The Effects
of Media Violence on Children
Dr. Jane E. Ledingham, C. Anne Ledingham
John E. Richardson
Ottawa, 1993
![The Effects of Media Violence on Children](/web/20071124072125im_/http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/ncfv-cnivf/familyviolence/html/gfx/Gr000001.jpg)
Does TV teach children to be violent?
And if it does, what can parents do to counteract its influence?
Since television service was
introduced to Canada in 1952, it has become so much a part of our
existence that many people cannot imagine a life without it. Virtually
every Canadian household has a TV set; many have two or three.
We love TV and we watch a lot
of it, and yet our pleasure is tainted by a profound unease. What
is television doing to us, anyway? Everyone knows people who can't
seem to turn off the TV, but there is no agreement on how much TV
is "too much." Nor is there any agreement on what is "good TV" and
what is "bad" or "dangerous."
People who grew up With TV are
usually the most ambivalent about it. They feel guilty about enjoying
vulgar, exploitative, violent shows when they could be watching
something more edifying like Masterpiece Theatre. They recognize
the seductive power of the medium.
And yet, many parents who feel
uneasy about TV also admit they use TV as a babysitter. What kind
of upbringing are children getting from their electronic nannies?
How Children Understand Television?
Children begin to notice and
react to television very early. By the age of three, children will
willingly watch a show designed for them 95% of the time and will
imitate someone on television as readily as they will imitate a
live person (Parke and Kavanaugh, 1977). The average time children
spend watching television rises from about 2 1/2 hours per day at
the age of five to about four hours a day at age twelve. During
adolescence, average viewing time drops off to 2 to 3 hours a day
(Liebert and Sprafkin, 1988).
Young children do not process
information in the same way as adults. Nor do they have the experience
or the judgment to evaluate what they see. For example, children
between the ages of 6 and 10 may believe that most of what they
see on TV is true to life. Since they watch a lot of TV, this makes
them particularly vulnerable to the negative effects of television.
How Violence Affects Children?
The results of studies on the
effects of televised violence are consistent. By watching aggression,
children learn how to be aggressive in new ways and they also draw
conclusions about whether being aggressive to others will bring
them rewards (Huesmann and Eron, 1986). Those children who see TV
characters getting what they want by hitting are more likely to
strike out themselves
in imitation.
Even if the TV character has
a so-called good reason for acting violently (as when a police officer
is shown shooting down a criminal to protect others), this does
not make young children less likely to imitate the aggressive act
than when there is no good reason for the violence (Liss, Reinhardt
and Fredriksen, 1983).
In an important study carried
out in Canada, children were found to have become significantly
more aggressive two years after television was introduced to their
town for the first time (Kimball and Zabrack, 1986). Children who
prefer violent television shows when they are young have been found
to be more aggressive later on, and this may be associated with
trouble with the law in adulthood (Huesmann, 1986). Strong identification
with a violent TV character and believing that the TV situation
is realistic are both associated with greater aggressiveness (Huesmann
and Eron, 1986). In general, boys are more affected by violent shows
than girls are (Lefkowitz, Eron, Walder and Huesmann, 1977).
Besides making children more
likely to act aggressively, violence on television may have other
harmful effects. First, it may lead children to accept more aggressive
behaviour in others (Drabman and Thomas, 1974). Second, it may make
children more fearful as they come to believe that violence is as
common in the real world as it is on television (Bryant, Careth
and Brown, 1981).
But television is not always
a negative influence. There is strong evidence that children's shows
that were, developed to teach academic and social skills can help
children learn effectively. In fact, research suggests that the
positive effects of educational children's shows probably outweigh
the negative effects of exposure to TV violence (Hearold, 1986).
If violence on television helps to make children more
aggressive, it is still only a small part of the overall problem.
Other factors in a child's life may be far more influential than
TV. For example, pre-schoolers who were given guns and other "violent"
toys to play with were found to commit more aggressive acts than
preschoolers who had merely watched a television program with violent
content (Potts, Huston and Wright, 1986).
Another major factor that determines
how aggressive a child will be is how his or her parents behave.
If parents ignore or approve of their child's aggressive behaviour,
or if they lose control too easily themselves, a TV control plan
will not help. Similarly, if parents themselves exhibit violent
behaviour, they serve as role models for their children.
On the other hand, parents who
show their children how to solve problems nonviolently and who consistently
notice and praise their children for finding peaceful solutions
to conflicts will have children who are less aggressive (Singer
and Singer, 1986).
The Role of Parents
When there is an adult present
who comments on the action of a TV show, children remember more
and are, more likely to imitate what they have seen (Gruse, 1973;
Watkins, Calvert, Huston-Stein and Wright, 1980). Thus, watching
TV with an adult may actually intensify the effect of television
on children, whether this effect is positive or negative.
