Violent Video Games Have Not Been Proven to

Harm Teens
Teens at Risk, 2009
"Violent video games have been around since 1991, yet clear evidence of any harm has
yet to emerge."

The author of the following viewpoint contends that the stigma attached to video gamesthat
gaming is unhealthy and can even lead to violenceis unproven and unwarranted. Gaming is a
cultural phenomenon that has captured the interest of teens as well as adults: the average video
gamer is thirty years old. The author examines the lack of scientific validity of the studies that insist
upon a correlation between violence and videogames. Benjamin Radford is managing editor of
Skeptical Inquirer science magazine; he previously wrote about the video game violence debate in
his book, "Media Makers: How Journalists, Activists, and Advertisers Mislead Us."
As you read, consider the following questions:
1. Has video game violence resulted in an increase in violent crime?
2. What does the study by Craig Anderson and Karen Dill, which examines the link between
aggression and violent video games, prove?
3. The author lists two other forms of entertainment that were accused of corrupting youth. What
were they?
The debate about violence in entertainment has surfaced once again.
In late November, a media watchdog group, the National Institute on Media and the Family (NIMF), issued
its annual report on video games. Not surprisingly, the institute was not happy with what it found: animated
violence, profanity, and some sexual content. (Its latest report even includes a made-up word to describe
the video violence, claming that "killographic and sexually explicit games are still making their way into the
hands ... of underage players.")
The findings caught the attention and support of several politicians, including Senators Joe Lieberman and
Hillary Rodham Clinton, both of whom promised to enact legislation to stem the threat posed by video
games.
Yet before rushing to craft new laws, we should make sure there is a problem to fix. Moving from the realm
of advocacy and politics into science and evidence, several issues should be considered.
While many teens do play video games, including some violent ones, the games are hardly kids' stuff: the
average video gamer is 30 years old. Most "Mature" or "Adult" rated video games are purchasedand
playedby adults.

Relationship to Violence

While some studies claim that violent entertainment may be linked in some way to violent behavior, many
other studies contradict that assertion. Where are the mountains of evidence demonstrating the harmful
effects of fake violence? Richard Rhodes, a writer for Rolling Stone, tackled that question and found that
the alleged mountains of evidence are really molehillsand shaky ones at that.
The approximately 200 studies on media violence are remarkable primarily for their inconsistency and
weak conclusions. Some studies show a correlation between television and violence; others don't. Some
find that violent programming can increase aggressiveness; another finds that "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood"
does. Several studies, including the most-cited ones, are deeply flawed methodologically. Still, those
fighting media depictions of violence cite the studies and ignore their lack of scientific validity. Rhodes
notes that "The research no more supports the consensus on media violence than it supported the
conclusions of the eugenics consensus eighty years ago that there are superior and inferior 'races,' with
White Northern Europeans at the top."
The assertion that video games make people violent got a boost in May of 2000, when the American
Psychological Association issued a press release saying that violent video games can increase
aggression. That conclusion was taken from a study by two researchers, Craig Anderson of Iowa State
University and Karen Dill of Lenoir-Rhyne College in North Carolina. The pair claimed that they had found
a link between violent video games and aggression.

Accuracy of Studies Linking Videogames and Violence

Yet an examination of what the researchers actually found shows how tentative their conclusions are. The
study seems to show some association between the playing of violent video games and concurrent
aggressive behavior and delinquency. Yet, as any social sciences or psychology student knows,
correlation does not imply causation.
One critic of the study, British psychologist Guy Cumberbatch, noted, "[F]inding that people who enjoy
violent media may also be aggressive is tantamount to observing that those who play football also enjoy
watching it on television. 'The correlational nature of [this] study means that causal statements are risky at
best,' the authors admit.... All in all, Anderson and Dill's new evidence is exceptionally weak, and in its
one-sided approach it has a depressingly familiar ring to it.... [S]tudies to date have been notably biased
towards seeking evidence of harm. This 'blame game' may be fun for some researchers to play, and kneejerk reactions such as the APA's press release may be media-friendly. But we deserve better."

Effects of Videogame Violence

Perhaps most tellingly, video game critics fail to show where, exactly, the real-world evidence of harm lies.
Assuming that teens are being exposed to bad language and animated violence, so what? Daily teen life
involves some profanity, adult themes, and violent entertainment. Has the sexual material resulted in an
increase in teen sex? No; the National Center for Health Statistics reported last year that fewer teens are
engaging in sexual activity than in the past, and the rate dropped significantly between 1995 and 2002.
Has the video violence resulted in an increase in violent crime? No; on Oct. 17, 2005, the FBI released

figures showing that the U.S. violent crime rate declined again last year. In fact, violent crime has dropped
significantly over the past twenty yearsjust as video games have become more violent. The NIMF and
Senator Lieberman even decried "graphic scenes of cannibalism" in video games.
Should America brace itself for a rise in teen cannibalism? Violent video games have been around since
1991, yet clear evidence of any harm has yet to emerge.

Violence in the Media

Amid all the concern over the violence that teens and kids see in their video games, television shows, and
films, one simple fact is often overlooked: Violence and killing is considered mainstream entertainment by
most Americans.
Multiple murders are entertainment every single night. Top-rated television drama shows routinely involve
killings and death, from "Law & Order" to "CSI" to "The Sopranos" to "ER." While many of the murders that
entertain us are fictional, others aren't. Newsmagazine shows such as "Dateline NBC" and "48 Hours"
regularly feature real-life murders packaged as entertainment mysteries.
Blaming entertainment for social ills is nothing new, of course; Elvis Presley was accused of corrupting
America's youth with lewd hip gyrations in the 1950s, for example, and in 1880s London the play "Dr.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" was blamed for encouraging Jack the Ripper in his crimes. In science, outside the
agenda enclaves, the effects of violent entertainment and video games on behavior is very much an open
question.

