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Kaleb Zaloga

Professor Dewey

ENG101 13463

29 April 2019

Violent Video Games vs. Violent Behavior in Children

In a world surrounded by evolving technology, many parents are concerned with violence

in video games and movies and how it affects their children. “Ferguson’s comprehensive meta-

analysis provides convincing data that violent video games have almost no effect on children’s

aggression” (Markey). Despite parents being worried about their children and video games,

violent video games have no correlation to violent behavior.

Some of the things parents are concerned about how realistic video games are becoming

and how their children could replicate these actions. “Video games often require players to

simulate violent actions, such as stabbing, shooting,... and the games are so realistic that

simulating the violent acts enhances the learning of those violent behaviors” (Do Violent Video

Games Contribute to Youth Violence?). These parents are worried about desensitizing their

children to violence. By the age of 18, children in America will have seen roughly 16,000

murders and 200,000 acts of violence in the media (Do Violent Video Games Contribute to Youth

Violence?).

Many parents argue that juvenile crime has gone up more the the sale of violent video

games. “Total US sales of video game hardware and software increased 204% from 1994 to

2014, reaching $13.1 billion in 2014, while violent crimes decreased 37% and murders by

juveniles acting alone fell 76% in that same period” (Do Violent Video Games Contribute to

Youth Violence?). These statistics show that juvenile violence has gone down significantly gone
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down with the rise in sales, proving this statement incorrect.

One thing that parents and professionals do not see is that there are other factors to

juvenile violence. “Many studies failed to control for factors that contribute to children becoming

violent, such as family history and mental health, plus most studies do not follow children over

long periods of time” (Do Violent Video Games Contribute to Youth Violence?). When a child is

in a negative family space, like not being supported or violence, they can become violent. Also if

the child has certain mental illnesses they can be very unpredictable.

One reason many kids play video games is for stress relief. “...children, especially boys,

play video games as a means of managing their emotions: 61.9% of boys played to 'help me

relax,' 47.8% because 'it helps me forget my problems,' and 45.4% because 'it helps me get my

anger out’” (Do Violent Video Games Contribute to Youth Violence?). Many kids don’t know

how to properly express their emotions or anger so they put them into video games so they don’t

lash out.

When dealing with video games, parents need to talk to their children and teach them

what is okay and not okay. Video games are not real even, if they are simulation type games,

they should not be replicated. With this data it shows that violent video games have little to no

correlation to violent behavior in children. As a parent, it is their decision what their kids can or

can not view but there are facts to see that could sway their decision.

Works Cited

“Do Violent Video Games Contribute to Youth Violence?” Do Violent Video Games Contribute
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to Youth Violence?, videogames.procon.org/.

Markey, Patrick M. “Finding the Middle Ground in Violent Video Game Research: Lessons

From Ferguson (2015) - Patrick M. Markey, 2015.” SAGE Journals,

journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1745691615592236.