141 Health

Canada
Sante
Canada

The Effects of
edia Violence
on Children

CanacKi
 The Effects of
Media Violence
on Children

A Background Paper researched and written by:

Jane E. Ledingham, Ph.D., C.Psych.

C. Anne Ledingham
John E. Richardson

for the

National Clearinghouse on Family Violence

Family Violence Prevention Division
Health and Welfare Canada
Tunney’s Pature
Ottawa, Ontario
KlA 1B5

Ottawa, 1993
Additional copies in English or French, as well as
additional resource materials, are available from:

National Clearinghouse on Family Violence

Family Violence Prevention Divsiion
Health and Welfare Canada
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada KlA lB5

Tel.: l-800-267-1291
TDD line: l-800-561-5643
Fax: 613-941-8930

The views expressed in this book do not

necessarily reflect those of Health and Welfare
Canada. Contents may not be commercially
reproduced but any other reproduction, with
acknowledgements, is encouraged.

Cat. H72-21/91-1993E
ISBN o-662-20716-5
Introduction The Effects of
Television on Children

There is a large body of research that documents Research has given us some important information
the way in which exposure to television influences on how children of different ages respond to
children generally, and much of this relates to the television and what they are capable of learning
effects of exposure to violent content in from this medium. Before examining the effects of
programming. The majority of studies reviewed violent programming in particular, we will
below deal with these two areas of content. examine this more general context of effects.
However, the media that children are exposed to
are broader than television alone. There is almost In Canada, almost all households have at least one
no research on the effects of violence portrayed in television set; in 1986, 98% of homes had a
newspapers or books on children, and very little television (Liebert & Sprafkin, 1988). Along with
on the effects of films (either shown in theatres or ownership of a television come changes in the way
shown in the home on VCRs) and videogames. that time is allotted within the family unit. A
What little research there is on these latter subjects Canadian study that documented the changes in
will be noted, but in general it is the research on how families spent their time before and after
television that has served as the model for how television was introduced into a small town
exposure to violence in the media affects children. reported that time spent sleeping, at social
This is probably because watching television is gatherings outside the home, in conversation, in
such a high frequency event for children and leisure activities such as reading, knitting, and
because violence is portrayed on television as writing, doing household tasks, and involved in
occurring much more frequently than it is community activities and sports was reduced after
encountered in everyday life. We will, television became available (Williams & Handford,
nevertheless, attempt to extrapolate from these 1986). Bronfenbrenner ( 1973) has commented
findings to speculate on how changes in medium that the major impact of television may not be in
and technology may alter the way that children the behaviours that it induces but rather in the
are affected. behaviours that it preempts.

Television viewing time rises from about

2 l/2 hours per day at the age of five to about four
hours a day at age twelve. During late adolescence
viewing time levels off at 2 to 3 hours per day
(Liebert 5 Sprafkin, 1988). At six months of age, a
child will attend to a children’s television program
almost 50% of the time (Hollenbeck & Slaby,
1979). At two years of age, the child will attend
78% of the time to a children’s program, but will
still imitate the actions of a live model more than
those of a model on the television. However, by
three years of age, the child will attend 95% of the
time to a children’s show and will imitate a
televised model to the same extent as a live model
(McCall, Parke, 6 Kavanaugh, 1977). Neverthe-
less, until after the age of four, the child does not
watch television in a systematic fashion. How

