Running head: VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES

Violent Video Games Increasing Violent Behavior and Aggression in Children Anna Barry Park University

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Abstract I am conducting a research proposal on whether or not there is a correlation with adolescents acting out in an aggressive or violent way due to exposure of violent video games. I intend to obtain ethical research from consented subjects from various socioeconomic areas within San Francisco, California to obtain a fair sample. There will be four groups two

controlled groups that will have absolutely no exposure to violent video games and the two other groups that have exposure to violent video games on a daily basis. There will be four members in each group two boys and two girls, each group will have children from the same age range in years using Erik Eriksons Development Stages four and five as a template for specific age groups. (Harder, 2009) The information will be collected from a qualitative unobtrusive

approach coupled with a quantitative interview and survey approach to weed out dismiss any participants that may have other factors as to way they may behave in a violent manner; such as abuse in the home physical, emotional or sexual. I would also try to find an equal amount of subjects who have two parented or one parent homes. I would also look for other indicators within the guardians of the children that may cause additional anger or violent behavior such as guardians continually arguing. I would also look at the siblings to see if anybody is involved in a gang or other violent groups to potentially exclude them from the study as well. This information would allow me to obtain factual and credible information in regards to my research proposal and give valid and ethical information. Why are you using past tense?

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Violent Video Games Cause an Increase in Child Violence and Aggression Problem Statement I have a hypothesis to see if a correlation exists with children under the age of 18 years old acting out in an aggressive or violent ways due to exposure violent video games. There has been an ongoing controversy as to whether or not violent video games cause an increase in violence and aggression in children under the age of 18 years old. There are some key variables that reveal a correlating trend in regards to my hypothesis, such as recent studies have shown that there has been an increasing rise in violent behavior among children, Young murderers (under age 18) in the United States tripled from 1984 to 1994. Currently 28,000 children and adolescents are known murderers. The number of violent crimes committed by youth is expected to double by the year 2010 (Perry, 1996). Additional statistics show that, Youth violence is widespread in the United States (U.S.) and is the second leading cause of death for young people between the ages of 10 and 24; 5,764 young people age 10 to 24 were murdered, an average of 16 each day, in 2007. Over 656,000 physical assault injuries in young people age 10 to 24 were treated in U.S. emergency rooms in 2008. In a 2009 nationwide survey, about 32% of high school students reported being in a physical fight in the 12 months before the survey. Nearly 6% of high school students in 2009 reported taking a gun, knife, or club to school in the 30 days before the survey. An estimated 20% of high school students reported being bullied on school property in 2009 (Centers for Disease Control, 2010). This trend allows the possibility to exist that recent violence is due to childrens increasing play of violent video games. Studies completed from 2000 state, the increase in aggressive behavior is linked to the amount of time children are allowed to play video games. In one study by Walsh (2000), a majority of teens admitted that their parents do not impose a time limit on the

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number of hours they are allowed to play video games. The study also showed that most parents are unaware of the content or the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) rating of the video games their children play. In another study conducted by Gentile, Lynch, Linder & Walsh (2004, p.6) "adolescent girls played video games for an average of 5 hours a week, whereas boys averaged 13 hours a week". The authors also stated that teens who play violent video games for extended periods of time: Tend to be more aggressive, are more prone to confrontation with their teachers, may engage in fights with their peers, see a decline in school achievements (Gentile et al, 2004). The increasing adolescent violence and aggression based on the variable of violent video game exposure displays a trend based on studies that this independent factor could be causing an increase in violent behavior. This leads me to which causes me to believe that there is a correlation between these two factors, and that is that the increase in violent behavior among children under the age of 18 years old is directly due to the increase in playing violent video games. This study is so valuable to us as humans to gain knowledge on what we allow our children to participate in that can have a direct correlation to violent, aggressive, or the potential for deviant acts. Its our job as human being to be aware of the things that could threaten our childrens psychological well-being and cognitive development. This study would give credible and valid statistical information, based on direct qualitative observatory studies coupled with unobtrusive research from past studies to create a hard conclusive and ethical reasoning as to whether this hypothesis is valid or not. About 90 percent of U.S. kids ages 8 to 16 play video games, and they spend about 13 hours a week doing so (more if you're a boy). Now a new study suggests virtual violence in these games may make kids more aggressive in real life (Harding, 2008). This is such a very high

