Is Video Game Violence The Cause Of Juvenile Delinquency?Essay Preview: Is Video Game Violence The Cause Of Juvenile Delinquency?Report this essayInteractive video games and the Internet have become the entertainment of choice for Americas adolescents. Nearly seven in ten homes with children now have a personal computer (68.2%), and 41% of homes with children have access to the Internet. Annual video game revenues in the United States exceed $10 billion, nearly double the amount of money Americans spend going to the movies. On average, American children who have home video game machines play with them about 90 minutes a day.
The impact of video games containing violence has recently become a focus of research because children are theoretically more susceptible to behavioral influences when they are active participants than when they are observers. To date, violent video games have not been studied as extensively as violent television or movies. The number of studies investigating the impact of such games on youth aggression is small, there have been none on serious violence, and none has been longitudinal.
Many studies about video games have been conducted. A number of studies are conducted by splitting a certain number of people into two groups, one group playing violent games, and the other playing non-violent games. Shortly after the allotted time of play, the subjects aggressive thoughts are measured. Almost always, the people who played the violent games had a much larger amount of aggressive thoughts than the people who played non-violent games.
We live in a world where real violence is everywhere, from neighborhood shootings to the war in Iraq. Were mostly helpless to stop it, and we just have to live through it, but when a juvenile turns on a violent video game and spends endless hours playing does it change their perception of the real world and cause them to become delinquent.
Many things can cause an inability to distinguish right from wrong, reality from fiction. A teen may be mentally unstable, too immature (not just in age, but in reasoning) to understand the magnitude of their actions or maybe theyre actually already a heartless, cold-blooded murderer who likes games. But does a video game make them that way.
Each time juveniles play violent video games, they rehearse aggressive scripts that teach and reinforce vigilance for enemies, aggressive action against others, expectations that others will behave aggressively, positive attitudes towards use of violence, and beliefs that violent solutions are effective and appropriate.
Video game play may affect children who lack protective factors such as nurturing relationship with at least one adult. In todays society in order to support a family both parents need to work and when this happens there is less time to spend at home with the children. Some parents would rather stick a video game controller in their childs hand just to keep them occupied and out of their way.
Given the ubiquity of violent game play among boys we might see a J-shaped curve similar to common findings in research on adult alcohol use: a little is healthy, but a lot becomes a health risk A moderate amount of interactive game play may be associated with a healthier social life, while increasing amounts of play may correlate with poor adjustment or emotional difficulties. A teenager who spends hours playing games over the Internet might miss key opportunities to build social skills with real people or lose opportunities for healthy physical activity.
Violent computer/video games have an even stronger effect on childrens aggression than T.V. because: the games are highly engaging and interactive, the games reward violent behavior, and because children repeat these behaviors over and over as they play. Psychologists know that each of these help learning – active involvement improves learning, rewards increase learning, and repeating something over and over increases learning. One of the greatest problems is that murder and violence performed by the hero of the game are practically never punished, and often even rewarded. This creates a feeling in children that violence is right, and kids simply adopt violent behavior because they see nothing wrong about it. The interactive element of the point-and-shoot computer/video games lets children practice their shooting skills, which eventually become reflexes.
–Michael S. Miller, M.C.A.–
Biological Responses To Violence Against Children in Kids’ Experiences in a Post-War Era
To understand the genetic causes and pathologies associated with childhood violence, we must understand that certain environmental and social behaviors promote violence. Here in the United States, this includes:
In some states, children are exposed to violence during adolescence and early adulthood.
In many states, early childhood is the major pathologic of aggression and later aggression.
In many states, violence begins during childhood but in childhood, social stress leads to a number of social changes and aggression develops in later life.
When violence is early and socially acceptable, it tends to accumulate in the children and, indeed, at some points, more will develop, including in adolescence. As children get older, they are given an opportunity for further social development during time of stress.
The social structure of children during adolescence, especially in states with a high homicide rate, also tend to promote aggression. As violence is more and more prevalent in late adolescence, these factors continue to increase in severity.
Children’s environments in the U.S. have an effect on their behavior–sometimes not just in their home state –because these children live in those environments, including a low homicide rate (15 or more), and they also tend to be more aggressive when they are in areas that may be less dangerous. In fact, children spend more than half these days outdoors, and the violent behavior of other children occurs often in places with an even higher homicide rate, such as in urban areas in an urbanized world.
As part of the National Violent Deaths Analysis, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs National Center for Injury Prevention and Control collects data on injuries reported to U.S. military agencies as of 2005. For military personnel in their early forties to late forties (when the war in Iraq broke out), the military reports to Veterans Affairs at least one case-specific injury with injuries at least once. By contrast, nonmilitarily active personnel report to Veterans Affairs less frequently and receive fewer reports of injury.