3
much attention a child pays to a television show is
determined by the level of comprehension
The Relationship
demanded by the show’s content and form and by between
the presence of distracters such as other children;
children pay more attention when the show Violent Content and
presents information that they can comprehend
easily and pay less attention when other children
Children’s Aggressiveness
are present to interact with (Anderson, Alwitt,
Larch, 6 Levin, 1979; Anderson, Larch, Smith,
Bradford, 6 Levin, 198 1). Visual information is
remembered better than auditory information by
preschoolers (Hayes 5 Bimbaum, 1980; Hayes, The type of study carried out to examine the
Chemelski, 6 Bimbaum, 198 1). When there is an effects of watching violent content on television
adult who comments on the action, the child has changed over time. Initially, many of the
remembers more information (Watkins, Calvert, studies were true experiments in which children
Huston-Stein, 6 Wright, 1980) and is more likely who had been randomly assigned to different
to imitate what he or she has seen (Grusec, 1973). groups were exposed to different types of
Thus, adults have an important impact on how television programs. The strength of this approach
television affects children. is that differences in behaviour between the
treatment groups can be unequivocally attributed
The sophistication of children’s attitudes towards to differences in the content of the television
television content changes dramatically over time: shows rather than to differences between the types
34% of children aged five to seven believe that of children who chose to watch more or less
commercials always tell the truth (already a very violent television. These studies demonstrated that
low percentage), but this drops to 5% by the age children exposed to either a real person or a
of eleven to twelve; relative to the attention paid cartoon character behaving aggressively on
to programs, attention paid to commercials drops television would subsequently behave more
by 21% between the ages of five and seven and by aggressively than children who had not seen
42% between the ages of eleven and twelve aggressive acts modelled (e.g. Bandura, 1965;
(Ward, Reale, &- Levinson, 1972). Bandura, Ross, & Ross, 1963; Liebert IS Baron,
1972). In general, this research indicated that
Television is used frequently by parents as a children are more likely to imitate aggression
babysitter or distraction device, and the frequency when the perpetrator of the violence is rewarded
of use depends upon the education of the parents. or at least not punished and when the violence is
Parke (1978) reports that 53% of mothers and presented as justified. Although violence presented
44% of fathers with grade school education, versus as real appears to promote aggression more in
2 1% of mothers and 19% of fathers who are adults than violence described as fictional, fictional
college educated, use television as a babysitter. violence also seems to make aggression more likely
Probably at least some of the differences in rates than programming without violent content (Atkin,
reported in this study are due to the availability of 1983). Whether aggression is presented in a
other caretakers for parents of different realistic way or in cartoons may, however, make
socioeconomic levels. no difference to children’s propensity to imitate it
(Hearold, 1986). When characters use aggressive
means to reach prosocial ends (a frequent
combination on television) young children
understand less of the message of the show than
when characters behave consistently in a totally
good or totally bad fashion; they also act more
aggressively after seeing a mixed prosocial-
antisocial character than when the character has
behaved consistently in a totally prosocial way
(Liss, Reinhardt, iZ+Fred&en, 1983). Thus, for

