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Based on this picture below, this link basically portrays in illustrations about what I was debating about shooting and game violence that absolutely causes the active violence of adolescents today.

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Many kids and adults play video games - they're not just of interest to young men.

According to the Entertainment Software Association's (ESA) 2017 survey:

65% of households have at least one member who plays games three hours a week or more, and the average gamer is 35 years old.

Of the "gaming" population, there are more adult women (31%) than boys under 18 (18%).

Of people who play video games, 59% are male and 41% are female.

Some researchers are concerned that excessive game playing could be a form of addictive behavior, though this is controversial.

The World Health Organization recently decided to add "gaming disorder" to its list of mental health conditions in the update of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), released June 18 .

The definition of the condition states that gaming behavior could be a disorder if it meets three characteristics: if a person loses control over their gaming habits, if they start to prioritize gaming over many other interests or activities, and if they continue playing despite clear negative consequences.

This would put gaming on a similar level as other behaviors that can become problematic if people lose control over them, though the concept of behavioral addiction is controversial in the first place.

Some researchers are uncertain about calling gaming "addictive," since problematic gaming may in some cases serve as a dysfunctional coping mechanism for people struggling with depression or anxiety.

The release of games like Grand Theft Auto didn't seem to increase crime rates - and may do the opposite.

Rockstar / Grand Theft Auto V

A 2015 study found that in the months after popular violent video games are released, aggravated assault and homicide rates tend to drop. The researchers behind the study said the explanations for this correlation are complicated. Some scientists think people might experience some aggression-reducing catharsis from playing violent games; others say that aggressive people might seek out violent media and then play games instead of engaging in behavior that might lead to criminal activity.

Either way, there doesn't seem to be any increase in criminal activity associated with playing games.

Many of the people involved in mass shooting incidents seem to be less interested in violent video games than their peers.

Psychology professors Patrick Markey and Christopher Ferguson found that about 20% of school shooters played violent video games, compared to close to 70% of their nonviolent peers.

A 2004 report on school shooters by the US Secret Service and Department of Education found that only 12% of school shooters displayed an interest in violent video games.

In the time period that violent video games have become popular, youth violence has declined.

It's easy to find video games that depict blood, gore, and violence. Yet studies show that youth violence has consistently declined as these games have become available.

One study out of Boston University found that youth violence rates dropped 29% between 2002 and 2014. Youth violence rates spiked from 1980 to 1994, according to the Urban Institute. But those rates started to plummet in the 1990s, dropping 34% between 1994 and 2000.

This is just a correlation - it does not mean that games cause violence rates to drop. But it also doesn't support the idea that violent games are "creating monsters," as Trump put it in 2012.

Video games can't explain the US's outlier status in terms of gun violence.

Various political figures have blamed school shootings on kids playing violent video games. Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin said guns were not a problem but that games desensitized players to the value of human life. NRA President Wayne LaPierre said after the Sandy Hook shooting that "Guns don't kill people. Video games, the media, and Obama's budget kill people."

But a comparison of the 10 largest video game markets in the world shows that there are far more gun murders in the US than in other countries that spend a lot of money on video games. That's even true in countries that spend more on games per capita than the US does, including Germany, Australia, the UK, Canada, France, Japan, and South Korea.

If video games were responsible for violence, there should be more violence in those countries.

Some games, especially those involving shooters, are associated with improved visual processing abilities.

Researchers have found that video-game players can outperform non-gamers on visual tasks, and several studies have shown that video games can "train" visual processing skills in ways that translate to other activities.

In one study, researchers found that playing what they call "action" games (like "Call of Duty" or "Destiny") can lead to an improved visual acuity and ability to find objects in a distracting setting. A review of similar research found that the improvements gamers experience are as effective as formal courses designed to increase visual processing ability.

In some studies, gamers show an increased ability to pay attention while filtering out distractions.

One review of research on video-game players found that people who played shooter games were better able to filter out distractions while engaged in attention-demanding tasks.

The players were less distracted by other visual information than non-gamers in several studies the researchers analyzed. The same abilities weren't necessarily found in gamers who played other types of games, though.

It's not just vision - action games seem to boost hand eye-coordination for adults and kids.

Researchers studying the effects of gaming have asked gamers and non-gamers to complete a new motor-skills task that they hadn't seen before. They found that neither group was necessarily better than the other at the start, and both groups improved at the task over time. But the group that played video games became significantly more accurate by the end of the experiment.