Parents can serve as models
of how to watch television, as gatekeepers allowing or denying access
to the television, and as interpreters of the content of television.
However, research has shown that most parents seldom intervene in
their children's choices of TV shows, though it is true that when
children and parents watch together, it is more likely to be a program
the adults prefer (Peters et al., 1991). This can mean that children
are exposed to violence in crime shows and news programs that the
adults have chosen to watch.
What Parents Can Do?
1. Don't panic. Remember that
watching one television show With some violence content is not going
to irreversibly damage your child. What matters most for young children
is the cumulative effect of what he or she watches and the general
viewing habits that he or she develops.
And of course, you can't always
be there to control what your child is watching. By all means, tell
other parents and babysitters how you feel about your child watching
violent programs, but recognize that you will probably not be able
to keep your child completely innocent. Your child is going to see
examples of aggression, even In the playground. Teaching your child
what to think about violence on TV goes hand in hand with teaching
him or her what to think about violence in the real world.
2. Make rules and stick to them,
but allow for some flexibility. You as a parent have the right and
the responsibility to make decisions for your children. In general,
parents who set rules but who leave some room for compromise have
happier, more competent children than parents who let their children
make their own rules or parents who are rigid and dictatorial.
3. If possible, start early
in influencing your children's exposure to television. It is easier
to enforce rules with younger children than with older ones, and
younger children are the ones who appear to be most sensitive to
the negative effects of video violence. Moreover, when good TV habits
are established early, they are easier to maintain.
4. If you want to reduce the
amount of violent content they are exposed to, make rules about
what your children can watch rather than about how much they can
watch.
Even so, you may also want to
consider limiting the number of hours your children watch TV so
that they have time for other activities. You can make them earn
their television time by finishing their homework or chores or by
playing outside for a while. You are the expert on what is reasonable
for your children and you know what will fit best into your family
routine.
5. Make sure you can live with
the rules you set and that you are ready to enforce them. The important
thing about any TV viewing agreement is how consistently you implement
it. Keep it as simple as possible. A few rules are easier to remember
and obey than an elaborate system that everyone ignores.
Remember that children will
usually balk at making changes in their viewing habits. You have
to be prepared to stick it out to convince them you are serious.
6. Make video technology your
ally. You cannot watch every program with your children or preview
all the shows they might want to watch. However, young children
are often happy to watch their favourite videotapes over and over
again; you can let them watch a tape you have already seen instead
of worrying about what is on television at that specific time.
7. Make lists of programs you
consider acceptable. But rather than trying to vet all possible
programs to decide whether your children should be watching them,
consult Jack Livesley and Frank Trotz's book The Penguin Guide
to Children'sTV and Video for useful reviews of many children's
shows and suggestions for appropriate selections for different age
groups.
8. Consider investing in an
electronic device that can limit television watching, if your children
have their own TV set. Otherwise, you will find it hard to control
what they watch. There are many devices that will limit TV watching
when you are not there. Addie Jurs, in Becoming Unglued, describes
several such gadgets of different levels of sophistication and cost.
They include "The Switch," which controls electricity to the TV
set through a unit with a key (available for about US $25 from P.O.
Box 344, Western Springs, Illinois, U.S.A. 60558), and Super Vision,
which will turn the television on and off in two specific time periods
for each of four children (about US $100 from Tectrics Labs, 5256
South Mission Road, Suite 110, Bonsall, California, U.S.A. 92003).
9. Give your children attractive
alternatives to TV. Enrolling them in regularly scheduled community
programs or making a routine of outdoor excursions or indoor crafts
will reduce the number of arguments about television and teach children
how to enjoy a broader range of activities.
A Canadian study examined the
changes in how families living in a small town spent their days
before and after television was introduced. It found that people
spent less time talking, socializing outside the home, doing household
tasks, engaging in leisure activities such as reading, knitting,
and writing, and being involved in community activities and sports
after television became available. They even slept less (Williams
and Handford, 1986). It is clear that television's impact on children
arises not only from the kinds of behaviour it promotes, but also
from the other activities it replaces.
10. Adapt your approach to the
age of your child. With the under-fives you can set the rules without
too much discussion, but with older children you will want to listen
to their feelings and explain the reasons for the rules. This also
gives you a chance to talk to them about your beliefs. Teaching
the right values is probably just as important as controlling what
your children watch in making sure that they do not grow up to be
aggressive. Besides, children will go along with rules more often
when they have been involved in the process of making them. As your
children enter adolescence, you must allow them to make more of
their own decisions in this area as In others.
11. Talk to your children about
television, and get them to tell you how they see it. One of the
most powerful ways of keeping children from being affected by TV
violence is to get them to tell you how children can be fooled
or hurt by what they see on television (Huesmann, Eron, Klein, Brice
and Fischer, 1993). Some books about television's effects that you
can read with your child to start the discussion are, listed in
Suggested Reading on the next page.