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number of children who play violent video games. Now with that said I feel as though its our duty as parents and members of society to, if at all possible, maintain a strict age restriction on things that could potentially be damaging to a child. In my opinion I feel that people are basically good. I feel as though life circumstances, upbringing, values, religious beliefs, societal impacts good or bad form how a person behaves. I am not saying that these aspects are the main reasons why people behave in a good or bad way, but I feel as though we come into this world innocent and pure, and the things we are exposed to shape our personalities and ways of thinking. For example if you have someone who is raised in poverty and exposed to alcoholic parents who are abusive, and traffic their children for sex to obtain drug money, this person in my mind will have more so a predisposition to becoming a drug addict or abuser themselves. I am not saying this is always the case there are wonderful stories of people rising up out of their horrible life circumstances, and situations they were exposed to growing up. However I think that their upbringing and things they were exposed to leaves a mark on their life and will impact them forever in ways of thinking, and actions they take. So if my hypothesis based on research proves itself to be true that violent video games due cause an increase in violent behavior and aggressive attitudes we must watch what our children play with as innocent and mindless as a video game may see, the long term effects could be devastating. Now with that said there is some controversy on whether my hypothesis is valid and rebuttals to studies conducted validating a positive correlation between exposure to violent video games and increase aggression and violence. Many of the rebuttals seem to be blog spot forums, from video gamers and parents. However I feel that if a solid and ethical research study was conducted these individuals could understand what the problems these video games cause from direct continual exposure and protect and monitor their childrens video game habits.

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Identifying, establishing and being upfront with the ethical values social researcher must uphold will also lend credibility to your research, but you as a researcher in my opinion. So for example you need to explain that good ethical research obtains information that can be established as true facts, and that the research using factual information is not bias, and the theories should, avoid flukes, make sense, and shape your research efforts (Babbie, 2010). In addition to that efforts should be made to avoid things such as overgeneralization, inaccurate observations, and not allowing people with authority to speak as experts on subjects when they are clearly not experts in the subject area. You should also develop research that can be replicated and avoid illogical and selective reasoning. This is what I would do to avoid incorrect research (Babbie, 2010). Some values I always hold are never allow any personal feelings to become involved in your research. Never become desperate to make a correlation or not a correlation regarding a particular research. Try and remain without opinion and whatever your research determines allow the truth to shine through always. Literature Review Literature that I have found based on peer reviews prove in favor of my hypothesis that to some degree violent video games do cause an increase in aggression, and increase in violent acts. Ethics and Conduct of Research Ethical research is something you as a researcher must value and take ownership of; especially when conducting a study. There are many facets to remaining ethical in the type of research I intend to do. First of all I must make absolutely sure especially when dealing with children that certain principles are held to an exceptionally high standard. The first principle I must always maintain is making sure that my subject do not leave my study when completed worse off than when they began the study. For example if I start to observe that my participants

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are increasing in violent behavior to a significant degree and I feel that it may be detrimental to the child or others I must immediately halt the research study. This is a principle I fully understand and am prepared to do regardless of how far I am in my research. Another principle I must uphold is making sure I obtain the consent of all of my subjects and participants. So in my research I would need to obtain the consent of the children and the parents or guardians of the children to see if they are willing to allow their children to participant in this type of research. The consent principle in my research also extends to only releasing information in regards to the study that was consented by the participants. So basically my subjects must give me permission to release any additional information that was not originally agreed upon during the study. Several other principles I must uphold is the fairness, protection, exchange, and attribution principles. These principles play a significant role in the credibility of my research from the participants, general public, and other social researchers. Upholding the fairness

