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January 2, 2008Public Policy Fails to Address the Effects of Media Violence on Children |
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From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Highly publicized events such as school shootings arouse public interest in the effects of media violence exposure on children, yet there is still considerable public debate about whether to take this issue seriously. A recent article in Social Issues and Policy Review summarizes the research on the effects of media violence and convincingly demonstrates the profound influence that media violence is having in our society. Despite the abundant research documenting the harmful effects of media violence, few people seem to get the message. For example, over half of American parents believe that violence makes children more aggressive, yet only a small percentage establish rules regarding content for their households. Because of First Amendment concerns, the courts are less concerned tolerant of government restrictions on media violence than on other public health risk factors. Douglas Gentile, Muniba Saleem, and Craig Anderson are affiliated with the Center for the Study of Violence in the Department of Psychology at Iowa State University and can be reached for questions at ferlazzo@iastate.edu. The mission of Social Issues and Policy Review (SIPR) is to provide state of the art and timely theoretical and empirical reviews of topics and programs of research that are directly relevant to understanding and addressing social issues and public policy.
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