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The effects of violent video games on adolescents The overlooked influence of development

1359-1789/02/$ - see front matter © 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. doi: 10.1 016/S1359-1789(02)00056-3

1.1. Consequences of violent video games as a function of development: current research


Over the past two decades, more than 20 studies have assessed the relationship between violent video game play and aggression during the adolescent period (including late-adolescent college students).
Both correlational (e.g., Fling et al., 1992; Griffiths & Hunt, 1995) and experimental (e.g., Anderson & Dill, 2000; Ballard & Lineberger, 1999) studies offer support for a connection between exposure to violent video games and aggressive behavior. For instance, Fling et al. (1992) found a positive association between video game play and se1f- and teacher-reported aggression in a group of 11- to 17 -year-olds, Anderson and Dill (2000) demonstrated a link between playing violent video games and laboratory aggression in college students. Lynch, Gentile, Olson, and van Brederode (2001), in an assessment of eighth and ninth graders, identified significant associations between violent video game play and aggressive attitudes and behavior.

Given that the primary purpose of this review is to integrate aggression theory, video game research, and adolescent development, only those articles specifically relevant to this task will be discussed in detail. To help integrate theory, research, and development, without having to reevaluate the research on a study-by-study basis, summaries, and conclusions reported in other review articles will be used. Readers interested in study-by-study critiques of the video game literature should read one of the following articles: Bensley and Van Eenwyk (2001), Dill and Dill (1998), or Griffiths (1999).

Most studies assessing the influence of violent video games on aggression have assessed part, but not all, of the adolescent age range (i.e., early, middle, and late). For instance, Co1we1 and Payne (2000) assessed 12- to l-l-year-olds, Lynch et al. (2001) assessed eighth and ninth graders, and van Schie and Wiegman (1997) sampled seventh and eighth graders (see Griffiths, 1999, for additional studies and associated age ranges). Other studies have

1.2. Theories of aggression and violent video games


Theoretical explanations for the link between exposure to violent video games and aggression have been posited using several classic theories of aggression.
For instance, when applied to video game violence, Bandura's (1986) socia11earning theory hypothesizes that exposure to video game violence would evoke behavioral mimicry, reinforce already existing aggressive habits, and increase internal arousal. In tum, this internal arousal could be interpreted as anger, which increases the likelihood of aggression. Playing violent video games, according to Berkowitz's (1984) cognitive neoassociation model of aggression, should create ancl!or activate networks of aggressive thoughts, feelings, memories, and beliefs. An additional explanation for the link between violent video game play and aggressive behavior comes from the literature on social information processing in aggressive children. Dodge (1980) contends that aggressive children act aggressively, in part, due to a hostile attributiona1 bias. That is, when exposed to a frustrating social stimulus (e.g., being bumped into a puddle), a hostile attributiona1 bias results in cue distortion, which leads aggressive children to interpret the stimulus as an aggressive cue and respond aggressively (Dodge & Frame, 1982). Social experiences, such as violent video game play, may lead to the formation of a hostile attributiona1 bias. For instance, Kirsh (1998) induced a hostile attributiona1 bias in third and fourth grade children through violent video game play.

More recently, Anderson and Bushman's (2002) General Aggression Model (GAM) has been developed, in part, to account for the effects of violent video games on aggressive behavior. The GAM, described in more detail below, is compatible with theories proposed by Bandura (1986), Berkowitz (1984), and Dodge (1980). Although the GAM has received empirical support (Anderson & Bushman, 2001; Lynch et al., 2001), additional research is necessary to validate the interactive nature of the various GAM components as well as establish the ability of the GAM to predict aggressive behavior. Furthermore, the GAM has yet to be integrated with the developmental issues surrounding aggressive behavior during adolescence.

The present article is organized as follows. Sections 2 and 3 describe the nature of adolescent video game play and development of aggressive behavior during adolescence, respectively. A review of biological and psychosocial causes of adolescent aggressive behavior follows. Section 5 discusses violent video game playas a function of developmental changes in adolescent aggression. Section 6 describes the GAM in detail. Next, the importance of a developmental approach to the assessment violent video games is addressed. Finally, the notions of aggression as a multivariate construct and risk assessment are introduced and discussed in terms of video game research.

