Effects of TV Violence on Child Behavior

EFFECTS OF TELEVISION VIOLENCE ON CHILD BEHAVIOR: A RESEARCH PROPOSAL

Introduction: Statement of the Research Problem

Several studies have reported a high correlation between exposure to violent television programming and violent behavioral tendencies among children (Lazar, 1994, pp. 3-19; Ridley, Surdy, & O'Laughlin, 1991, pp. 63-71; Clark, 1995, pp. 1019-1021). In spite of these findings and others, however, the causal link between viewing violence on television and imitative child behavior continues to be a controversial issue (Tulloch, 1995, pp. 96-115).

This research develops a proposal to examine the relationship between viewing by children of television programming with violent content and manifestations of violent or aggressive behavioral tendencies by those children. The proposed research is important because criminal activity generally and violent behavior particularly committed by children in the United States is increasing as the overall rates of both violent and non-violent crime in this country is declining to some extent (Centerwall, 1992, p. 3059).

The problem will be studied through a survey of the behaviors of a sample of children from six years old through 16 years old. Behavioral information about the children included in the sample will be collected from teachers and parents of the children. Behavioral relationships between television viewing habits and manifestations violent, non-violent, aggressive, and non-aggressive behaviors will be measured

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existed between themselves and each of their parents. Subjects also completed selected parts of the Buss-Durkee Hostility-Guilt Inventory. The researchers found that, for male subjects, the emotional relationships (as these relationships were perceived by the subjects) between themselves and their parents was a more influential determinant of aggressive behavior by the child than was the actual behavior of the subject's parents. With respect to female subjects, the researchers found that the behaviors of fathers and the subject's perception of the relationship between herself and her father was the strongest factor influencing aggressive behavior by the subject. The researchers also found support for the hypothesis that adolescents tend to model their behaviors after those of their parents with respect to conflict management. The modeling hypothesis was supported in relation to both aggressive and non aggressive adolescents. Downey and Walker (1992, pp. 81-95) investigated the influence on both depression and aggression in children of both family-level factors and child-level factors. The investigation involved a sample of 144 pre-teenaged children. The mean age of the subjects in the total sample was 9.8 years. Of the

Category: Psychology - E