4
very young children, justifying the motivation for Most of the studies reviewed below do not assess
aggressive actions does not seem to elirninate the directly the total amount of violence that
influence of exposure to aggressive acts. individual children actually watch daily on
television. Rather, shows are judged on the basis of
Despite the tight experimental controls employed, an analysis of one wee,k of programming as to
the tradition of laboratory research has been their typical level of violence and children report
criticized on several grounds. First, the short time which are their preferred shows and how often
frame of these studies did not permit assessment of they watch them. From this, an estimate of the
the more enduring effects of repeated exposure to amount of violence they will be exposed to is
violent content. Second, most of these studies computed. Some studies assume that, since the
were carried out in the rather artificial rate of violent content is so high on television, a
environment of the laboratory, making it difficult measure of total television watched will be a good
to know whether results would generalize to the index of exposure to violence, since the more
home or to a community environment. Freedman television one watches, the greater one’s exposure
(1984), for example, has argued that the effects of to violence will be. Except for families that
exposure to violence may have been monitor their children’s viewing very carefully this
overestimated by only showing children an may not be a bad assumption, since the overall
unrepresentative sample of the most violent shows rate of aggressive acts on television is quite high.
(when television includes a mix of both violent Williams and her colleagues (Williams, 1986) have
and nonviolent programming) and that children described the planning and execution of a very
may have assumed that the experimenters significant study on the effects of television on
condoned or at least expected the children to children’s aggressiveness. The study began shortly
behave aggressively. Freedman also suggested that after it was learned that a Canadian town which
aggression measured towards a blown-up doll had not previously been able to receive television
designed to be hit in play (the Bobo doll used in transmissions was going to be able to receive
many of these early studies) may not reflect real television transmissions in the near future. The
aggression. However, this argument is rendered researchers planned to assesschildren’s behaviour
less plausible by the fact that a study by Johnston, both prior to and after the-coming of television in
Deluca, Murtaugh, i5 Diener (1977) found a very this town (Notel) and to compare it to the
substantial relationship (correlations of the behaviour of children in two very similar towns
magnitude of .70) between reports from peers and that received either one television channel (Unitel,
teachers of a child’s aggressiveness and the which only received CBC) or more than one
frequency with which the child hit the Bobo doll channel (Multitel, which received CBC plus
during a play session. American programming) throughout the period of
study. The strengths of this study were that it
Later studies tend to have been conducted in the provided a long-term assessment of the effects of
natural environment and to have examined the watching TV (over a two-year period), that it was
effects of exposure to violence over a longer period not conducted in the laboratory but very much in
of time. These studies have the advantage of being the real world, and that it did not compare
more readily generalizable to the real world, but children who watched more television with those
prevent us from drawing unequivocal conclusions who watched less due to differences on individual
about cause-effect relationships because of the fact or family factors but rather compared children
that there was no random assignment to groups who initially probably would have watched
and no control over the major variable of interest: television if it had been available to children for
for example, some children may have watched whom television was already available.
more violent television than others from the
beginning of the studies and it may be that those Aggression was measured by observations of
who did were different in other important ways on children’s interactions in the schoolyard during
additional variables as well, and that these other free play, by teacher ratings, and by peer ratings.
differences rather than the differences in violence Longitudinal observations of 45 children first
watched produced the later negative observed in grades one and two and reevaluated
consequences. Below we will summarize the major two years later indicated that both verbal and
findings of each of these traditions .of research. physical aggression increased over thii two-year
period for children with no accessto television children of Unite1 and Multitel did not significantly
initially who later had accessto television, but not predict the amount of aggression seen two years
for children who could watch one or more later (although aggression assessedin the follow
television channels throughout the study. Virtually up period was predicted by television viewing
identical results were obtained when children assessedat the same time).
tested at the beginning of the study were
compared with a different group of children in the A series of studies by a group of researchers
same grade level tested two years later. Moreover, including Lefkowitz, Eron, Walder, and Huesmann
this increase in aggressive behaviour was not just have contributed substantially to our knowledge of
present among a subgroup of sample representing how the violence portrayed on television affects
the most aggressive children. Children in the town children. The fist of these studies initially assessed
with no accessto television initially were classified the aggressiveness of 875 children (as measured by
as either high or low aggressive on the basis of the reports of their classmates) and their
their scores before television arrived; these two preference for violent television shows in grade 3
groups did not differ two years later on their level (as measured by maternal report). Ten years later
of aggression, amount of television watched, or about half of these subjects were reassessedon the
number of favourite shows listed that were same variables. The results indicated that
classified as violent. children’s preference for violent television in grade
3 was significantly related to aggressiveness
The findings of this study strongly suggest that 10 years later for boys but not for girls (Lefkowitz,
television viewing is related to aggression. Eron, Walder, 6 Huesmann, 1977). Further follow
Furthermore, because the results were similar for ups of this group of subjects indicated that boys’
the town with one Canadian television channel reports of how often they watched preferred
and the town with Canadian plus American violent television shows significantly predicted the
