Does playing violent video games cause aggression? A longitudinal intervention study

Related research

• Technical Report2021

  EN

  The impacts of violent video games from an Australian perspective

  Şiddet İçeren Video Oyunlarının Etkileri: Avustralya Perspektifi

  Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications · Australian Government, Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications

  Twelve years after the Attorney-General's review, the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications commissioned this follow-up to revisit whether violent video games (VVGs) harm Australian players, this time addressing aggression, attitudes toward women and youth mental health. Synthesising studies from 2009 to 2021 against explicit quality criteria (sample size, design, controls), the report draws three findings: exposure to VVGs is unlikely to meaningfully impact real-world aggressive behaviour; VVGs do not appear to shape attitudes toward women or worsen youth mental-health outcomes; and international evidence from North America, Europe and Asia generalises to the Australian context. The authors note that effect sizes shrink to negligible once gender, prior aggression and other third variables are controlled, and recommend against commissioning further Australian-specific research on these questions because new local studies are unlikely to change the cross-jurisdictional conclusion.

  • Violence & Aggression
  • Behaviour
  • Mental Health
  • Methodology

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• Brief Report2021

  EN

  Exposure to Bullying, Childhood Trauma, and Violence in Video Games Among Perpetrators of Mass Homicides: A Brief Report

  Toplu Cinayet Faillerinde Akran Zorbalığına, Çocukluk Travmasına ve Video Oyunlarındaki Şiddete Maruz Kalma: Kısa Bir Rapor

  Sanchez, E. & Ferguson, C. J. · Stetson University · Journal of Mass Violence Research

  Sanchez and Ferguson tested three childhood-life-event factors that public discourse has long pinned on perpetrators of mass shootings — childhood trauma and abuse, exposure to bullying, and exposure to violent video games — using a preregistered comparison of 169 male firearm mass-homicide perpetrators against existing research samples of same-age, same-gender non-perpetrators. Mass-homicide perpetrators reported substantially higher rates of childhood trauma and abuse than the comparison samples, but no elevation in exposure to bullying. On video games, the perpetrators had played fewer violent games than the matched non-perpetrator samples, contradicting the cultural narrative that violent gameplay is a meaningful risk marker for mass violence. The authors argue that public-policy and prevention efforts should be redirected toward childhood-trauma intervention rather than media-violence regulation.

  • Violence & Aggression
  • Mental Health

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• Meta-analysis2020

  EN

  Reexamining the Findings of the American Psychological Association’s 2015 Task Force on Violent Media: A Meta-Analysis

  Amerikan Psikoloji Derneği’nin 2015 Şiddet İçeren Medya Görev Gücü Bulgularını Yeniden İnceleme: Bir Meta-Analiz

  Ferguson, C. J., Copenhaver, A., & Markey, P. · Stetson University, Lindsey Wilson College & Villanova University · Perspectives on Psychological Science

  Ferguson, Copenhaver and Markey reanalysed the evidence base used in the American Psychological Association’s 2015 Task Force on Violent Media — the report whose technical document is also indexed in this library — to test whether its conclusions about violent video games and aggression were warranted. They argue that the original task-force meta-analysis omitted most of the relevant studies in the field and did not control for study quality, citation bias, or unstandardised aggression measures. After re-running the analysis on a more complete and quality-weighted study pool, the authors find that violent video games are not meaningfully linked to aggressive behaviour and that the data did not justify the strength of the 2015 statement. They call on the APA to retract or substantially revise the 2015 resolution and accompanying technical report.

  • Violence & Aggression
  • Methodology

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