According to a recent study from Brock University in Canada, teenagers who play violent video games for over a number of years become aggressive towards other people. Moreover, the girls who played such games during their school years were found to be affected just as much as boys. The study findings are considered as the first indication of a clear link between a sustained period of playing violent games and subsequent rise in hostile behaviour.
According to the research team, the long-term players of violent games are likely to react aggressively to unintentional provocations such as someone accidentally bumping into them. The study which is now published in the journal Developmental Psychology, involved 1,492 adolescents at eight high schools in Ontario, 51 percent of whom were female and 49 percent male.
Surveys were carried out annually across four school years with the participants aged 14 or 15 at the start of the study and 17 or 18 when the study concluded. Teenagers were asked series of questions like how often they pushed or shoved people and whether they frequently kick or punch people who make them angry. They were also asked whether they played action or fighting games.
After the questions, psychologists used this to give each individual a score for their aggression level at each point in time. In the final years of the study, teens were asked how frequently they played such games ranging from zero to five to six hours a day.
The study results showed that teenagers, who played violent video games over a number of years, saw steeper rise in their aggression scores during the study. Others who regularly played non-violent games did not show such signs of increased aggression.
According to research team, factors like gender, parental divorce and drug use were also taken into consideration for the cause of aggression.
Source: Daily Mail