12. Be prepared for the possibility
that, for your children's sake, you may have to change your own
TV viewing habits. Decide how you feel about violent content. Be
aware of what you watch when your children are around and decide
whether you can and should reconsider your choices. If you don't
want to give up your favourite shows, you can always tape them and
watch them after your children are in bed.
Suggested Reading
Berenstein, Stan, and Jan Berenstein.
1984. The Berenstein Bears and Too Much TV New York: Random
House.
Brown, Mark, and Laurence Krasny
Brown. 1984. The Bionic Bunny Show. Boston: Little, Brown
and Company.
Dobson, Clive. 1989. Fred's
TV Willowdale, Ontario: Firefly Books.
Heilbroner, Joan. 1984. Tom
the TV Cat. New York: Random House.
Jurs, Addie. 1992. Becoming
Unglued. San Marcos, CA: Robert Erdmann Publishing.
Livesley, Jack, and Frank Trotz.
1993. The Penguin Guide to Children's TV and Video. Toronto,
Ontario: Penguin Books.
Smillie, Julie, and Wally Bowen.
1993. Get a Life! Or the Awakening of Bill Bored. Citizens
for Media Literacy: Asheville, N.C.
References
Bryant, J., R.A. Carveth and
D. Brown. 1981. Television viewing and anxiety: An experimental
examination. Journal of Communication 31, 106-119.
Drabman, R.S., and M.H. Thomas.
1974. Does media violence increase children's toleration of real-life
aggression? Developmental Psychology 10, 418-421.
Grusec, J.E. 1973. Effects
of co-observer evaluations of imitation: Adevelopmental study.
Developmental Psychology 8, 141.
Hearold, S. 1986. A synthesis
of 1043 effects of television on social behaviour. In G. Comstock
(Ed.), Public Communications and Behaviour: Volume I. New York:
Academic Press.
Huesmann, L.R. 1986. Psychological
processes promoting the relation between exposure to media violence
and aggressive behaviour by the viewer. Journal of Social Issues
42, 125-139.
Huesmann, L.R., and L.D. Eron.
1986. Television and the Aggressive Child: A Cross-National Comparison.
Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Huesmann, L.R., L.D. Eron, R.
Klein, P. Brice and P. Fischer. 1983. Mitigating the imitation
of aggressive behaviour by changing children ~ attitudes about media
violence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 44, 899-910.
Joy, L.A., M.M. Kimball and
M.L. Zabrack. 1986. Television and children's aggressive behaviour.
In T.M. Williams (Ed.), The Impact of Television: A Natural Experiment
in Three Communities. Orlando, FL: Academic Press.
Lefkowitz, M.M., L.D. Eron,
L.D. Walder and L.R. Huesmann. 1977. Growing Up to Be Violent.
New York: Pergamon Press.
Liebert, Robert, and Joyce Sprafkin.
1988. The Early Window. New York: Pergamon Press.
Liss, M.B., L.C. Reinhardt and
S. Fredriksen. 1983. TV heroes: The impact of rhetoric and deeds.
Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology 4, 175-187.
McCall, R.B., R.D. Parke and
R.D. Kavanaugh. 1977. Imitation of live and televised models
by children one to three years of age. Monographs of the Society
for Research in Child Development 42, Serial No. 173.
Potts, R., A.C. Huston and J.C.
Wright. 1986. The effects of television for and violent content
on boys' attention and social behaviour. Journal of Experimental
Child Psychology 41, 1-17.
St. Peters, M., M. Pitch, A.C.
Huston, J.C. Wright and D.J.. Eakins. 1991. Television and families:
What do young children watch with their parents? Child Development
63, 1409-1423.
Singer, D. and J. Singer. 1986.
Family experiences and television viewing as predictors of children's
imagination, restlessness, and aggression. Journal of Social
Issues 42, 107-124.
Watkins, B., S. Calvert, A.
Huston-Stein, and J.C. Wright. 1980. Children's recall of television
material. Effects of presentation mode and adult labelling. Developmental
Psychology 16, 672-679.
Williams, T.M. and A.G. Handford.
1986. Television and other leisure activities. In T.M. Williams
(Ed.), The Impact of Television: A Natural Experiment in Three Communities
(pp. 143-213). Orlando, FL: Academic Press.
National Clearinghouse on Family
Violence
Family Violence Prevention Unit
Health Programs and Services Branch
Health Canada
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 1B4
Tel.: (613) 957-2938
Fax: (613) 941-8930
or call the toll free number
1-800-267-1291
For TDD users, (613) 952-6396
or call the toll free number
1-800-561-5643
This document was prepared under
contract by Dr. Jane Ledingham,
Director of the Child Study Centre at the
University of Ottawa.
Illustrations by Christopher Hinton, Animator.
August 1994
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