How Children Learn Violence through Modeling Donna Dickman Partnership for Violence Free Families

Why Is It Important to Learn Child Development? To know what children can do and understand at different age levels To learn what you can expect of a child To better understand the reasons for the child’s behaviors

Risk Factors for Violence

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Congressional Public Health Summit, 2000 American Academy of Pediatrics American Psychological Association American Academy of Child And Adolescent Psychiatry American Medical Association American Academy of Family Physicians “At this time, well over 1000 studies - including reports from the Surgeon General's office, the National Institute of Mental Health, and numerous studies conducted by leading figures within our medical and public health organizations.. point overwhelmingly to a causal connection between media violence and aggressive behavior in some children.”

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Why Are Children Spending So Much Time With Media? Allows time for parents to do chores Quiets children down; they are safe Parents have time for themselves Multiple equipment means fewer sibling hassles, and parents can watch their own shows.

On average young children today: Watch TV for 2 to 4 hours per day. Spend 35 hours per week on screen time (TV, computer games). Watch 4,000 hours of TV before entering kindergarten. On average older children/teens (8-18): Consume on average 8 hours of media (e.g., TV, movies, computer, music) per day. Facts Related to Media Exposure

KEY FACTS: TV VIOLENCE “The consensus among most of the research community is that violence on television does lead to aggressive behavior by children and teenagers… In magnitude, television violence is as strongly correlated with aggressive behavior as any other behavioral variable that has been measured.” Source: National Institute of Mental Health

TV Cartoons?

According to Nielsen Media Research, WWE's programming reaches 15.8 million fans each week, of which 23 percent is under age 18. Grades 7-12: Form a tag team of your favorite character from literature and your favorite WWE Superstar, and describe and/or illustrate on an 8.5x11- inch piece of paper the strategy you would use to defeat the current WWE Tag Team Champions (as of October 10, 2010). Teens may use art, drawing, collage, poetry and/or writing alone or in any combination in creating your project. All projects must be the original work of the individual teen. Only one entry per person.

By the end of elementary school, will have seen approximately 8,000 murders and 100,000 other acts of violence on television. By age 70, will have spent 7 to 10 years watching TV. Facts Related to Media Exposure

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Video Games 80 percent of popular (based on sales) video games contain violence. 80 percent of homes in the United States have video game systems. 50% of youth report keeping a video game console in their rooms

The Problem(s) with Violent Video Games A “Recipe” for Violence: Video games provide a powerful combination of effective learning strategies for aggression: ◦ Modeling ◦ Scripts for how to be aggressive ◦ Rehearsal of behavior ◦ Reinforcement Recent study: Violent video games may be the most harmful form of violent media because they are interactive, engaging, and they require the player to identify and act for the aggressor, selecting and performing violent acts, repeatedly (Anderson & Dill, 2000)

Who is affected? This phenomenon is NOT limited to aggressive children in dysfunctional families and communities— “Even with solid emotional, behavioral, cognitive and social anchors provided by a healthy home and community, this pervasive media violence increases aggression and antisocial behavior.” Perry, 2003 An emerging category of high risk players of violent video games—the quiet and anxious child who, with sufficient exposure, may become aggressive (Funk, 2002).

Video Game Addiction?

What Families Should Teach Young Children About Media  What they see on TV, computer, and video games is not real life  Real-life violence hurts people.  Heroes are real people who are brave and do good things to help others.  Guns and knives used on TV are not real and do not hurt people.  Real guns and knives can hurt or kill people.  If children see violence on TV, change the channel or go do something else.  Children should talk to an adult when scared or afraid about something they see on TV. Violence is never the best way to solve a problem; it only creates more problems.

For More Information: Partnership for Violence Free Families American Psychological Association ActAgainstViolence.apa.org