Effects of Violent Video Games on Violent Behavior: Results of Longitudinal Moderation Analyses

• In Event: Violence

Abstract

There is an ongoing controversial public and scientific debate on the (causal) effects of violent video game consumption on aggression. On the one hand, meta-analytic reviews show a positive association to various constructs of aggression. On the other hand, there are other reviews that question the reliability of these results due to publication bias or crude measures and conclude that there is little support that media violence has a meaningful effect on real-life violent behavior.
The aim of this study was to investigate the link between violent media consumption and violent behavior from the perspective of criminology, using measures of violent delinquency. Data was used from a longitudinal study comprising 1.269 adolescents (aged 13 years at t1 and 15 years at t2). Participants completed measures of violent video game usage (gaming frequency, used game titles and usage of specific violent game genres) and violent delinquency (bodily harm and robbery) in the context of school and otherwise. Results indicate that the use of violent video games increases the risk of violent behavior. Moderation analyses show, that family, peer group and school related variables seem to act as moderators in this relationship bringing enhanced risk to youth with a problematic social background.

Authors

• Florian Rehbein, Criminological Research Institute of Lower Saxony

• Dirk Baier, Criminological Research Institute of Lower Saxony

• Thomas Moessle, Criminological Research Institute of Lower Saxony