Another small study found that young children who played video games had improved motor skills compared to their peers, though the researchers weren't certain whether these kids were simply more drawn to these games in the first place because of that skill.

Still, a review on the topic found that faster reaction times tend to be consistently associated with video game play.

Studies show that the more time kids (and adults) spend in front of screens playing games or watching TV, the more likely they are to be overweight or obese.

A number of studies show that the more time kids spend engaged in sedentary behavior, the more likely they are to be overweight. One study of German children found that kids who spent less than 1.5 hours a day in front of a TV were 75% less likely to be overweight than kids who spent more than 1.5 hours in front of a screen.

This isn't surprising, since the more time people spend sitting in general, the more likely they are to be overweight. And that can have serious health consequences in the long run.

It's worth noting, however, that other studies have shown that socioeconomic and demographic factors have a bigger impact on childhood obesity than game playing.

Kids who play sports video games are more likely to play sports.

Researchers who tracked Canadian high schoolers found that kids who played sports video games were more involved in sports. When kids started playing those games, they also became more likely to play real-life sports more in the future.

The researchers think that the games provided knowledge of the sport, which gave the children confidence that helped them get more involved in real life.

Researchers think video games could improve problem-solving capacity

Since many games include some puzzle-solving requirements, researchers have speculated that games could improve problem-solving skills and change the way people learn.

In one study of "World of Warcraft" players, researchers found improved problem-solving capacity, but they weren't sure whether the game made people better at solving problems or whether those people were drawn to the game in the first place.

Another study tracked kids who played strategy and role-playing games (like "Civilization V" or "Fable") and found they developed improved problem-solving abilities over the next year, indicating there may be some link.

Playing games can help people relax, feel better, and trigger positive emotional responses.

People play video games to relax, and research finds games can indeed help with that. Studies have shown that puzzle video games can decrease stress and improve mood.

According to research from the American Psychological Association, games can elicit a range of emotions, positive and negative - including satisfaction, relaxation, frustration, and anger. Experiencing these emotions in a gaming context may help people regulate emotions, learn to cope with situations, and challenge themselves, the APA said.

Other studies have shown that kids who play moderate amounts of games (less than an hour per day) have fewer emotional issues and are more likely to help others than kids who don't play games.

Researchers have used video game technologies like virtual reality to help people recover from PTSD, get over phobias, and learn to manage drug addiction.

Virtual-reality environments provide safe but real-feeling scenarios in which people can face fears and difficult situations with the support of a therapist. New technology is making these sorts of interventions much more accessible than they used to be.

VR has been used to provide exposure therapy for people with PTSD or phobias, as well as to provide scenarios that help heroin addicts deal with triggering moments.

Researchers have also used VR as an alternative to painkillers, since entering a "new reality" allows someone's brain to forget the pain they're dealing with during surgery.

The psychological effects of video games might vary depending on how much you play.

One study of 10- to 15-year-old children found that kids who played less than an hour of video games per day were more satisfied than kids who didn't play games or kids who played one to three hours per day.

The groups of kids that didn't play or played between one and three hours daily seemed to have the same level life satisfaction. Kids who played more than three hours a day were less satisfied than any of the other groups.

From what we know, there are ways that video games can help people relax, challenge themselves, and even push their cognitive abilities. At the same time, it's quite possible that excessive time spent playing games - as with any hobby - may be unhealthy or a sign that someone is struggling.

But in general, video games seem to be just another form of entertainment.

More: Features Health Video Games Gaming

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How playing video games affects your body and brain

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Many kids and adults play video games - they're not just of interest to young men. According to the Entertainment Software Association's (ESA) 2017 survey: 65% of households have at least one member who plays games three hours a week or more, and the average gamer is 35 years old.

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When the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a decision on the Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association case on June 27, 2011, that ruling not only established that video games were covered under the First Amendment but that video game content could not be regulated by governments. Part of the reason for the court ruling was that psychological research linking violent games and violence was "unpersuasive." Though psychological research is often used in the courtroom in issues relating to child safety, the lack of consistent findings connecting video games to violent behaviour in children helped sway the court against regulation.

Moral panics over the potentially damaging effects of media violence on children are hardly new. Along with Frederic Wertham's crusade against comic books in the 1950s, similar concerns have been raised over violence in movies, television, and the Internet-even though the link between media violence and violent behaviour in children has never been reliably demonstrated.

