive peers. To better understand the impact of exposure to violent video games on aggressive behavior, research needs to move beyond two- and three-factor assessments (e.g., video game violence, trait hostility, and gender) and employ a risk factor approach. Aggressive behavior, in its various forms (e.g., physical or verbal assault), is the result of the cumulative influence of a variety of factors, involving a multitude of contexts. Thus, video game violence research needs to reflect the fact that the risk of violent behavior is contextual, dynamic, and continuous.

Furthermore, it is imperative that developmental issues be considered when assessing the influence of violent video games on aggressive behavior. As previously reviewed, research has demonstrated that biological (e.g., adrenarche, gonadarche, synaptic pruning) and psychosocial (e.g., peers, parents, siblings, school) components of aggression differentially impact the adolescent across development: early adolescents appear to be more vulnerable than late adolescents. Thus, it may be that the risks associated with violent video games are the greatest during early adolescence (the developmental period that adolescents play violent video games the most) because, overall, there are more risk factors for aggression during early adolescence than during later periods of adolescent development.

Summary

The issue of whether or not video game violence influences aggression has been addressed for over 20 years. Recent acts of extreme violence involving teens and associated links to violent video games have led to an increased interest in video game violence. Meta-analysis suggests that violent video games, in fact, do influence aggressive behavior, aggressive affects, aggressive cognition, and physiological arousal. Research by others has provided empirical support for the GAM. However, the influence of violent video games as a function of developmental changes across adolescence has yet to be addressed.

The biological and psychosocial changes of adolescence are associated with a peak in aggressive behavior during early adolescence, the exact period in which violent video game play is at its zenith. Applying the GAM to adolescent development, it appears that the effects of violent video games should have their greatest impact during early adolescence. Although research has assessed video game violence during different developmental periods, currently there are not enough studies to evaluate the influence of violent video games across development. Thus, more research is necessary to investigate the influence of violent video games during different developmental periods of adolescence. Violent video games pose a "public health threat to children and youth." More research is necessary to determine the periods of adolescent development during which video games pose the greatest threat. Furthermore, future research needs to assess the major risk factors associated with aggression during adolescence along with violent video games. Such an assessment should provide a better understanding of the health threat accompanying exposure to violent video games.