channels, it appears that the absolute number or rates and seriousness of criminal offenses at the
type of channels available is relatively age of thirty even after the influence of the boys’
unimportant. In other words, since Unitel, which initial aggressiveness and IQ had been removed
received only CBC, produced a profile very much (Huesmann, 1986b).
like Multitel, which received U.S. channels as well,
it does not seem possible to argue that A subsequent cross-cultural study involving this
government-run television in Canada produces group of investigators explored the extent to
very different effects from programming produced which viewing of violent content had a similar
in the private sector. In fact, Williams (1986) effect in countries in which both societal attitudes
argues that CBC programming does not differ towards aggression and the content of and access
markedly from programming on other networks in to television programming varied widely (Eron,
rates of violence and noted that CBC Huesmann, Brice, Fischer, 6 Mermelstein, 1983;
documentaries of war and other violent actions Huesmann 6 Eron, 1986a; Huesmann, Lagerspetz,
may provide one important medium for the 6 Eron, 1984). The strength of this approach is
exposure of children to violent content. clearly that it can test the robustness of the
violence-aggression relationship across a wide
Two results were somewhat problematic. First, the range of cultural conditions. The countries
researchers had hypothesized that Note1 would included in the study were Australia, Finland,
have lower levels of aggression than Unite1 and Poland, and the United States. These countries
Multitel at the beginning of the project. Although differ widely in homicide rates (with the U.S.
children in Note1 did become more aggressive over having the highest rates and Poland the lowest),
the two year period following the introduction of rates of television ownership, and number of
television, the levels of’physical and verbal hours per day when programming is available
aggression in this town were not lower initially (with the U.S. having the highest rates and Israel
than those in the two towns that already had and Finland having the lowest rates, respectively).
television reception (except that children in Note1 Children were followed from grade 1 to grade 3
were less verbally aggressive at Time 1 than and from grade 3 to grade 6 in each country.
children in Multitel). Second, amount of television Measures were obtained of aggressiveness,
watched at the initial time of testing by the preference for violent programming, frequency of
viewing, perceived realism of programming, television because viewing time is at a maximum
identification with television characters, preference and aggressivebehaviour is still increasing but
for sex-typed activities, involvement in fantasies of children still regard television as quite realistic.
aggressiveor heroic acts, and intelligence of the They argue that this age is thus a particularly
child, and nurturance, rejection, punitiveness, important one to target for intervention.
achievement orientation, aggressiveness,viewing
habits, fantasy involvement, and socioeconomic Another approach to evaluating the evidence on
status of parents. the relationship of television viewing to aggression
is to use meta-analysis to summarize statistically
Huesmann, Lagerspetz, 6 Eron (1984) compared the results of a very large number of studies.
the results obtained in the U.S. and Finland in Hearold (1986) carried out a meta-analysis of 230
some early analyses from this study. They found studies which investigated the effects of television
that the amount of violent television watched on social behaviour. About 60% of these studies
significantly predicted aggression two years later were laboratory studies, 30% were survey studies,
for both boys and girls in the U.S. and boys in and 10% were field studies. Hearold concluded
Finland. For boys in both countries, later that there is stronger evidence for a relationship
aggressionwas much higher in those who not only between watching violence on television and later
watched a great deal of violent TV but also aggressivebehaviour for boys than for girls. In
identified highly with the characters they watched. general, research using news programs produced
larger effect sizes on later aggressionthan research
In all countries, children’s overall TV ,violence using Westerns or crime and detective shows.
viewing and identification with TV characters were Overall, however, studies demonstrating the liik
positively correlated with their aggressiveness,as between positive TV programs and subsequent
was how real they perceived the violent programs prosocial behaviours produced larger effect sizes
to be. This was true even when initial levels of than studies examining the link between negative ’
aggressivenesswas controlled for. Neither social TV programs and subsequent aggression,
classor intelligence accounted for the relationship
of early TV habits to later aggression, although Does Violence on Television Affect Only
lower social class and intelligence were correlated Children Who are Already More Aggressive?
with higher TV viewing in most countries. The
relationships were stronger for boys but also This question is not easily settled. Joy, Kimball, &
existed for girls. In the United States only, there Zambrack (1986) found that in Note1both children
was also a significant relationship for both sexes who were high on aggressionand children who
between higher levels of early aggressionand were low on aggressionbefore the introduction of
higher levels of later violent TV watching. television became more aggressiveafter television
Huesmann (1986a) concludes that there is was introduced. In contrast, Josephson (1987)
remarkably strong evidence in support of .the reported that exposing more aggressivegroups of
hypothesis that viewing violent television content boys to televised violence resulted in higher levels
increaseslater aggressionin a wide range of of subsequent aggressionthan exposing them to a
cultures with quite different television nonviolent show. In contrast, less aggressive
environments and quite different attitudes to groups of boys had higher levels of subsequent
aggression. aggression after the nonviolent show than after
the violent show. Part of the problem appearsto
As in many other studies, parental factors were involve the fact that there is a feedback loop
also found to be associatedwith children’s between watching violent television and being
aggressiveness.Children who were more aggressive.Exposure to violence does appear to
aggressivegenerally had more aggressiveparents increase aggression,but being aggressivealso
who were more dissatisfied with them and seemsto increase preferences for violent
punished them more severely (Huesmann, 1986a). television, perhaps becausethe fact that aggressive
behaviour leads to peer rejection means that
Eron et al. (1983) have suggestedthat there is a aggressivechildren have fewer options for
period between the agesof 6 and 10 in which alternative activities (Huesmann, 1986b).
children are particularly sensitive to the effects of

