Violent video games as catharsis
2013-08-29 00:28:38.365431+02 by Dan Lyke 0 comments
Video Game Violence Use Among ‘‘Vulnerable’’ Populations: The Impact of Violent Games on Delinquency and Bullying Among Children with Clinically Elevated Depression or Attention Deficit Symptoms, Ferguson & Olson (2013) (PDF) (Journal source), published in Youth and Adolescence.
Our results suggest that the association between violent video games and aggression related outcomes in children, even those with clinically elevated mental health symp- toms, may be minimal. Our research contributes to the field of youth and media by providing evidence that a timely, policy-relevant, and seemingly reasonable hypothesis— that mentally vulnerable children may be particularly influenced by violent video games—does not appear to be well supported.
The press release is Video games do not make vulnerable teens more violent, which notes that:
... On the contrary, the researchers found that the playing of such games actually had a very slight calming effect on youths with attention deficit symptoms and helped to reduce their aggressive and bullying behavior.