principle in this study is making sure I use extreme sensitivity and caution to present the data obtained in a forth right and truthful manner avoiding all bias through the entire cycle of my study. The protection principle is also a key principle in regards to my study and this is to take precautions to reduce and eliminate if at all possible any misunderstanding and interpretations that could be construed from the research and subjects that participated. This is something I must maintain even after all the research has been completed. The exchange principle is very important in that it holds order to a degree; within my study I must make sure I lay a clear foundation, ground rules maintaining proper responsibilities of the participants and allowing them to understand their role and rights as subjects. I must maintain that respect is reciprocal and maintained with all participants towards the researcher and each other. Finally I must make sure I only take credit where credit is due, so if I did not do a particular part of the research

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I must identify who did. Taking credit for my work upholds truth and credibility and allows for good sources of information and documentation for research to be repeated. Also this principle makes one to own be accountable and responsible for their mistakes, so if I do something incorrectly within the research process I need to accept ownership responsibility and learn from my mistakes. Now with that said, there are some specific ethical challenges in developing quality research in regards to this study, and that is always making sure that I stay free from any type of biased thinking in all areas of the research, and have a clear and objective attitude. Political issues with remaining ethical usually are because of money especially in dealing with such large corporations such as videogame designers and producers. Some researchers have taken bribes to sway a particular study a certain way so that corporation profits will stay up. However I may face these same political issues with my study in regards to video game exposure causing violence and aggression, but I must hold the line and stay free from any type of bribe or information that may cause me to bias my research; instead of unbiased, factual and objective information. I feel that using an unobtrusive approach in regards to part of my study is wise because its very economically sound so bribes and other unethical things individuals could do to cause me to skew my study may not really be an issue, because I am not desperate from funds. One way I look at conducting ethical research is I ask myself what the point would be of conducting research that I know is bias or skewed? Its a waste of money and time and lends no aid to the individuals in society that could really be suffering from violent aggressive behavior as a child because of repetitive exposure to the same violent stimulus. Using the particular research design I have chosen using a qualitative approach observing children interact after exposed to a continual violent stimulus such as video games, could cause some intense repercussion such as psychological damage and physically acting in very violent

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and aggressive behaviors. I plan to put several safeguards into play. The first safeguard will be a detailed briefing with parents, schoolteachers and guardians whose children are involved with the study that if they observe any unusual behavior to notify me immediately and stop exposure to violent video games. I plan to administer a battery of questionnaires on a weekly basis as to document any increase in aggressive or violent behavior. Children that begin to increase in aggression I will monitor closely with interviews and observation. However the children that respond act in a violent manner will begin to be monitored in a controlled and structured setting. And if the violent behavior continues I will halt the study for that individual. If I see a trend in increasing violence with several additional children I will also halt the study, and revert to interview testing with pictures to determine if a desensitization and aggression has increased after I halt the study. However when the study is halted I will continue asking questions to the children to see if aggression has increased, but the subjects will not be allowed to participate in violent video games in regards to this study. All of this information will be disclosed to the guardians and parents and if consented by the parents the teachers at the school. During the study I will also ask the parents to remove anything that could potentially be used in a violent manner from the childrens bedrooms such as pocket knives and etc. Overcoming these obstacles are very difficult, maintain strength during my research study to uphold what I know to be truthful and right. I must be strong and have a strong backbone to stand against what is wrong in the face of political parties, and companies. Design and Procedures The research design of this study will be conducted from a preliminary quantitative approach using an 18 question survey to eliminate child participants who have an increase in violent behavior or underlying aggression. First I would brief the local schools in the Sacramento,

