1

Child aggression imitation through playing/watching violent video games

The general purpose of the proposal is to examine the amount of affect the violent video
games brought into younger people's aggression development. After the evolution of video
games in the 1970s, today people of varied ages play it for pleasure, as a hobby and some take it
as their profession. And it is estimated that there are more than 3.24 billion video gamers
worldwide as of September 2021 (Clement, 2021).  According to  (Sherry, 2001) a survey of
middle-class adolescents’ shows that 88% of boys and 64% of girls were reported playing video
games at least one hour a week and 29% of the boys were reported playing 3-6 hours a week on
average.

“By the 1980s, most child development scholars had accepted the theory that exposure to media
violence, at least during some period of a child’s development, increases their risk for
aggression” (Bushman & Huesmann, 2006). “Violent video game exposure also causes increase
in physiological desensitization to real-life violence and decreases in helping behavior”
(Carnagey & Anderson, 2004). “The one consistent finding is that the majority of the studies on
very young children- as opposed to those in their teens upwards- tend to show that children do
become more aggressive after either playing or watching violent video games” (Griffiths, 1999).

The hypothesis tested is that the behavioral change brought by violent video games in young
children has a direct relationship to their aggression functioning. “Physical effects may range
from triggering epileptic seizures to causing temporary changes in heart rate and blood pressure”
(Funk, 1993). Certainly, it is just the case of how easily accessible the media is for the children
that influences the ecosystem of children’s aggression development.

Even though some of the media pessimists believe that media violence can be harmful for
children, there are some media skeptics who claim that there is no reliable evidence to support
this view (Browne & Hamilton-Giachritsis, 2005). However, the impact of violent media on
behavioral change is long debated and discussed since its methodology of analyses are criticized.
(Mitrofan et al., 2014) states that there were methodological problem, such as use of non-
standardised mechanism which were not tested for validity and reliability, use of proxy measure
which has no direct relationship with physical aggression and violent behavior, and publication
bias that has contributed for  inconclusive evidence.

 
 2

Methodology

Subject / Participants

Firstly, I shall identify a total of 100 children aged 7-15 years old from a school. The
respondents will consist of both genders, male and female with 50 boys and 50 girls, who
actively play and watch violent contents of video games and those who do not. A verbal or
written agreement will be sought from the respondents either from their parents or guardians. 

Design

The survey will be conducted through an online platform using a google form. The questionnaire
will focus on the three categories namely, effectiveness on mental, physical and verbal on a child
through playing and watching aggression videos, and the questions would be designed following
close-ended, single choice and multiple choice questions and rating scale questions. Each
category will have 10 questions summing up to 30 questions from three categories to be
answered. The medium would be English with simple structure that is understood by the
children. 

The participants’ information will be confidential and their responses would be guaranteed
anonymity. The data collected from the survey will be used for educational purposes. 

Material / Equipment

The survey would be designed as user-friendly for children since most of the participants use
phones, so the survey can be carried out either by phone or laptop. The paper based
questionnaires would also be available if requested. 

Procedure

After identifying 100 students and categorizing the violent game players/watchers group from
non-violent game players/watchers, the questionnaire will be emailed to them, with 24 hours as a
deadline for the response. The clarifications for the questions will also be entertained. In
addition, a reminder call will also be made to the unresponsive participants for the survey. 
 3

In the first set of questions, it would cover the effectiveness of playing and watching violent
video games on mental health, followed by on the physical behavior and verbal communication
on a child. 

Overall / Analysis

The data from the respondents will be collected, and it will be analyzed through comparison of
the two groups in an Excel or Google Sheet. Each group (players/watchers of violent video
games and non-players/watchers of violent video games) will then be presented in a bar chart,
where the x-axis would be labeled with the number of respondents and y-axis would be
presented with the three categories (mental, physical and verbal aggression) that has resulted
from playing and watching violent video games on children. After that, two Excel or Google
Sheet will be combined and compared in a bar graph with a description, which shall determine
the consequences associating with the violent video game players. 

This is because, it is often easier to understand and grasp the key information on the ecosystem
of a child's mental, physical and verbal aggression development from watching or playing
violent video games.

References

Browne, K. D., & Hamilton-Giachritsis, C. (2005). The influence of violent media on children and
adolescents: A public-health approach. The Lancet, 365(9460), 702–710.
https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(05)17952-5

Bushman, B. J., & Huesmann, L. R. (2006). Short-term and long-term effects of violent media on
aggression in children and adults. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 160(4), 348–352.
https://doi.org/10.1001/archpedi.160.4.348

Clement, J. (2021, September 7). Number of gamers worldwide 2021. Statista. Retrieved May 10, 2022,
from https://www.statista.com/statistics/293304/number-video-gamers/#:~:text=In%20total%2C
%20there%20were%20an,billion%20gamers%20across%20the%20globe

Funk, J. B. (1993). Reevaluating the impact of video games. Clinical Pediatrics, 32(2), 86–90.
https://doi.org/10.1177/000992289303200205

Griffiths, M. (1999). Violent video games and Aggression. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 4(2), 203–
212. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1359-1789(97)00055-4
 4

Mitrofan, O., Paul, M., Weich, S., & Spencer, N. (2014). Aggression in children with
behavioural/emotional difficulties: Seeing aggression on television and video games. BMC
Psychiatry, 14(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-014-0287-7

Sherry, J. L. (2001). The effects of violent video games on aggression.. Human Communication
Research, 27(3), 409–431. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2958.2001.tb00787.x