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Addiction of Violence in Teens

Vijay Baddam Reddy

Psychology Department, Simon Fraser University

Psych 300W: Critical Analysis of Issues in Psychology

Dr. Gordon Rose

February 5th, 2023

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Tonkin (2005) compares the 1992 and 2003 statistics on health issues and

violence in teens and discusses high risk groups and traits. It also compares international data to

the B.C. data (Tonkin, 2005). While the retrospective does not argue any particular point, there

are issues and factors that are not surveyed about.

Gaming addiction, much like other forms of addiction, is a growing problem that causes

behavioural and social problems. Gaming addiction is an uncontrolled, excessive amount of

gaming that effects normal life (Video Game Addiction: What It Is, Symptoms & Treatment,

n.d.). Another early study looked that looked into video game addiction was Chiu (2004). This

study found that video games addition can negatively affect by increasing animosity and in those

affected by it (Chiu, 2004). Wood (2007) attempts to disprove the idea of video game addiction

because they believe that it is fueled by media hysteria. After reviewing the literature, they

concluded that video game addiction, is actually poor time management or a form of escapism

from their real-world problems (Wood, 2007). Although, escapism can be a cause of addiction

in many non-drug related addictions like shopping addiction (Kirezli & Arslan, 2018). Much like

shopping addiction, gaming addiction might occur because it elevates negative moods and allows

escapism (Kirezli & Arslan, 2018).

Surveying people on topics such as drug-use, violence or harassment will result in

inaccurate results. The social desirability bias may affect the accuracy of these surveys because

participants will try to look better even if the survey is anonymous (Krumpal, 2013). This may

affect survey data as they may change or downplay their answers to look better on the survey.

Additionally, students may not be honest due to retaliation of some kind because they may not

trust the promise of anonymity and fear retaliation. Another possible reason, which is related to
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the desirability bias, is that people may be ashamed of their actions and thus answer false

information. On the contrary, subject may be emboldened to truthfully admit due to this

anonymity. If participants are allowed to opt out of the survey, the results may be more accurate

as only those who want to will be surveyed. On the contrary, participant bias may occur which is

when the participants guess or are aware of the purpose of the research and change their answers

accordingly (Brito, 2017).

Sexual harassment or harassment will be under reported to authorities even if they are

promised anonymity. One factor may be that the person is simply unsure on whether it would be

considered sexual harassment or assault. Another well-established reason is that there is a power

dynamic between the reporter and assaulter (Reilly et al., 1986). The gender of the person

sexually harassed may also impact whether they will report sexual harassment. Reilly (1986)

found that males were more tolerant of sexual harassment. Additionally, males had different

criteria of sexual harassment, coercion and contact (Rotundo, 2001). Another reason they may

not report is cultural pressures, work place or societal, against reporting harassers. There is also a

distrust in police to actually prosecute the perpetrators (Alderden, 2012).

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References

Alderden, M. A., & Ullman, S. E. (2012). Creating a More Complete and Current Picture.

Violence Against Women, 18(5), 525–551. doi:10.1177/1077801212453867

Brito, C. F. (2017). Demonstrating experimenter and participant bias. In J. R. Stowell & W. E.

Addison (Eds.), Activities for teaching statistics and research methods: A guide for

psychology instructors (pp. 94–97). American Psychological Association.

https://doi.org/10.1037/0000024-020

Chiu, S. I., Lee, J. Z., & Huang, D. H. (2004). Video Game Addiction in Children and Teenagers

in Taiwan. CyberPsychology &Amp; Behavior, 7(5), 571–581.

https://doi.org/10.1089/cpb.2004.7.571

Kirezli, Ö., & Arslan, F. (2018). Analyzing Motivational Determinants of Shopping Addiction

Tendency. Ege Academic Review, 19(1). https://doi.org/10.21121/eab.2019148775

Krumpal, I. Determinants of social desirability bias in sensitive surveys: a literature review.

Qual Quant 47, 2025–2047 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-011-9640-9

Reilly, M. M., Lott, B., & Gallogly, S. M. (1986). Sexual harassment of university students. Sex

Roles, 15(7–8), 333–358. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf00287976

Rotundo, M., Nguyen, D.-H., & Sackett, P. R. (2001). A meta-analytic review of gender

differences in perceptions of sexual harassment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(5),

914–922. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.86.5.914

Tonkin, R. S. (2005). British Columbia youth health trends: A retrospective, 1992-2003.

Vancouver, BC: McCreary Centre Society. www.mcs.bc.ca/pdf/AHS-Trends-2005-

report.pdf
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Video Game Addiction: What It Is, Symptoms & Treatment. (n.d.). Cleveland Clinic.

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/23124-video-game-addiction

Wood, R. T. A. (2007). Problems with the Concept of Video Game “Addiction”: Some Case

Study Examples. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 6(2), 169–178.

doi:10.1007/s11469-007-9118-0