Beginning in 1983, when U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop implicated violent video games as a leading cause of family violence, news stories about video games such as Death Race (allowing players to run over "gremlins") and Custer's Revenge (where a naked Custer avoids arrows in order to have sex with a Native American woman) have helped reinforce the idea that graphic violence in video games was potentially harmful. In 1994, the video game industry established the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) as a voluntary system where video games could be rated according to violence or other inappropriate material. Rating video games according to age-appropriate categories was intended to prevent underage children from playing games considered too intense for them.

But the controversy was hardly settled. After the Columbine high school massacre in 1999, family members of the shooting victims sued 25 video game companies that they blamed for the deaths. In particular, the game Doom came under intense scrutiny over reports that the Columbine shooters may have been influenced by the spectacle of shooting various targets to accumulate points.

Influenced by the massacre and the question of whether media violence may have been a cause, Senate Committee Commerce hearings were held in 2000. During the hearings, Senator Joe Lieberman (whose campaigning against video games helped create the ESRB rating system) raised the apparent connection between video games and violence-and even suggested that media violence could turn children into killers. In condemning the ESRB system, Senator John McCain suggested that the rating scheme was "nothing but a smoke screen to provide cover for immoral and unconscionable business practices."

At the same time, there was a sharp rise in research studies examining the link between child violence and video games, though the results were rarely consistent. In an excellent overview of video game studies recently published in American Psychologist , author Christopher J. Ferguson of Texas A&M International University pointed out that many scholars working in the area of child violence added to the moral panic with studies that were often flawed. While some psychological studies designed to correct for these problems continued to show a link, other studies turned up no relationship at all between video game violence and antisocial behaviour in children. The debate over video games has led to a serious split between different groups of researchers-a split that was as much about politics as it was about research findings.

Along with handing down a decision on video games and the First Amendment, the Supreme Court has taken a hard stand on the credibility of psychological research in general. Part of the problem seems to come from the lack of real consensus among researchers and the heated arguments they tend to make defending their own view on whether video games led to violence.

In his review, Christopher J. Ferguson pointed out some of the main problems that helped influence the Supreme Court decision. These include:

Lack of real agreement over whether a consistent relationship exists between video game violence and real-life violence.

Problems over how aggression is actually measured. Since there are no commonly accepted tests of aggression, researchers often use laboratory measures that may not be valid or reliable enough to test the link between media violence and aggressive behaviour.

The possibility of publication bias. Usually studies with positive results get published in professional journals, while negative findings often go unpublished. Many researchers tend to ignore studies that disprove their own research-which can slant their own conclusions over whether a link exists.

The problem of small effect sizes. How large a correlation between video game violence and real life aggression should warrant real-life concern? Almost all meta-analyses agree on a correlation of about 0.15 which, while significant, is really not that large. Researchers debate whether an effect size that small is enough to justify reining in the entire video game industry.

Whatever the status of the research so far, the only clear outcome is that the divide between pro- and anti-video game activists seems as wide as ever; both sides are citing research to support their arguments. In some cases, they are even looking at the same research studies and coming away with opposite interpretations of the findings.

So what does all this mean for parents of children wanting to play video games? And will any real consensus resolve the bitter division? While Ferguson argues that scientific debate like this is actually healthy, he also warns against the use of inflammatory statements by professional groups that misrepresent research.

As one example, he referred to the American Academy of Pediatrics' 2009 statement which stated that "playing violent video games has been found to account for a 13 percent to 22 percent increase in adolescents' violent behavior; by comparison, smoking tobacco accounts for 14 percent of the increase in lung cancer." Not only are the figures in question exaggerated, but the statement also implies a clear cause-and-effect relationship (like that of cigarettes causing lung cancer).

Aside from credibility issues, there is also the question of sponsorship. Should studies commissioned by the video game industry be taken at face value? How about studies put forward by anti-violence advocate groups, which may also show a clear bias on the subject? Many of these groups have a lot of time and money invested in promoting the dangers of video game violence and are hardly likely to be objective, especially if research they sponsor fails to meet their expectations. Scientists who receive research funding from advocacy groups, no matter where they stand in the debate, often find themselves in an awkward position of becoming advocates rather than impartial researchers.

