Violent media

Violent media commonly refers to violence in media forms pertaining to television, movies, music, and video games. Extensive research evidence indicates that media violence can contribute to aggressive behavior, desensitization to violence, nightmares, and fear of being harmed. On the basis of a growing and nearly unanimous body of evidence associating media violence with increased aggression in young people, the US Surgeon General issued a special report on the public health effects of media violence in 1972. Ten years later, the National Institute of Mental Health issued a comprehensive review of the research on media violence and its effects, outlining concerns for children's psychological health, 3 as did a report generated by the American Psychological Association in 1993.

American children and youths spend, on average, more than 4 hours a day with television, computers, videotaped movies, and video games (Roberts et al., 1999; Woodard, 2000). But their exposure to media varies considerably, depending on their age, parental viewing habits, and family socioeconomic status (SES). Most systematic research on children’s exposure to violent media dates back to the 1970s, when most families did not have access to cable television, music videos, video games, or the Internet. As noted earlier, very few contemporary studies systematically document children’s actual consumption of violent media; this is particularly true for the newer media.

Several content analyses over the last 30 years have systematically examined violence on television (Gerbner et al., 1980; Potter et al., 1995; Signorielli, 1990). The largest and most recent of these was the National Television Violence Survey (NTVS)1 (Wilson et al., 1997, 1998), which examined the amount and content of violence2 on American television for three consecutive years, as well as contextual variables that may make it more likely for aggression and violence to be accepted, learned, and imitated. Smith and Donnerstein (1998) report the following NTVS findings:

Statistics

61 percent of television programs contain some violence, and only 4 percent of television programs with violent content feature an "antiviolence" theme. 44 percent of the violent interactions on television involve perpetrators who have some attractive qualities worthy of emulation. 43 percent of violent scenes involve humor either directed at the violence or used by characters involved with violence. Nearly 75 percent of violent scenes on television feature no immediate punishment for or condemnation of violence. 40 percent of programs feature "bad" characters who are never or rarely punished for their aggressive actions. A September 2000 Federal Trade Commission (FTC) report showed that 80 percent of “R” rated movies,70 percent of restricted video games, and 100 percent of music with “explicit content” warning labelswere being marketed to children under 17.