The pattern of video game play across adolescence mirrors the development of aggressive behavior across adolescence. For instance, Lindeman et al. (1997) assessed 11-, 14-, and 17- year-olds responses to hypothetical interpersonal conflict situations involving two different types of aggression. The first conflict situation assessed direct aggression (i.e., mean teasing) and the second conflict situation assessed indirect aggression (i.e., spreading rumors). Consistent with gender differences in real-life aggression (Leschied, Cummings, Van Brunschot, Cunningham, & Saunders, 2000), Lindeman et al. (1997) found that aggressive responding to hypothetical conflict scenarios was more frequently seen in males than in females. However, both males and females showed curvilinear patterns for both types of

Apart from psychosocial factors, biological changes during early adolescence, both hormonal and cortical, may influence the aforementioned increase in aggressive behavior. During early adolescence, there is an increase in adrenal hormones (adrenarche) and gonadal hormones (gonadarche). Spear (2000) suggests that adrenarche is a contributing factor to adjustment and behavior problems. Furthermore, gonadarche is positively (albeit weakly)

Adolescents play video games with the greatest frequency during the developmental period during which they respond to provocation situations with the greatest frequency of

Regardless of the reasons why adolescents play violent video games, consequences of such play have been shown to negatively impact social and emotional functioning in children, adolescents, and young adults (Bushman & Anderson, 2001). To explain how violent video games influence aggressive behavior, Anderson and Bushman (2002) have posited the GAM. Of note, this model can be used to explain both the development of aggression across adolescence and individual differences in susceptibility to the influence of violent video games. According to the GAM, personological variables (e.g., trait hostility, attitudes toward violence) and situational variables (e.g., exposure to real-world or media violence) interact to influence an individual's present internal state. Within an individual's internal state, cognitions (e.g., aggressive scripts, hostile thoughts), affects (e.g., hostile feelings), and arousals (e.g., heart rate, blood pressure) influence one another. For example, hostile thoughts (a cognition) can increase hostile feelings (an affect). Subsequently, cognitions, affects, and arousal interact to influence an individual's interpretation of an aggressive act (e.g., harm-

Violent video games negatively influence socio-emotiona1 functioning during the adolescent period (Anderson & Bushman, 2001). However, given that biological and psychosocial changes occur during adolescence, exposure to violent video games should differentially affect the processes operating within the GAM across adolescence. By the time children reach adolescence, personological and internal state components of the GAM, such as cognition, affects, and arousal, are already in place. However, between early and later adolescence, these variables will continue to develop and be influenced by current environments. The general increase in aggression that accompanies early adolescence (Lindeman et al., 1997; Loeber & Stouthamer-Loeber, 1998; Steinberg, 2001) should affect the internal state variables of the GAM by reinforcing and increasing aggressive cognitions, aggressive affects, and arousal. Exposure to violent video should further affect the aggressive nature of the adolescent by creating and/or reinforcing aggressive cognitions and scripts, by creating and/or reinforcing hostile affects, and by increasing aggression-related arousal. According to the GAM, cognitions, affects, and arousals directly influence one another. Thus, the increases in physiological arousal (Lynch et al., 2001), aggressive cognitions, and hostile affects (Anderson & Bushman, 2001) that follow violent video game play should interact with one another to negatively bias internal state variables. Although the effects of violent video game play impact early, middle, and late adolescents, the influence of violent video games should be more pronounced in early adolescence than in middle and late adolescence. The heightened physiological arousal experienced by early adolescents (Spear, 2000) should interact with internal state arousal caused by violent video games to create a cumulative level

8. 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 (Leschied et al., 2000). For instance, Viemero (1996) found a positive correlation between parental rejection and peer-nominated aggression. Ellickson, Saner, and McGuigan (1997) linked low academic orientation and dropping out of school with violent behavior. Research also indicates that peers of both adolescent boys (Dishion, Andrews, & Crosby, 1995) and girls (Harris, 1994) 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 (Berndt, 1979).

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 (Leschied et al., 2000), the effects of violent video games do not consistently vary by gender (see Dill & Dill, 1998, for a review). 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 (e.g., Study 1, Anderson

S.J. Kirsh / Aggression and Violent Behavior 8 (2003) 377-389


and Dill, 2000), other studies find no moderator effects for trait hostility and video game violence (e.g., Study 2, Anderson & Dill, 2000;
Lynch et al., 2001). However, as Lynch et al. (2001) contend, few studies have adequately addressed personality and video game moderator issues.

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, Singer et al. (1999) found that 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. Garbarino (1999) contends that 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.

According to Borum (2000), 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

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DMU Timestamp: February 01, 2013 22:13





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