In the end, it all comes back to the familiar problem of science being used to promote moral panic, however justified that panic might seem. As Ferguson points out in his article, "scientists who are exposed to the violent imagery of some games and are subsequently offended may interpret ambiguous data in light of their emotional responses to offensive material." This is a problem that often lies at the core of many psychological research studies which are expected to guide public policy on controversial subjects, whether it involves child abuse or the harmful effects of rock music-or, in this case, violent video games.

While the issue of whether violent video games are harmful for children is far from settled, every new tragedy that comes to light becomes introduced as evidence in the debate (including the Newtown massacre in December of 2012). That the latest statistics show youth violence at a 40-year low-despite the popularity of video games-is something that has to be considered, especially with media psychologists insisting that game violence is directly responsible for shooting rampages (along with psychiatric medication, availability of guns, or whatever other pet cause is being advocated).

So where does this leave us? That psychological research can be used and misused to promote one moral panic after another is hardly a revelation. Still, many psychologists have already spoken out over the need for more rigid guidelines in using psychological research as well as avoiding the use of overly broad statements than can damage the credibility of psychological research.

As for the question of whether video games are really harmful, the lack of a clear answer after decades of research suggest that the real problem may well lie with our not being able to ask the right questions.

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When the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a decision on the Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association case on June 27, 2011, that ruling not only established that video games were covered under the First Amendment but that video game content could not be regulated by governments.

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As many as 97% of US kids age 12-17 play video games, contributing to the $21.53 billion domestic video game industry. More than half of the 50 top-selling video games contain violence.

Violent video games have been blamed for school shootings, increases in bullying, and violence towards women. Critics argue that these games desensitize players to violence, reward players for simulating violence, and teach children that violence is an acceptable way to resolve conflicts.

Video game advocates contend that a majority of the research on the topic is deeply flawed and that no causal relationship has been found between video games and social violence. They argue that violent video games may provide a safe outlet for aggressive and angry feelings and may reduce crime. Read more background...

Pro & Con Arguments

Pro 1

Playing violent video games causes more aggression, bullying, and fighting.

60% of middle school boys and 40% of middle school girls who played at least one Mature-rated (M-rated) game hit or beat up someone, compared with 39% of boys and 14% of girls who did not play M-rated games. A 2014 peer-reviewed study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that habitual violent video game playing had a causal link with increased, long-term, aggressive behavior. Several peer-reviewed studies have shown that children who play M-rated games are more likely to bully and cyberbully their peers, get into physical fights, be hostile, argue with teachers, and show aggression towards their peers throughout the school year.
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Pro 2

There is broad consensus among medical associations, pediatricians, parents, and researchers that violent video games increase aggressive behavior.

A 2014 study published in Psychology of Popular Media Culture found that 90% of pediatricians and 67% of parents agreed or strongly agreed that violent video games can increase aggressive behavior among children. . More than 98% of pediatricians in the United States say that too much exposure to violent media heightens childhood aggression. In addition, 66% of researchers agreed or strongly agreed. Since only 17% of researchers disagreed or strongly disagreed, and 17% were undecided, the study concluded "That means that among researchers who have an opinion, eight out of 10 agree that violent games increase aggression." A joint statement by six leading national medical associations, including the American Medical Association and American Psychological Association, stated: "Well over 1,000 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 - our own members - point overwhelmingly to a causal connection between media violence and aggressive behavior in some children."
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Pro 3

Simulating violence such as shooting guns and hand-to-hand combat in video games can cause real-life violent behavior.

Video games often require players to simulate violent actions, such as stabbing, shooting, or dismembering someone with an ax, sword, chainsaw, or other weapons. Game controllers are so sophisticated and the games are so realistic that simulating the violent acts enhances the learning of those violent behaviors. A 2015 peer-reviewed study found "compelling evidence that the use of realistic controllers can have a significant effect on the level of cognitive aggression." Two teenagers in Tennessee who shot at passing cars and killed one driver told police they got the idea from playing Grand Theft Auto III. Bruce Bartholow, professor of psychology at the University of Missouri, spoke about the effects of simulating violence: "More than any other media, these video games encourage active participation in violence. From a psychological perspective, video games are excellent teaching tools because they reward players for engaging in certain types of behavior. Unfortunately, in many popular video games, the behavior is violence."
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Pro 4

Many perpetrators of mass shootings played violent video games.