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California area then I would have them send home flyers stating what the survey entails in sealed envelopes. Then from the responses I received back from parents I would use the 18 question preliminary survey to try and eliminate any children who have existing aggression issues or could have underlying aggressive factors. If any of these children were marked with a positive answer by the guardian or parent then they will be dismissed from the study. So the risk factors below will be used to remove any potential children who may have preexisting or underlying violent or aggressive behavior. (Understanding Violent Behavior in Children and Adolescents, 2001) Previous aggressive or violent behavior Being the victim of physical abuse and/or sexual abuse Exposure to violence in the home and/or community Genetic (family heredity) factors Exposure to violence in media (TV, movies, etc.) Use of drugs and/or alcohol Presence of firearms in home Combination of stressful family socioeconomic factors (poverty, severe deprivation, marital breakup, single parenting, unemployment, loss of support from extended family) Brain damage from head injury Intense anger Frequent loss of temper or blow-ups Extreme irritability Extreme impulsiveness Becoming easily frustrated

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Then the group of individuals that consented and have read the literature of the study, and understand what the exposures and potential correlations that may occur with aggression and violence, and given a handout on their responsibly and code of ethics and conduct I will if willing consent them and their child to participate in the survey. I do intend to give each of the participants a $200 gift card for the time and energy spent participating in the study as a mode of continual motivation to actively participate until completion in the study. The study will be conducted once incited from a qualitative unobtrusive approach using a longitudinal design over an 8 week period. Once I obtain enough active I will divide all the participants into 1 of 4 groups. Each group will be evenly dived into specific age ranges using Erik Eriksons

development stages theory as far as age goes. So two groups will have school age 6 to 12 years and two groups will have adolescence 12 to 18 years each group will be divided up evenly among males and females (Harder, 2009). In addition to that each group will have individuals from various socioeconomic levels. Two of these groups will be controlled groups with

absolutely no exposure to violent video games, while the other groups will have daily exposure to violent video games with no time limit for either group. The distribution of video games will be for the pulled from the appropriate age limits based on recommendations from The Entertainment Software Rating Board. So For example the breakdowns for each age group are, Everyone (E): Everyone rated games have content that may be suitable for persons ages six and older. Titles in this category may contain minimal violence and some comic mischief and/or mild language. The rating of whether or not a video game is violent or not will be based on EVERYONE 10+ (E10+): Titles rated E10+ have content that may be suitable for ages 10 and older. Titles in this category may contain more cartoon, fantasy or mild violence, mild language, and/or minimal suggestive themes. Teen (T): Teen rated games have content that may be

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suitable for persons ages 13 and older. Titles in this category may contain violent content, mild or strong language, and/or suggestive themes. Mature (M): Mature rated games have content that may be suitable for persons ages 17 and older. Titles in this category may contain mature sexual themes, more intense violence and/or strong language. Adults Only (AO): Adults only rated games have content suitable only for adults. Titles in this category may include graphic depictions of sex and/or violence. Adults Only products are not intended for persons under the age of 18 (Understanding the Rating System, 2010). I feel as though using appropriate ages for specified video games by the entertainment board will lend added credibility if the hypothesis is true. To measure the level of violence or increased aggression I will use interview style questions that contain questions about becoming more easily agitated within the past week, any intense/unexplained rage or anger, does your child lose his or her temper more easily, do they become agitated or easily provoked, are they more impulsive, or irritable? These are question that I will sit down each week and ask the guardian or parent of the child for the following 8 weeks. I will also incorporate 2 hours of observation each week 1 hour while the child is playing a video game and 1 hour after they finish playing the video game to document any additional changes in behavior directly after exposure to violent video games. The controlled groups will be treated in the exact same manner of observations and questionings. Using a qualitative approach I am going to use direct observation, and interviews; during the observation period I will watch the children interact with parents, siblings, and other children at school. I would see if there is any correlation with violence after direct exposure to a video games violent and non-violent content games in the controlled groups either verbally or physically. I will look for qualitative data that contains certain patterns, such as violence and or

