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Camryn Valiare
Mrs. Greene
Capstone-period 7
21 October 2016
Television Violence and the Effects on Youth Behavior
The media today is alight with stories and images of brutal attacks and violence. Not only
does the news portray these images, but childrens television shows, movies, and music videos
do as well. Parents have become increasingly worried that their children are learning aggressive
behaviors from the characters in their screen, and 75% of American adults believe that television
violence contributes to world violence (Colvin, Smith, Wilson). But others do not share the
parents worried opinion, instead believing that the media has no influence at all. Media violence
does have a negative effect on children to some degree but factors such as medically diagnosed
aggressive behavior, parental abuse, and the content of the the television show can create mixed
results.
Television has been thought to contribute to violence because of the increasingly violent
nature of the shows that are intended for children. In fact, ...it has been estimated that by the age
of 18 years, US children witness 200,000 acts of violence on television alone (Robinson). This
figure is key evidence in the discussion on what leads Americans to believe that violent
television equates to violent and aggressive behavior. Yet this alone does not justify the American
peoples opinions. There are many factors, such as the increasingly violent crimes and the
dismissive attitude youth possess about violent action,that also shape their opinions and the
results of the hundreds of researchers set out to dissolve the peoples dilemma.

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Majority of the work researchers conduct follow the same pattern: an experiment on a
particular group of people (most likely between the ages of 4 and 26) to test the hypothesis that if
children watch violent actions on T.V., then those children will express more aggressive
behavior. But in order for the experiments to have to most accurate results, the researchers must
consider several different factors regarding what was shown in the television content and the
children they are conducting the experiments on.
The television shows could be divided into a number of different ways. One of these
ways could be to divide them based on their length. For example, a television show could run for
30 minutes, one hour, two segments in a 30 minute time period and much more. Another way to
divide television shows are into categories based on their content. In Barbara Wilson et. als
article titled Violence in children's television programming: Assessing the risks, they created a
list of five distinct characteristics of television shows: slapstick, superhero, adventure/mystery,
social relationship, and magazine. Both factors mentioned are a great indicator as to what types
of television shows are producing the most violent and aggressive effects. For example, results
revealed that slapstick shows, the shows that relate violence with humor, such as the Looney
Tunes and Teen Titans Go!, produced the greatest violent effects. Even more important than the
shows are the children they are affecting.
Extensive research has shown that violence to some degree does have an effect on
children, but there are many factors that can determine the extent the aggressive behavior could
have on each child. Researchers looked into many factors before taking into account what factors
would affect the children more. Several factors such as the education of the childs mother, his or
her race and neighborhood, previous history of aggressive behavior and more. If a child grew up
in a poor neighborhood and witnessed crime everyday, he or she might become more influenced

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by the media violence. The media aggression link is strengthened if: the aggression is presented
as being justified, important cues are shown during the time that memories are being retrieved,
viewers have already been exposed to violent or aggressive behavior, and the viewer identifies
with the violent character (Heath, Kruttschnitt, Ward). The viewer can identify with many factors
of that they find similar in the character, but the most common link between them if there gender.
Gender is still a large part of the effects and portrayal of violence in the media. According
to most researchers, boys will most often express aggressive behavior after watching a duration
of television, whether intentionally violent or not. Boys are also more likely to be portrayed as
the aggressive or violent character. The aggression could be between two male characters, but in
the case that it is not, the girls are more likely the victims. There are also many other factors that
children look for ...example, children report liking same-sex more than opposite-sex characters,
and children seem to strongly identify with characters of similar ethnicity or race(Wilson 2002).
There are many different environmental factors that can influence our behavior in subtle
ways, and television is one of the most prominent. Because of this, many adults have linked
television to an increase in violent behavior. After many researches, the results concluded that
while television does have some influence, the personal situation surrounding the person as well
as the content and length of the program have significant impact on the viewers aggression.

Works Cited
Fitzpatrick, Caroline, Tracie Barnett, and Linda S. Pagani. "Early exposure to media violence

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and later child adjustment." Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics 33.4
(2012): 291-297.
Heath, Linda, Candace Kruttschnitt, and David Ward. "Television and violent criminal behavior:
Beyond the bobo doll." Violence and victims 1.3 (1986): 177-190.
Robinson, Thomas N., et al. "Effects of reducing children's television and video game use on
aggressive behavior: a randomized controlled trial." Archives of pediatrics & adolescent
medicine 155.1 (2001): 17-23.
Wilson, Barbara J., Carolyn M. Colvin, and Stacy L. Smith. "Engaging in violence on American
television: A comparison of child, teen, and adult perpetrators." Journal of
Communication 52.1 (2002): 36-60.
Wilson, Barbara J., et al. "Violence in children's television programming: Assessing the risks."
Journal of Communication 52.1 (2002): 5-35.