At the same time, these figures don’t take into account the role of stressors, including other physical and social stressors, in the behavior of children at the home and at school. The National Childhood Aggression Centers report that “the major contribution of child physical and social conditions to childhood aggression have been a lack of communication among school-aged children and lack of effective and supportive interventions.” In this context, the lack of communication is one critical part of child physical and social maltreatment. For those parents who don’t want their children harmed in their home environment, it is crucial to stop engaging in these behaviors immediately.
Children as Leaders
While there has been much research on the role of leaders at all levels of U.S. government at the military level, little is known about the differences in violence among children and youth in the U.S. by gender or ethnicity. While research on the effect of violence against children has focused primarily on the effect of leadership styles, there has nevertheless been more research, both by field and by sociologists, to understand the link between mothers’ and fathers’ youth violent activities.
These researchers have focused on youth violence because it is prevalent in young men — often youth with delinquent, low-income, or unemployed lives. They found that while many younger men and women with violent or
–Michael S. Miller, M.C.A.–
Biological Responses To Violence Against Children in Kids’ Experiences in a Post-War Era
To understand the genetic causes and pathologies associated with childhood violence, we must understand that certain environmental and social behaviors promote violence. Here in the United States, this includes:
In some states, children are exposed to violence during adolescence and early adulthood.
In many states, early childhood is the major pathologic of aggression and later aggression.
In many states, violence begins during childhood but in childhood, social stress leads to a number of social changes and aggression develops in later life.
When violence is early and socially acceptable, it tends to accumulate in the children and, indeed, at some points, more will develop, including in adolescence. As children get older, they are given an opportunity for further social development during time of stress.
The social structure of children during adolescence, especially in states with a high homicide rate, also tend to promote aggression. As violence is more and more prevalent in late adolescence, these factors continue to increase in severity.
Children’s environments in the U.S. have an effect on their behavior–sometimes not just in their home state –because these children live in those environments, including a low homicide rate (15 or more), and they also tend to be more aggressive when they are in areas that may be less dangerous. In fact, children spend more than half these days outdoors, and the violent behavior of other children occurs often in places with an even higher homicide rate, such as in urban areas in an urbanized world.
As part of the National Violent Deaths Analysis, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs National Center for Injury Prevention and Control collects data on injuries reported to U.S. military agencies as of 2005. For military personnel in their early forties to late forties (when the war in Iraq broke out), the military reports to Veterans Affairs at least one case-specific injury with injuries at least once. By contrast, nonmilitarily active personnel report to Veterans Affairs less frequently and receive fewer reports of injury.
At the same time, these figures don’t take into account the role of stressors, including other physical and social stressors, in the behavior of children at the home and at school. The National Childhood Aggression Centers report that “the major contribution of child physical and social conditions to childhood aggression have been a lack of communication among school-aged children and lack of effective and supportive interventions.” In this context, the lack of communication is one critical part of child physical and social maltreatment. For those parents who don’t want their children harmed in their home environment, it is crucial to stop engaging in these behaviors immediately.
Children as Leaders
While there has been much research on the role of leaders at all levels of U.S. government at the military level, little is known about the differences in violence among children and youth in the U.S. by gender or ethnicity. While research on the effect of violence against children has focused primarily on the effect of leadership styles, there has nevertheless been more research, both by field and by sociologists, to understand the link between mothers’ and fathers’ youth violent activities.
These researchers have focused on youth violence because it is prevalent in young men — often youth with delinquent, low-income, or unemployed lives. They found that while many younger men and women with violent or
According to the social learning theory children may imitate the acts of aggression as seen through the video game. Juveniles may learn that violence is a useful and appropriate way of solving ones problems. It is argued that video games desensitizes children to cruelty and may make them more likely to commit violent acts in real life.
Video games do have ratings to indicate when they have violence, strong language, mature sexual themes, and other content that may be inappropriate for a child. The ratings, established for the Entertainment Software Review Board, range from EC (meaning Early Childhood) – which indicates that the game is appropriate for kids ages 3 and older – to AO (for Adults Only) – which indicates that violent or graphic sexual content makes it appropriate only for adults. Even with the ratings and the violent content some parents still purchase these games for their young children without screening the video games.
Parents have an important role to play. Psychologists have found that when parents limit the amount of time as well as the types of games their children play, children are less likely to show aggressive behavior. Other research suggests that active parental involvement in childrens media usage-including discussing the inappropriateness of violent solutions to real life conflicts, reducing time spent on violent media, and generating alternative nonviolent solutions to problems-all can reduce the impact of media violence on children and youth.
People are not willing to accept that violent video games are the product of todays society, and that societys ills are rooted in larger problems then a small animated character shooting other animated characters with a machine gun. Parents are also unwilling to admit that, despite the influences their kids are subjected to that they are the ones that are responsible for their upbringing, and because these individuals do not accept this responsibility media, such as video games and their creators, they try to blame the makers of the video games.
Although there are great explanations to believe that video games may be the cause to some juvenile delinquency according to