The teenage shooters in the 1999 Columbine High School massacre of 13 students played violent combat games. Many mass shootings have been carried out by avid video game players: James Holmes in the Aurora, Colorado movie theater shooting (2012); Jared Lee Loughner in the Arizona shooting that injured Rep. Gabby Giffords and killed six others (2011); and Anders Breivik, who killed 77 people in Norway (2011) and admitted to using the game Modern Warfare 2 for training. An FBI school shooter threat assessment stated that a student who makes threats of violence should be considered more credible if he or she also spends "inordinate amounts of time playing video games with violent themes."
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Pro 5

Violent video games desensitize players to real-life violence.

Desensitization to violence was defined in a Journal of Experimental Social Psychology peer-reviewed study as "a reduction in emotion-related physiological reactivity to real violence." The study found that just 20 minutes of playing a violent video game "can cause people to become less physiologically aroused by real violence" People desensitized to violence are more likely to commit a violent act. By age 18, American children will have seen 16,000 murders and 200,000 acts of violence depicted in violent video games, movies, and television. A Sep. 2011 peer-reviewed study found a causal link between violent video game exposure and an increase in aggression as a result of a reduction in the brain's response to depictions of real-life violence. Studies have found reduced emotional and physiological responses to violence in both the long and short term. In a 2005 peer-reviewed study, violent video game exposure was linked to reduced P300 amplitudes in the brain, which is associated with desensitization to violence and increases in aggressive behavior.
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Pro 7

Exposure to violent video games is linked to lower empathy and decreased kindness.

Empathy, the ability to understand and enter into another's feelings is believed to inhibit aggressive behavior. In a study of 150 fourth and fifth graders by Jeanne Funk, PhD, Distinguished University Professor of Psychology at the University of Toledo, violent video games were the only type of media associated with lower empathy. A study published in the American Psychological Association's Psychological Bulletin found that exposure to violent video games led to a lack of empathy and prosocial behavior (positive actions that benefit others). Eight independent tests measuring the impact of violent video games on prosocial behavior found a significant negative effect, leading to the conclusion that "exposure to violent video games is negatively correlated with helping in the real world." Several studies have found that children with high exposure to violent media display lower moral reasoning skills than their peers without that exposure. A meta-analysis of 130 international studies with over 130,000 participants concluded that violent video games "increase aggressive thoughts, angry feelings, and aggressive behaviors, and decrease empathic feelings and prosocial behaviors."
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Pro 9

The American Psychological Association (APA) lists violent video games as a risk factor for aggressive behavior.

In its Aug. 2015 resolution on violent video games, the APA wrote: "WHEREAS many factors are known to be risk factors for increased aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition and aggressive affect, and reduced prosocial behavior, empathy and moral engagement, and violent video game use is one such risk factor." Dr. Craig Anderson, PhD, Director of the Center for the Study of Violence at Iowa State University, wrote: "Playing a violent video game isn't going to take a healthy kid who has few other risk factors and turn him into a school shooter, but it is a risk factor that does drive the odds for aggression up significantly."
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Con 1

Sales of violent video games have significantly increased while violent juvenile crime rates have significantly decreased.

Total US sales of video game hardware and software increased 204% from 1994 to 2014, reaching $13.1 billion in 2014, while violent crimes decreased 37% and murders by juveniles acting alone fell 76% in that same period. The juvenile Violent Crime Index arrest rate in 2012 was 38% below 1980 levels and 63% below 1994, the peak year. The number of high school students who had been in at least one physical fight decreased from 43% in 1991 to 25% in 2013, and student reports of criminal victimization at school dropped by more than half from 1995 to 2011. An Aug. 2014 peer-reviewed study found that: "Annual trends in video game sales for the past 33 years were unrelated to violent crime... Monthly sales of video games were related to concurrent decreases in aggravated assaults."
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Con 3

The US Supreme Court ruled that violent video games do not cause youth to act aggressively.

In Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association (2011) the US Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that California could not ban the sale of violent video games to minors. Justice Antonin Scalia wrote in the majority opinion that studies purporting to show a connection between violent video games and harmful effects on children "have been rejected by every court to consider them, and with good reason: They do not prove that violent video games cause minors to act aggressively."
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Con 5

Violent video games allow players to release their stress and anger (catharsis) in the game, leading to less real world aggression.

