The Effects of Media Violence on Children Essay

Seifert, Kathryn, Robert Schmidt, and Karen Ray. Youth Violence : Theory, Prevention, And Intervention. New York: Springer Publishing Company, 2012. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 05 Dec. 2015.

So how is it that it is the fault of video game violence that makes juveniles violent? As much as media coverage will have people think the “wave of violence gripping America’s youth” (Grossman), the truth is violent attacks in America’s schools are “extremely rare events. The odds that a child will die in school through murder or suicide are less than one in one million” (Olson). Increase in news reports about crime just end up raising viewers’ perception of risk, whether or not there is actual danger (Olson).

Assessing potentially violent students is one thing, but determining what is causing these high-risk teens to act out is another. Numerous reasons have been suggested as to why teenagers kill. One possibility could be the media. This includes music, movies, books and video games. Social science research conducted over the past 40 years supports the conclusion that viewing violent television programming has negative consequences for children, and the research suggests three factors in which watching violent television programs can impact young viewers. (Aidman, 1997) These factors say that media violence can encourage children to learn aggressive behavior and attitudes, media violence can cultivate fearful or pessimistic attitudes in children about the non- television world, and media violence can desensitize children to real-world and fantasy violence. One very controversial music artist made headlines when the Columbine massacre occurred. From day one,

In conclusion, youth violence is still an ongoing problem, but it has declined since 1992. Youth violence has many different causes such as bullying and mental illness as in Columbine, gang violence as in Jarrell Milton’s case, and many more. Yet, youth violence will be a problem that likely can’t be completely stopped, but if we deal with the issues that cause youth violence, it could be

Many Americans, particularly parents and politicians, were displeased with the amount of violence depicted in the media. In terms of violence in music, many turned around and blamed shock-rockers such as Marilyn Manson, Rammstein, and KMFDM. This, despite the fact that Harris and Klebold were not Manson fans, is a rather selective judgment. As Brooks Brown, a close friend of Harris and Klebold, and Klebold’s childhood best-friend, wrote in his book he co-authored with journalist Rob Merritt, No Easy Answers, “Music creates an emotion, whether it’s anger, sorrow, thoughtfulness, happiness, or humor. What people do with their emotions is up to them. But music doesn’t tell people what to do” (17). As for video games, it was common knowledge that Harris and Klebold were video game fans of the first-person-shooter genre, such as Doom and Duke Nukem. Again, Brown writes, “Video games may have given them a place to direct their rage—but something else caused their rage in the first place. Something caused them to cross the line of fantasy and embrace imaginary worlds like Doom and Duke Nukem as an alternate reality” (Brown and Merritt 39). On the other hand, statistics show that the average American child will view approximately 200,000 acts of violence on television, which includes 18,000 murders, by the time that child reaches eighteen (Schooler and Flora 277). With so much exposure, it would be foolhardy to totally

According to the World Health Organization, around 43% of all homicides in the world occur amongst children ages ten to twenty-four every year. In the United States alone, an average of twelve people between the ages of ten to twenty-four are killed each day according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC). Youth violence is a term that is defined by the CDC as “a significant public health problem that affects thousands of young people each day, and in turn, their families, schools, and communities”. Violence among youth can be a result of drug use, familial issues, or anti-sociality. Although the trend for youth violence is currently declining, youth violence is still a major issue among communities as children exposed to violence can have physical and/or psychological problems later on in life.

Youth violence has been a wide spread problem for many years. There have been many studies done to help find ways of intervention to help decrease the rates of youth violence. Though, it may not seem like it, but right now youth violence is at its all-time low, “although overall rates of youth violence have declined since the mid-1990s, rates of some forms of youth aggression, violence, and crime remain high. National data reveal that, each year, about 15 percent of high school youth are involved in a physical fight at school and 8 percent are threatened or injured with a weapon. Another 5 percent of young people report being bullied by another student at school. Urban youth are at particular risk for violence exposure and victimization” (Aber, Pedersen, Brown, Jones, Greshoff). In 2010 there were a total of 1.2 million juvenile arrests in the United States (Alltucker). However, the statistics for youth violence is lower than it has been because there has been so much focus on a vast majority of parent interest, law makers, and by people who are involved with research in preventing youth violence and aggressive behaviors.

