The average American child watches 13,000 violent deaths on television between the ages of 5 and 15 and far more fights and other violent incidents, according to "Understanding Psychology." The textbook reports that "most experts" believe that viewing this much TV violence causes a large number of children to behave more aggressively. TV violence also causes children to commit more crimes as children and adults, and abuse their children and spouses as adults, according to "An Invitation to Health" textbook.
Theories
Children who watch more TV violence are more likely to be aggressive for several reasons, "Understanding Psychology" states. First, TV violence teaches children that the incidents they watch are a "legitimate response" to similar types of situations they encounter in real life. TV violence also "distorts" children's understanding of behavior and, thus, leads them to interpret nonaggressive behavior they view in real life as aggressive. Additionally, TV violence "desensitizes" children to violence, making them less outraged when they see it in real life.
Observations
Violence on television has caused children to behave more aggressively afterward in more than 50 years of laboratory tests, according to the Media Awareness Network. In 1956, children who watched the violent "Woody Woodpecker" cartoon were "much more likely" after the program ended to hit others and break things than children who watched the nonviolent "The Little Red Hen" cartoon. In 1963, preschool children who watched TV violence were as violent afterward as children who watched staged real-life violence and more violent than kids who watched no TV.
Evidence
Children who watched more violence on television were more likely to misbehave as young children, teenagers and adults, according to the Media Awareness Network. University of Michigan professor Leonard Eron studied 856 third-grade students in 1960. As 8-year-olds, they were more aggressive in school. As teenagers, they were more likely to be arrested by police officers. As adults, they were more likely to be convicted of serious felonies and abuse their children and spouses.
Role Models
Communities become more violent after television is introduced because children imitate what they see on television, according to the Media Awareness Network. In one study, the number of fights and injuries in all the schools in northern Canadian communities that had no television until the 1970s or 1980s increased significantly shortly after TV was introduced. On one occasion, children formed a "Red Demons" gang that disrupted the school days after watching a "Happy Days" episode featuring a "Red Demons" gang.
Effects
TV violence harms children by making them more fearful, the Media Awareness Network reports. A 1999 Brown University study concluded that children who had televisions in their bedroom and, thus, watched more violent TV were more likely to have nightmares and other sleep disorders. A 1998 study of 2,000 third- through eighth-graders in Ohio concluded that children's anxiety and depression "increased in proportion" to the amount of TV violence they watched.
References
- "Understanding Psychology"; Robert Feldman; 2002
- "An Invitation to Health"; Dianne Hales; 2003
- Media Awareness Network: Research on the Effects of Media Violence
- "Essentials for Health and Wellness"; Gordon Edlin, Eric Golanty and Kelli McCormack Brown; 2000