A peer-reviewed study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health found that children, especially boys, play video games as a means of managing their emotions: "61.9% of boys played to 'help me relax,' 47.8% because 'it helps me forget my problems,' and 45.4% because 'it helps me get my anger out." Researchers point to the cathartic effect of video games as a possible reason for why higher game sales have been associated with lower crime rates. A peer-reviewed study in the Journal of Adolescent Research concluded that "Boys use games to experience fantasies of power and fame, to explore and master what they perceive as exciting and realistic environments (but distinct from real life), to work through angry feelings or relieve stress, and as social tools." The games serve as a substitute for rough-and-tumble play.
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Con 6

Violent video game players know the difference between virtual violence in the context of a game and appropriate behavior in the real world.

By age seven, children can distinguish fantasy from reality, and can tell the difference between video game violence and real-world violence. Video game players understand they are playing a game. Kids see fantasy violence all the time, from Harry Potter and the Minions to Bugs Bunny and Tom and Jerry. Their ability to distinguish between fantasy and reality prevents them from emulating video game violence in real life. Exposure to fantasy is important for kids. Fisher-Price toy company stated: "Pretending is more than play: it's a major part of a child's development. Fantasy not only develops creative thinking, it's also a way for children to deal with situations and problems that concern them."
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Con 9

Many risk factors are associated with youth violence, but video games are not among them.

The US Surgeon General's list of risk factors for youth violence included abusive parents, poverty, neglect, neighborhood crime, being male, substance use, and mental health problems, but not video games. A peer-reviewed study even found a "real and significant" effect of hot weather on homicides and aggravated assaults, showing that heat is a risk factor for violence. Smoking is a known risk factor for lung cancer, but there is no good evidence that video game playing is a risk factor for violence. An Aug. 2014 peer-reviewed study published in Psychology of Popular Media Culture pointed out that "As more people have been exposed to violent video games, serious and deadly assaults have not increased." A 2014 peer-reviewed study published in the Journal of Communication also found that as video game playing increased, there was less youth violence.
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Con 10

Violent video games provide opportunities for children to explore virtually the consequences of violent actions and to develop their moral compasses.

Violent games allow youth to experiment with moral issues such as war, violence, and death without real world consequences. A researcher at the Harvard Medical School Center for Mental Health and Media wrote about her research: "One unexpected theme that came up multiple times in our focus groups was a feeling among boys that violent games can teach moral lessons... Many war-themed video games allow or require players to take the roles of soldiers from different sides of a conflict, perhaps making players more aware of the costs of war."
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Con 11

Violent video games may decrease crime because people are busy playing the games instead of committing violent acts.

Some researchers say that violent people often seek out violent video games, and that the time they spend playing the games is taking them off the streets, leading to decreased crime. This is known as the "incapacitation effect." Steven Levitt, PhD, economics professor at the University of Chicago and co-author of Freakonomics, stated, "It just stands to reason that if you find an activity that keeps potential criminals busy for six waking hours a day, then it probably makes sense that they're going to be doing less crime." One study estimated that this effect leads to about ten fewer crimes per day nationwide.
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Con 13

The competitive nature of a video game is what arouses aggression, not the level of violent content.

A peer-reviewed study in Psychology of Violence determined that the competitive nature of a video game was related to aggressive behavior, regardless of whether the game contained violent content or not. The researchers concluded: "Because past studies have failed to equate the violent and nonviolent video games on competitiveness, difficulty, and pace of action simultaneously, researchers may have attributed too much of the variability in aggression to the violent content." A follow-up study tracked high school students for four years and came to the same conclusion: the competitive nature of the games led to the increased hostile behavior.
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Did You Know?

1. 90% of pediatricians and 67% of parents agreed or strongly agreed that violent video games can increase aggressive behavior among children.

2. Total US sales of video game hardware and software increased 204% from 1994 to 2014, reaching $13.1 billion in 2014, while violent crimes decreased 37% and murders by juveniles acting alone fell 76% in that same period.

3. An estimated four out of five US households with a male child own a video game system and worldwide sales of video games are predicted to reach $102.9 billion in 2017.

4. 60% of middle school boys and 40% of middle school girls who played at least one Mature-rated (M-rated) game hit or beat up someone, compared with 39% of boys and 14% of girls who did not play M-rated games.

5. In Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association, the US Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that California could not ban the sale of violent video games to minors because studies "do not prove that violent video games cause minors to act aggressively."

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As many as 97% of US kids age 12-17 play video games, contributing to the $21.53 billion domestic video game industry. More than half of the 50 top-selling video games contain violence. Violent video games have been blamed for school shootings, increases in bullying, and violence towards women.

