New Study Shows Violent Videogames do not Cause Violence in Youth

Dr. Christopher Ferguson of Texas A&M International University conducted a study of youth studying what circumstances cause violence in youth, and he found that violent videogames did not cause youth to be more violent. He used 302 mostly Hispanic kids which were ages 10-14. They were interviewed twice: once at the beginning of the study and again 12 months later. In the interview they went over things such as “neighborhood problems, negative relationships with adults, anti-social personality, family attachment, delinquent peers, exposure to domestic violence, depressive symptoms, serious aggression, bullying and delinquent behavior,” and exposure to violence in videogames and on TV. Of the group, 75% played videogames, and 40% played violent videogames. The study showed that depression symptoms was a stronger predictor of violence than exposure to violence on TV and in videogames was. You can read the entire article here.