Watching violent television content in early childhood may increase a child's risk of developing antisocial behavior in their teenage years, according to a study that followed 2,000 kids for over 10 years.
The study, published on Jan. 20 in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, tracked 963 girls and 982 boys born in 1997 and 1998 to predict how early exposure to violent media could affect their behaviors by the age of 15.
The findings found that boys who were exposed to violent content at the age of 3.5 to 4.5 were more likely to exhibit antisocial behaviors as teens than their peers.
What Were the Specific Findings?
Researchers at the Université de Montreal's School of Psychoeducation found that antisocial behavior was only noted among boys exposed to violent content and not in girls. These behaviors included hitting other people to obtain things, stealing, making threats, and participating in gang fights. In some cases, the researchers also linked early exposure to violent media with the use of weapons.
For the study, the researchers noted that they "took into account alternative child and family factors that could have explained our results, to be as close as possible to the truth in the relationships we were looking at."
The team emphasized that parents play a crucial role in preventing future problems by carefully monitoring how much young children are exposed to violent content.
What Do Other Studies Say?
Other publications found similar effects of early exposure to violent media on children and teens. For young children especially, seeing violence in media can make them more likely to copy aggressive behaviors they see. They might hit, kick, or use mean words more often after watching violent content. Over time, kids can start to think violence is a normal way to solve problems.
Teens may become less sensitive to violence and have a harder time feeling empathy for others who are hurt. This can lead to things like getting into more fights, bullying others, or having trouble controlling angry outbursts.