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According to Assistant Professor of Psychology, Mike Drysdale, debated that "violent video games don't have a correlation to violence." He believes that other factors contribute. "Human behavior is very complex. There's a lot of different things that cause your to behave in the way you behave. So trying to whittle this down to just games, you know violent games, it's a little bit of a simplification."

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DEBATE: Do Violent Video Games Cause Violence?

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I believe that video games lead to the active violence of youths in this generation. First and foremost, kids tend to be impatient with the video games if it starts lagging and they, kids, tend to get furious and angry, and begin to hit or throw things that are the nearest from them. I also believe that the violence in the video games, itself, has a negative effect on kids when the video games involve shooting, murder, and killing. Kids will take this scene as pleasure and will incorporate it into their everyday lives.

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According to USA Today, "The latest in the long-standing debate over violent video games: They do cause players to become more physically aggressive."

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The latest in the long-standing debate over violent video games: They do cause players to become more physically aggressive.

An international study looking at more than 17,000 adolescents, ages nine to 19, from 2010 to 2017, found playing violent video games led to increased physical aggression over time.

The analysis of 24 studies from countries including the U.S., Canada, Germany and Japan found those who played violent games such as "Grand Theft Auto," "Call of Duty" and "Manhunt" were more likely to exhibit behavior such as being sent to the principal's office for fighting or hitting a non-family member.

"Although no single research project is definitive, our research aims to provide the most current and compelling responses to key criticisms on this topic," said Jay Hull, lead author of the study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"Based on our findings, we feel it is clear that violent video game play is associated with subsequent increases in physical aggression," said Hull, associate dean of faculty for the social sciences at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, and the Dartmouth Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences.

Video game violence has been a hot-button issue for more than a decade. Interest in research on video games' potential for violence increased after it was learned Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the two teenagers who committed the Columbine High School shooting, played the first-person shooting computer game "Doom."

But in a 2011 Supreme Court decision overturning California's ban on the sale of violent video games to minors, the late Justice Antonin Scalia dismissed a link between the games and aggression. "These studies have been rejected by every court to consider them, and with good reason: They do not prove that violent video games cause minors to act aggressively," he wrote in the majority opinion.

Since then, an American Psychological Association task force report in 2015 found a link between violent video games and increased aggression in players but insufficient evidence that violent games lead to criminal violence.

Earlier this year, President Donald Trump convened a video game summit a month after the February shooting that killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. Prior to that meeting, Trump said, "I'm hearing more and more people say the level of violence on video games is really shaping young people's thoughts."

The Dartmouth researchers sought to reduce confusion about research findings - including disputes about the association between violent games and aggression - with a finely structured meta-analysis.

Those in the study who played violent games, whether frequently or infrequently, had an increase risk of aggressive behavior. The new research echoes Hull's previous finding that playing violent games equates to about twice the risk of being sent to the principal's office for fighting during an eight-month period, he said. A separate 2014 study he oversaw of violent video games in 2,000 families is one of the 24 included in the meta-analysis.

The effect is "relatively small, but statistically reliable. The effect does exist," Hull said.

While there's not research suggesting violent video games lead to criminal behavior, Hull's previous research suggests players may practice riskier behaviors such as reckless driving, binge drinking, smoking and unsafe sex.

"A lot of people ask, do these games really cause these kids to behave aggressively? I would say that is one possibility," he said. "The other possibility is that it's a really bad sign. If your kids are playing these games, either these games are having a warping effect on right and wrong or they have a warped sense of right or wrong and that's why they are attracted to these games. Either way you should be concerned about it."

In the research paper, Hull and the co-authors say they hope the findings will help research move "past the question of whether violent video games increase aggressive behavior, and toward questions regarding why, when, and for whom they have such effects."
Follow USA TODAY reporter Mike Snider on Twitter: @MikeSnider.

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Study confirms link between violent video games and physical aggression

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The latest in the long-standing debate over violent video games: They do cause players to become more physically aggressive. An international study looking at more than 17,000 adolescents, ages nine to 19, from 2010 to 2017, found playing violent video games led to increased physical aggression over time.

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Video games have a negative effect on the cognitive growth of adolescents.

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Trump- Videos Games causing Youth Violence

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Trump- Videos Games causing Youth Violence

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Trump blames video games, movies for violence