Further Readings
Books
Gerald R. Adams and Michael D. Berzonsky, eds. Blackwell Handbook of Adolescence. Malden, MA:
Blackwell, 2003.
Cecilia Breinbauer Youth: Choices and Change: Promoting Healthy Behaviors in Adolescents.
Washington, DC: Pan American Health Organization, 2005.
N.H. Cambron-McCabe, M.M. McCarthy, and S.B. Thomas Public School Law: Teachers' and
Students' Rights, 5th edition. Boston: Pearson, 2004.
Michael A. Corriero Judging Children as Children: A Proposal for a Juvenile Justice System.
Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2007.
J. Shoshanna Ehrlich Who Decides? The Abortion Rights of Teens. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2006.
Robert Epstein The Case Against Adolescence: Rediscovering the Adult in Every Teen. Sanger, CA:
Quill Driver, 2007.
Rhett Godfrey The Teen Code: How to Talk to Them About Sex, Drugs, and Everything
ElseTeenagers Reveal What Works Best . New York: Rodale, 2004.
Gina Guddat Unwrapped: Real Questions Asked by Real Girls (About Sex). Houston: Providence,
2007.
Marya Hornbacher Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia. New York: Harper Perennial, 2006.

V. Jones and L. Jones Comprehensive Classroom Management: Creating Communities of Support

and Solving Problems, 7th ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2004.
Karen R. Koenig The Rules of "Normal" Eating: A Commonsense Approach for Dieters, Overeaters,
Undereaters, Emotional Eaters, and Everyone in Between! Carlsbad, CA: Gurze, 2005.
Abigail A. Kohn Shooters: Myths and Realities of America's Gun Cultures. New York: Oxford University
Press, 2004.
David L. Meyers Boys Among Men: Trying and Sentencing Juveniles as Adults. Westport, CT: Praeger,
2005.
Christie Pettit Empty: A Story of Anorexia. Grand Rapids, MI: Revell, 2006.
Albert R. Roberts Juvenile Justice Sourcebook: Past, Present, and Future. New York: Oxford University
Press, 2004.
Marsha Rosenbaum Safety First: A Reality-Based Approach to Teens and Drugs. San Francisco: Drug
Policy Alliance, 2007.
Ritch C. Savin-Williams The New Gay Teenager. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006.
Laurie Schaffner Girls in Trouble with the Law. Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2006.
Randall G. Shelden Delinquency and Juvenile Justice in America. Long Grove, IL: Waveland, 2006.
Elaine Slavens Peer Pressure: Deal with It Without Losing Your Cool. Halifax, Canada: Lorimer, 2004.
Irving A. Spergel Reducing Youth Gang Violence: The Little Village Gang Project in Chicago. Lanham,
MD: AltaMira, 2006.
L. Steinberg Adolescence. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005.
Jason Stone and Andrea Stone The Drug Dilemma: Responding to a Growing Crisis. New York: IDEA,
2003.
Barbara Strauch Primal Teen: What the New Discoveries About the Teenage Brain Tell Us About Our
Kids. New York: Bantam Doubleday, 2004.
B. Timothy Walsh and V.L. Cameron If Your Adolescent Has an Eating Disorder: An Essential
Resource for Parents. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.
David Walsh Why Do They Act That Way? A Survival Guide to the Adolescent Brain for You and Your
Teen. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005.
David A. Wolfe, Peter G. Jaffe, and Claire V. Crooks Adolescent Risk Behaviors: Why Teens
Experiment and Strategies to Keep Them Safe. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006.

Periodicals
Associated Press "Scientists Say Teen Brain, Still Maturing, Key to Behavior," Daily Herald, December
2, 2007.
Salynn Boyles "Teens Are Hardwired for Risky Behavior," WebMD Medical News, April 13, 2007.
Maria R. T. deGuzman "Friendships, Peer Influence, and Peer Pressure During the Teen Years,"
NebGuide, University of Nebraska, August 2007.
Paul Grondahl "There's Nothing Funny About Being Fat," San Diego Union Tribune, January 22, 2008.
Lawrence Jones "Popular Culture Driving Teen Violence, Say Christians," The Christian Post,
December 12, 2007.
Christopher Maag "Technology Leaves Kids with Nowhere to Hide from Cyberbullying," San Diego

Union Tribune, December 29, 2007.

Jen Pearl "Gay Youths More at Risk of Homelessness," StreetSense.org, June 2006.
Society for Neuroscience "Why Teens Are Such Impulsive Risk-Takers," Science Daily, November 8,
2007.
Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) "Teens and Sleep: What You Should Know,"
SADD.org, Spring 2004.
Laurie Udesky "Ills & Conditions: Depression and Violence in Teens," Caremark Health Resources,
July 31, 2006.
Melody Warnick "Less-Stressed Kids: 10 Ways To Help Your Child Chill Out," Better Homes and
Gardens, February 2008.

Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2009 Greenhaven Press, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning.

Source Citation
Radford, Benjamin. "Violent Video Games Have Not Been Proven to Harm Teens." Tee
ns at Risk. Ed. Christine Watkins. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2009. Opposing
Viewpoints. Rpt. from "Reality Check on Video Game Violence." livescience.com. 2
005. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.
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