There are many different types of violence in the world. One of the biggest types of violence is youth violence. According to cdc.gov, “Youth violence is a significant public health problem that affects thousands of young people each day, and in turn, their families, schools, and communities. Youth violence typically involves young people hurting other peers who are unrelated to them and who they may or may not know well. Youth violence can take different forms. Examples include fights, bullying, threats with weapons, and gang-related violence. A young person can be involved with youth violence as a victim, offender, or witness.” The facts about youth violence are very disturbing. Some of the facts about youth violence, according to who.int are, “Worldwide some 200 000 homicides occur among youth 10–29 years of age each year, which is 43% of the total number of homicides globally each year. Homicide is the fourth leading cause of death in people aged 10-29 years, and 83% of these homicides involve male victims. For each young person killed, many more sustain injuries requiring hospital treatment. When it is not fatal, youth violence has a serious, often lifelong, impact on a person's physical, psychological and social functioning. Youth violence greatly increases the costs of health, welfare and criminal justice services; reduces productivity; and decreases the value of property.”

According to the Center for Disease Control, 86% of homicide victims ten through twenty-four were killed with a firearm in 2014. Youth violence is a major health problem that affects many people ages ten through twenty-four, including their families and communities. Youth violence is when people ten through twenty-four use physical force intentionally. Even though it is preventable, youth violence is still a major problem. Youth violence is a major health problem and this case proves it.

When we talk about juvenile violence in the 1990’s, we must remember the scenario. Violent teens were all over the place and the number of murders committed by teenagers had nearly doubled in the past ten years and even politicians were freaking out a little warning about how violent teens were going to take over society (Regoli, Hewitt, and Delsi, 2014). Okay, maybe it was not that dramatic, but it was a scary time. Between 1996-1999 there were at least ten school shootings (Bartol and Bartol, 2014). However, could violent video games and movies be enough to provoke violent behavior from the juveniles engaged in them? Social learning theory has been referenced countless times by theorists trying to understand where people learn behavioral habits and morals from, and I do not think this is any different. I believe that having so many negative influences constantly expressing violent behavior could be enough to contribute to violent thoughts that lead into violent actions. However, I do not believe that the mere presence of violence in the media is enough to promote someone to be violent in school. Like mentioned above in question one, we cannot link behavior back to one cause. But, even as recently as 2013, 77% of parents blame violent video games being the root cause of violent behavior (Freeman). Our text references multiple studies about whether violence in the media causes violent adolescents, but the final determination is that it can promote aggressive

Violent crime statistics is continually increasing overtime, and there are a wide variety of factors that contribute to this. One influencing factor would be the media. Media and violence are both very wide and broad concepts that have massive impacts in our society, and it is important to distinguish their relationship with each other. The types of media are things such as violent video games, films, newspapers, magazines and television. One particular type of media that is often very problematized is violent video games. Different studies have shown convincing and unconvincing correlational in regards to the media and violence, but to whom do we believe?

Teen Violence is a big dilemma in today’s society. Violent behaviors usually start from family and peers, as well as teens observing it at there neighborhoods or communities. These behaviors are reinforced by what youth see on television, on the Internet, in video games, movies, music videos, and what they hear in their music. When children are disciplined with severe corporal punishment or verbal abuse, or when they are physically or sexually abused, or when they witness such behavior in their home, it is not surprising that they behave violently toward others. Teen Violence has had such an impact in our youth today that it leads many destructive things and that’s why we have so much violence today.

  According to John Davidson's essay Menace to Society, "three-quarters of Americans surveyed [are] convinced that movies, television and music spur young people to violence." While public opinion is strong, the results of research are divided on the effects of media violence on the youth in this country. Davidson wrote that most experts agree that some correlation between media violence and actual violent acts exists, yet the results are contradictory and researchers quibble about how the effects are to be measured (271). Moreover, Davidson is not convinced that the media is the sole problem of violence, or even a primary problem. He points out that other factors, such as

Previous studies have expressed their interest in the topic regarding the media’s influence on violence. For example, it examines whether violent video games increases the probability of individuals engaging in violent activities such as

Previous studies have expressed their interest in the topic regarding the media’s influence on violence. For example, it examines whether violent video games increases the probability of individuals engaging in violent activities such as