Violence Comes Home

During the past few years there has been speculation regarding the impact of media violence on children. A new study suggested that parents concerned about children and violence would be better off turning down the volume in the home than turning off the television.

Video games make interactive violence fun and television and movies seem to glorify conflict. Neither of these seem to hit as hard as a kid seeing their own parents in a real life fight.

“I don’t like having them fight...when that happens, when they’re fighting so much, I can hear them through the wall,” said Amy, 8.

Researchers at Case Western Reserve interviewed over 2000 kids between the ages of eight and thirteen. The results show that kids are much more likely to copy the violence they see in real life than the violence they see on television. Experts say that fighting between parents is particularly damaging.

“Kids see their parents as their safety net, their buffer to the world, and that when parents get into conflict that safety is threatened for them, and I think that’s very distressing,” said Dr. Lisa Armistead, psychologist.

What Parents Should Know

Children exposed to extremely high levels of violence are at high risk of developing psychological trauma, according to a recent study by Case Western Reserve University. The study compared levels of violent exposure in the home, in communities, and in schools to levels of anxiety, depression, anger, posttraumatic stress, and dissociation.

Those exposed to the greatest amount of violence, as either victims or witnesses, displayed a significant amount of the symptoms for psychological trauma.

More than 38% of the children classified in the high violence group had symptoms compared to the 7% in the low violence group.

Fifty-percent of the girls in the high-violence group reported having suicidal thoughts compared to 11% in the non-violence group. The fear of being killed by someone weighed on the minds of 50% of the boys exposed to high levels of violence and 15.8% of those exposed to more moderate levels of violence.

Tuning in to Violence

Experts contended that moderate levels of television viewing do not contribute to psychological trauma, but heavy viewing could offer a link, especially if violent programming is the child’s preference.

A child watching a minor amount of television, six hours or less per week, can benefit from the reality escape. On the other hand, children viewing significantly more television are at a greater risk of developing psychological trauma.

Researchers speculated that program selection may offer more of a correlation to trauma than the actual number of hours spent in front of the television.