In a release by the American Psychological Association, researchers reviewed studies on violent or aggressive behavior and its link to violent video games and have found that they are a "risk factor" for such behavior.
However, they admit that there is a lack of proof indicating violent video games as the single or primary causal factor in triggering lethal violence.
As per TIME, researchers have reviewed more than 100 studies on violent video game use between 2005 and 2013. They have concluded that:
- Video games are one (not the only) risk factor for aggressive or violent behavior;
- Violent video game use is associated with increases in aggressive behavior, affect and cognition;
- Violent video game use is also associated with decreases in socially desirable behavior such as prosocial behavior, empathy and moral engagement;
- Higher levels of exposure to violence in video games are associated to higher levels of aggression; and
- Violent video games have effects that persist over some time.
"The research demonstrates a consistent relation between violent video game use and increases in aggressive behavior, cognitions, effect and decreases in prosocial behavior, empathy and sensitivity to aggression," says the report of the APA Task Force on Violent Media.
"Scientists have investigated the use of violent video games for more than two decades but to date, there is very limited research addressing whether violent video games cause people to commit acts of criminal violence," said Mark Appelbaum, PhD, task force chair. "However, the link between violence in video games and increased aggression in players is one of the most studied and best established in the field."
The researchers also would like to clarify the difference between "aggression" and "violence" as unclear definitions of the terms have caused debates about the effects of video game use.
"All violence, including lethal violence, is aggression, but not all aggression is violence," researchers said.
"No single risk factor consistently leads a person to act aggressively or violently," the report states. "Rather, it is the accumulation of risk factors that tends to lead to aggressive or violent behavior. The research reviewed here demonstrates that violent video game use is one such risk factor."
The researchers said that there are a number of limitations in the study, and resolved to fill in the gaps those limitations left. Resolutions include studies that would look for any differences in outcomes between boys and girls who play violent video games; studies on the effects of violent video game play on children younger than 10; and studies that will examine the games' effects over the course of children's development.
