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Abstract
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VioLit summary:
OBJECTIVE:
The purpose of this research by Ridley-Johnson et al. was firstly to examine the concerns of parents about the effects upon adolescent children of viewing television violence, and subsequently to investigate the role of gender as a mediating variable in the relationship between viewing violence and aggression.
METHODOLOGY:
The authors employed a quasi-experimental cross-sectional design with a non-probability sample of 105 parents of children in the sixth, seventh and eighth grades of a middle school in a white, middle class suburb of Milwaukee. Questionnaires were initially mailed to 400 parents, with 133 being returned, representing a return rate of 33%. However, 28 of the surveys did not indicate sex of the child, so these were eliminated from the final analyses, leaving the sample at 105. Most of the questionnaires were completed by the children's mothers. The 18-item Parental Opinion Questionnaire was constructed to measure both fear-related and aggression-related concerns about the effects of viewing television violence. A four-month test-retest reliability check for 10 of the original subjects found that reliability of this measure was adequate, as was content validity. Analysis included examination of means and ANOVA.
FINDINGS/DISCUSSION:
The authors found no overall differences in parents' fear- related or aggression-related concerns, and no main effect of sex. However, sex and effect type (fear or aggression) interacted significantly. Parents of boys were more concerned about aggression-related effects, and those of girls were more concerned about fear-related effects. Parents of boys were more concerned than those of girls about aggression, although both were equally worried about fear-related effects. Parents of both sexes were most concerned about their children learning to accept violence and aggression, as well as being worried about the fear-related effects of being upset or frightened or seeing the world as threatening. The authors turned to social learning theory for an explanation of their findings, suggesting that, whilst both boys and girls can learn from television violence, current socialization practices and cultural values lead to a greater expression of learned aggressive behaviors and attitudes amongst boys, and more passive and non- aggressive behavior amongst girls. Fear and aggression might be affected according to temporal sequencing, such that fear might be a common, immediate reaction to viewing violence, whereas aggression might be a long-term effect upon attitudes and behavior for boys as fear might be for girls. The authors concluded that fear and aggression were both of some concern for parents of children who viewed television violence.
AUTHORS' RECOMMENDATION:
The authors emphasized the importance of continued research into the affective responses of children to the viewing of television violence, as well as of further study of the role of gender in the relationship between viewing violence and aggression or fear. More detailed exploration of the relationship between fear and aggression in boys was suggested, as was further clarification of the nature of fear-related effects.
EVALUATION:
The authors present a valuable addition to the field of television violence and its effects upon children. However, the restricted nature of the sample precludes generalization - studies involving subjects from different classes and ethnicities might provide vastly different results. Measures designed to access children's own responses to television violence might have provided an interesting adjunct to this study, and a more detailed discussion of the implications of the findings would have been helpful. Longitudinal research could have been included in the study, and would have allowed for an examination of the long-term consequences of violence. Despite these limitations, the study provides an excellent basis for further research into the effects of viewing television violence upon the behaviors and attitudes of youth. (CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado)
KW - Wisconsin
KW - Aggression Causes
KW - Behavior Causes
KW - Juvenile Male
KW - Juvenile Female
KW - Gender Differences
KW - Parent Perceptions
KW - Male Aggression
KW - Female Aggression
KW - Juvenile Aggression
KW - Television Violence
KW - Television Viewing
KW - Media Violence Effects
KW - Social Learning
KW - Fear Causes
KW - Early Adolescence
Language: en |