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aggression. I will also observe, and interview things such as frequency and magnitude of violence or aggression of each child as I observed them. I would also interview the parents to find out if they have noticed any behavioral changes with their children good or bad, and any type of violence or increased aggression. I am also going to adopt a variable-orientated analysis. The reason why this type of analysis would work well for my research is because I am looking for a specific variable. What I am looking for is whether or not violent video games cause violence. This particular variable will either prove or disprove my hypothesis. A few opencodes that I would use on my first pass through would be; gender-I would use gender to find if there is any difference in aggressive behavior in comparison to males vs. females. I look to see if girls or boys tend to be more aggressive than the other after exposure to violent video games. Socioeconomic Status- I would use socioeconomic status as a first pass through to see if there is any link between economic status and violent behavior decreased or increased due to violent video games, or no difference. Does the child have siblings and what number child is he or she- I would use this code during a first pass through because some research has suggested that depending if you are first, middle or last child you may behave differently than others. Two parent household or single parent household-I would use this code during my first pass through to identify if there is any increased aggression with children of two parent household, or single parent households. Ethnicity- I would also check on my first pass through whether any particular ethnicity had increased aggression. These codes would help me expose all the data and be able to truly evaluate any correlations in regards to my hypothesis or expose no correlations. During the process of collecting and analyzing the data I obtained from observations and interviews I would develop a data sheet that is very basic in nature. Basically any mark using the

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above questionnaire scale I constructed would be 1 point for verbal aggression and emotional aggressive behavior, any acts of violence would be 2 points. Repeated acts of verbal aggression would be 3 and repeated acts of violent behavior would be 4 points. I would then develop a scale from the total number of points, lowest to highest, with 0 being no aggressive or violent behavior, 1-5 minimal verbal aggression, 1-5 minimal violent behavior, 5-10 moderate verbal aggression, 5-10 moderate violent behavior, 10+ being significant acts of verbal aggression and violent behavior. Any children that participate in the study that receive high numbers of violence or aggression the scales will be removed from the study for safety and potentially looking into halting the study at this time if levels become significantly high of violent behavior or aggression. I will total up the points each week by age and gender then plot them on a chart with a key displaying the level of violent video game or non-violent video game whether or not they were a controlled group and by age. I would use a key at the bottom of the graph to display these characteristics with each plot. Using this graph I would come up with statistical percentages as to different levels of violence and aggression vs. violent and non-violent video games vs. gender. This research design, I feel will provide ethical, credible, and valuable information to parents, and individuals in society. I think the results whether my hypothesis proves to be true or not will allow for society to gather credible information as to whether or not they need to protect their children from these types of violent video games.

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References American Academy for Child and Adolescent Psychology, (2001). Understanding Violent Behavior In Children and Adolescents. Retrieved June 20, 2011 from http://www .aacap.org/cs/root/facts_for_families/understanding_violent_behavior_in_children_and_adolesce nts Babbie, E. (2010). The Practice of Social Research (12th ed.). Wadsworth. (p.6-7, 59) Centers for Disease Control (2010). Understanding Youth Violence Fact Sheet. Retrieved June 16, 2011 from http://www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention/pdf/yv-factsheet-a.pdf Harder, A. (2009). The Developmental Stages of Erik Erikson. Retrieved June 16, 2011 from http://www.learningplaceonline.com/stages/organize/Erikson.htm Harding, A. (2008).Violent Video Games Linked to Child Aggression. Retrieved June 20, 2011 from http://articles.cnn.com/2008-11-03/health/healthmag.violent.video.kids _1_violent -video-video-games-game-genres?_s=PM:HEALTH Media Awareness Network (2010). Understanding the Rating System. Retrieved June 22, 2011 from http://www.media awareness.ca/english/parents/video_games /ratings_ videogames.cfm Norcia, A. (2011). Retrieved June 20, 2011 from The Impact of Video Games on Children. http://www.pamf.org/preteen/parents/videogames.html Perry, B. (1996). Aggression and Violence the Neurobiology Experience. Retrieved June 16, 2011 from http://teacher.scholastic.com/ professional/bruceperry/aggression_violence.htm

Jeanne B. Funk*, Heidi Bechtoldt Baldacci, Tracie Pasold, Jennifer BaumgardnerViolence exposure in real-life, video games, television, movies,

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and the internet: is there desensitization? Journal of Adolescence 27 (2004) 2339