New Study Links Youth Violence to Depression & Peers, Not Video Games
New Study Links Youth Violence to Depression & Peers, Not Video Games
September 14, 2009
Dr. Christopher Ferguson (left) of Texas A&M International University dropped GamePolitics a line this morning to say that he has published a new study with some interesting findings about media violence.
Ferguson's new work (co-authored by Claudia San Miguel and Richard Hartley) appears in the Journal of Pediatrics and maintains that youth violence is linked to depression and peer delinquency, not consumption of violent media. Ferguson summarized his findings in an e-mail to GP:
We examined multiple risk factors for violence in a sample of 603 mostly Hispanic youth... We assessed results across seven separate measures of youth violence and serious youth aggression, including the Child Behavior Checklist aggression and rule-breaking scales as reported by both children and their parents, involvement in violent and non-violent criminal behaviors and bullying behaviors against peers.
We found that depressed mood and association with delinquent peers were the strongest and most consistent risk factors for youth violence across outcome measures. Parents' use of verbal cruelty in domestic relationships and the child's antisocial personality traits were also reasonably strong predictors of violent behavior. By contrast video game violence exposure and television violence exposure were not found to be predictors of youth violence.
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Posted 02/09/10 at 03:41pm
Valdearg: @DS: I have to admit, I chuckled when I saw the 4 Feb 2010 on that post.. >.<
Valdearg: @DS: I have to admit, I chuckled when I saw the 4 Feb 2010 on that post.. >.<
Posted 02/09/10 at 03:31pm
DarkSaber: Hm, Bioshock. Not that Zippy likes to beat the dead horse by ranting about it for TWO $&%£ING YEARS!
DarkSaber: Hm, Bioshock. Not that Zippy likes to beat the dead horse by ranting about it for TWO $&%£ING YEARS!
Posted 02/09/10 at 03:30pm
DarkSaber: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.173063-Bioshock-yet-another-zippy-rant
DarkSaber: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.173063-Bioshock-yet-another-zippy-rant
Posted 02/09/10 at 03:20pm
DarkSaber: Although, unsurprisingly, he's just being called an idiot alot and criticised for being as illegible as always.
DarkSaber: Although, unsurprisingly, he's just being called an idiot alot and criticised for being as illegible as always.
Posted 02/09/10 at 03:18pm
DarkSaber: Oh good lord, I just found Zippy on The Escapist.
DarkSaber: Oh good lord, I just found Zippy on The Escapist.
Posted 02/09/10 at 03:14pm
Valdearg: IE: Male body/Female Mind or Female Body/Male Mind.
Valdearg: IE: Male body/Female Mind or Female Body/Male Mind.
Posted 02/09/10 at 03:13pm
Valdearg: @Zip: TG == Transgendered/Transsexual.
Valdearg: @Zip: TG == Transgendered/Transsexual.
Posted 02/09/10 at 03:09pm
DarkSaber: Forget it Zippy, it's an abbreviation of a big word and so would be wasted on you
DarkSaber: Forget it Zippy, it's an abbreviation of a big word and so would be wasted on you
Posted 02/09/10 at 03:07pm
ZippyDSMlee: Vlag:....TG?
ZippyDSMlee: Vlag:....TG?
Posted 02/09/10 at 03:02pm
Valdearg: @DS: Im sure that's what they'd do if it wasn't legal to just tell Gays/TG's to "Screw off," just because they're who they are.
Valdearg: @DS: Im sure that's what they'd do if it wasn't legal to just tell Gays/TG's to "Screw off," just because they're who they are.
Posted 02/09/10 at 02:50pm
DarkSaber: Whoever told him/her/it that is dumb. They should have done like most companies and made-up some bullshit, yet legal, reason for it not getting the job.
DarkSaber: Whoever told him/her/it that is dumb. They should have done like most companies and made-up some bullshit, yet legal, reason for it not getting the job.
Posted 02/09/10 at 01:16pm
Andrew Eisen: Shouldn't be. Spirit of anti-discrimination laws would seem to include sexual orientation (and eye color). Plus there's always equal protection and such. Never know until you try.
Andrew Eisen: Shouldn't be. Spirit of anti-discrimination laws would seem to include sexual orientation (and eye color). Plus there's always equal protection and such. Never know until you try.
Posted 02/09/10 at 01:10pm
Andrew Eisen: Should have sued (unless that wasn't an option given her financial situation or something). Might have won.
Andrew Eisen: Should have sued (unless that wasn't an option given her financial situation or something). Might have won.
Posted 02/09/10 at 01:00pm
Valdearg: Story about a Male to Female TG who was expressly told she wouldn't be given a job because she was TG. Its not the main point of the story, but explicit, perfectly legal discrimination like this exists.
