Do Violent Video Games Make Kids Aggressive?

Do Violent Video Games Make Kids Aggressive? High school shootings are happening more frequently than ever. What is causing people to want to inflict pain and destruction? Many people are trying to blame violent video games as the culprit. With this in mind, some researchers are alleging that aggressive behavior is resulting from violent video games while others disagree completely. Studies show children that already have aggressive tendencies prior to playing video games will be aggressive by nature. Furthermore, researchers discovered that the length of game play and the competitiveness of the game can have more effect on the violent behavior than the type of game being played. It is too complicated to determine how violent video games

Children that show aggressive behavior after playing video games are more likely to have a personality with low agreeableness and conscientiousness (Educationalneuroscience.org.uk). As they mature and grow older, children tend to control their aggressive behavior and find other ways to deal with conflict (Park). In addition, Scutti reports that Whitney DeCamp researched aggressive behavior in which he found no significant correlation between violent, bloody video games to aggression. Giving that, DeCamp states that kids that like to play brutal games may already be aggressive prior to playing any video game. Likewise, Christopher Ferguson suggests that violent video games actually lower violence in society. He says keeping young adults busy with things like video games keeps them out of trouble (Scutti). Scutti’s point is that children and teens will spend their time playing video games as opposed to committing unlawful acts. Research shows there is no connection between games being violent and aggressive behavior, however, the amount of time playing these games can be more

Research fails to show a direct correlation between video games and real world violence. As a matter of fact, a twenty year study showed an increase of 204% video game sales while at the same time violent crime rates and juvenile murderers have dropped 37% and 76% respectively (Procon.org). Whitney DeCamp stated that we need to be cautious of putting the blame on one particular thing when referring to teen shooters and their aggressive intentions (Scutti). Consequently, Brutal video games are not the only factor for aggressive behavior. A report claims that many factors, when placed together, can lead to being aggressive (Puiu). Park reveals that Christopher Ferguson states that when comparing violent video games to aggressive behavior that other factors such as violence in the home, abuse, and mental illness are not taken into account (Park). In making this comment, Park urges people to take into consideration everything that makes a person the way they are and not just what type of games they play. There are too many different variables to take into account when researching aggressive behavior to put the blame on video