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"A new review of 130 studies 'strongly suggests' playing violent video games increases aggressive thoughts and behavior and decreases empathy," reports USA Today.

Video games to blame again! YAWN...

Researchers at the Center for the Study of Violence at Iowa State University analyzed studies of "more than 130,000 gamers from elementary school age to college in the USA, Europe and Japan" and determine these results hold "regardless of research design, gender, age or culture."

Now enter a mind of reason... Christopher Ferguson, an associate professor at Texas A&M International University, critiques the findings as being "generally very low."

In his own study of 603 predominantly Hispanic young people, Ferguson found "delinquent peer influences, antisocial personality traits, depression, and parents/guardians who use psychological abuse" were consistent risk factors for youth violence and aggression" and "that neighborhood quality, parents' domestic violence and exposure to violent TV or video games 'were not predictive of youth violence and aggression'."

In other words, there are a lot of factors that lead to violence. However, a little parentally controlled (or probably even not) video game playing isn't going to make a kid into a homicidal maniac if it's not combined with several other risk factors.

Don't we just wish solving one of society's biggest behavioral problems was as easy as withholding video games?

Do you think video games make kids violent and aggressive?

 

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