Violent Video Games and Young People. (2010). Harvard Mental Health Letter, 27(4), 1-3.
With the number of video games out there, I am finding that the majority of them have some level of violence within the game playing. Some concerns about the violent video games are that the child becomes fully engrossed in the game and its characters. The child is the one making the decisions to inflict violent or aggressive behavior. An opposing view is the popularity of these types of violent video games versus the actual crime rates. The popularity of the games is increasing whereas the violent crime rate is decreasing. If the games caused aggressive behavior, wouldn’t the crime rate be going up as well?
Edwards, S. (2010). Game Plan. On The Brain, 16(3). 3-4.
Retrieved from http://hms.harvard.edu/public/news/2011/013111_bickham_olson/index .html Controversy over violent video games dates back even further than most people are aware of and it seems that we still have the same questions. First, if I let my child be exposed to or even play violent video games, will they start showing signs of aggression? Second, are video games beneficial because they teach cognitive learning skills? While a child plays any video game they are using and improving their hand-eye coordination in addition to planning skills that will help with childhood development. Finally, does the duration of playing violent video games make an overall difference?
Hastings, E. C., Karas, T. L., Winsler, A., Way, E., Madigan, A., & Tyler, S. (2009). Young
Children's Video/Computer Game Use: Relations with School Performance and Behavior. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 30(10), 638-649. doi:10.1080/01612840903050414 There are many studies out there providing both supporting and opposing results regarding the link between violent video games, aggressive behavior and academic standing. Researchers