Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-2-2018

Publication Title

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of Americaciences of the United States of America

Department

Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences

Additional Department

Geisel School of Medicine

Abstract

To clarify and quantify the influence of video game violence (VGV) on aggressive behavior, we conducted a metaanalysis of all prospective studies to date that assessed the relation between exposure to VGV and subsequent overt physical aggression. The search strategy identified 24 studies with over 17,000 participants and time lags ranging from 3 months to 4 years. The samples comprised various nationalities and ethnicities with mean ages from 9 to 19 years. For each study we obtained the standardized regression coefficient for the prospective effect of VGV on subsequent aggression, controlling for baseline aggression. VGV was related to aggression using both fixed [β = 0.113, 95% CI = (0.098, 0.128)] and random effects models [β = 0.106 (0.078, 0.134)]. When all available covariates were included, the size of the effect remained significant for both models [β = 0.080 (0.065, 0.094) and β = 0.078 (0.053, 0.102), respectively]. No evidence of publication bias was found. Ethnicity was a statistically significant moderator for the fixed-effects models (P ≤ 0.011) but not for the random-effects models. Stratified analyses indicated the effect was largest among Whites, intermediate among Asians, and nonsignificant among Hispanics. Discussion focuses on the implications of such findings for current debates regarding the effects of violent video games on physical aggression.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1611617114

Original Citation

Violent video games and aggression metaanalysis. Anna T. Prescott, James D. Sargent, Jay G. Hull. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Oct 2018, 115 (40) 9882-9888; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1611617114

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