Valdearg: Story about a Male to Female TG who was expressly told she wouldn't be given a job because she was TG. Its not the main point of the story, but explicit, perfectly legal discrimination like this exists.
Posted 02/09/10 at 12:53pm
Valdearg: Lol, I don't know. It may very well be legal to do so. Though that might able to fall under the "race" restriction, depending on how that point is argued.
Valdearg: Lol, I don't know. It may very well be legal to do so. Though that might able to fall under the "race" restriction, depending on how that point is argued.
Posted 02/09/10 at 12:51pm
Valdearg: I don't think they do have any legal recourse. I'll have to dig around, but I seriously believe that if the law doesn't specifically mention Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity, they can still be discriminated against in those 29 states.
Valdearg: I don't think they do have any legal recourse. I'll have to dig around, but I seriously believe that if the law doesn't specifically mention Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity, they can still be discriminated against in those 29 states.
Posted 02/09/10 at 12:51pm
Andrew Eisen: Eye color isn't covered either but I doubt it would be considered legal to refuse to hire people with green eyes.
Andrew Eisen: Eye color isn't covered either but I doubt it would be considered legal to refuse to hire people with green eyes.
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Comments
Duh. My peers depressed me long before I found video games.
On an actually serious note I have suffered from depression and social issues for a good deal of my life, video games didn't even enter the picture until late second grade early third.
This should not be surprising. It's too bad they couldn't find a sample more representative of the country as a whole, but you have to take what you can, and it was conducted in Texas. Still a good bit of research.
Isn't this kind of an obvious conclusion? I bet next we are going to hear that poor exonomic conditions also contributes to violence...
One needs to state the obvious for the ass hats who choose to ignore it.
And for the ass hat to continue ot ignore it ,at least it's out there.
Talkin about Jack Thompson?
We found that depressed mood and association with delinquent peers were the strongest and most consistent risk factors for youth violence across outcome measures. Parents' use of verbal cruelty in domestic relationships and the child's antisocial personality traits were also reasonably strong predictors of violent behavior. By contrast video game violence exposure and television violence exposure were not found to be predictors of youth violence.
This is where I blame bad parenting, poverty, and the child's psyche for the youth violence not video game, or TV. I've seen and hear report that youth violence was caused by bad parenting (even abuses like sexual), and sometime a child can be born with antisocial personality, or sociopath. How do you think Ted Bundy, Son of Sam, Charles Manson got those from? Video game? Yeah, I bet Son of Sam killed people because he played Grand Theft Auto 4, and I bet Charles Manson killed women in his apartment because he was a big fan of Manhunt series.
No, it was never video game, it was on how the child was raise or/and how they were born. IT WAS NEVER VIDEO GAME THAT MAKE THEM DO IT!!!!!!
*cue JT, Anderson, and Bushman saying Ferguson is a tool of the industry and covering up the true cause of youth violence in 3...2...1*
I understand they're always going to be people like them crying foul...And the traitor john bruce & the immoral crusaders cares more about money and attention than "for the children."
Hoping the study is accurate.
one phrase comes to mind
NO $**T SHERLOCK
dammit, beat me to it.
---
I once had a dream about God. In it, he was looking down upon the planet and the havoc we recked and he said unto us, "Damn Kids get off my lawn!"
Ferguson given a look at his history of doing Psychology at Texas and the way he does his research should be an interesting comparison compared to the likes of Anderson, Bushman and other people who have tried many times to link violence in Videogames to real life violence.
Hey, even politicians who seem to be so busy running their countries and singing in laws don't have enough time to study the facts hard enough to realize that their legislation on violence and pornography in Videogames is not really solving any of society's problems.
And on the flip side, violence and pornography in videogames when done right might also be better as it talks about the strong and uncomfortable themes of society's problems done though an entertainment medium and not though the news that can be even more distressing because the news (claims) to report on real life events, where videogames and movies can be fictional where the themes are used to portray the story about issues in real life.
It is only just my idea from what I have seen/played though videogames though, but my opinions can be different compared to other people on here.
Currently taking a Effects and Prosses of Mass Communication class, where we talk about just this. The professor took a poll at the begining of class. "How many of you watch Violent shows?" Everyone raises there hands. "How many of you actualy participate in Violent crimes" Nobody raises there hand. Point is, Violence doesn't occur becuase you see it or play it on a video game. It occurs when you are prone to it anyway. Usualy that means your eather not right psycologicly or you have other issues such as Depression.
Reminds me of another point I learned in my years of being bullied. Bullies Bully only because they suffer from there own personal issues. The only way they can make themselves feel better about themselves is by hurting others and making themselves feel more important. Nothing to do with video games.
Duh.
The only reply on the planet that fits this article
Never underestimate the power of idiots in large amounts.