7
What are the Mechanisms by Which Exposure what constitutes acceptable behaviour, the child
to Violence Might Affect Children? may behave in a manner which is inappropriate in
real life settings.
The simplest way of describing how watching
television violence leads to aggression is that How Much Does Violence on Television
children observe novel aggressive behaviours and Matter, or How Much of the Differences
learn vicariously that aggressive acts are rewarded. Among Individuals on Aggression is
They store these new behaviours in memory as Accounted for by the Effects of Television?
part of the repertoire of actions that are available
to get them what they want. This model of Hearold (1986) presents a comparison of the
observational learning was first elaborated by average effect sizes from studies of televised
Bandura ( 1965). Clearly, the more real children violence and studies of a variety of other
perceive violent televised scenes to be and the educational and medical treatments. Overall, the
more they believe the characters are like them average effect size for televised violence on
(identification), the more likely they will be to try aggression is about half that obtained for the
out the behaviour they have learned. influence of tutoring on mathematical skills,
slightly smaller than that of drug effects on
Extensions of this explanation for how televised psychotics, and about twice the effect size obtained
violence changes behaviour have made reference for achievement by reducing class size from 30 to
to how memories of aggressive behaviour are 15. Hearold (1986) concludes that the effect,
stored and recalled. Huesmann (1986b) has argued although small, is certainly not negligible; she
that fantasizing about aggressive acts strengthens argues that part of the reason why the effect size of
the scripts previously learned that are encoded in prosocial programs on prosocial behaviour is larger
memory. He has also stressed the importance of may be that these effects are generally intentional,
cues in the environment for retrieving particular and attempts are made to maxirnize them, while
patterns of aggressive behaviour. A number of the effects of violent TV content on aggression are
researchers have in fact demonstrated that largely unintentional.
providing toys that appear in scenes of televised
violence the children have just seen or that are One standard method for determining the
associated with aggression more generally will importance of different variables is to compute r2,
markedly increase the amount of aggression that which reflects the proportion of variance
children show (Potts, Huston, 6 Wright, 1986; accounted for by a given variable. However,
Josephson, 1987). Rosenthal (1986) has demonstrated that, even
though violence on television may account for
Televised violence can also change the attitudes only 10% or less of the variance in aggression
that individuals hold about the world, resulting in scores, this is not a trivial relationship in terms of
perceptionsthat violence is more common or more its practical consequences, since it is equivalent to
acceptable than it actually is. Drabman 6 Thomas an ability to reduce rates of aggressive behaviour
( 1974, 1976) demonstrated that children who had from about 62% to about 38%.
watched a violent film tolerated more extreme
aggressive behaviour in other children before Potts et al. (1986) had pairs of preschool boys
calling in an adult for help with the situation than watch television programs that had either high or
did children who had seen an exciting but low levels of violent content. The boys then played
nonviolent film or no film at all. In essence, these with toys that had either aggressive connotations
children appeared to have been desensitized to the (including a Bobo doll, boxing robots, and Star
significance of aggression. More accepting attitudes Wars figures) or prosocial connotations (including
towards aggressive behaviour may subsequently a foam basketball and hoop and ambulance and
prevent the child from inhibiting his or her own paramedic figures). Rates of aggressive and
aggression. Thus, to the extent that viewing prosocial play during the play session were
violence on television creates an unrealistic world tabulated. Their results indicated that the level of
view and value system.for the child in terms of violent content in the television show had a weak
effect relative to the effect of type of toy presented.
That is, much more aggressive acts were observed
when toys with aggressive connotations were
present than when toys with prosocial The Relationship
connotations were presented. In contrast, viewing
a television show with more violent content
between Television
produced no differences in subsequent aggressive Watching and Fearfhess
behaviour, but actually led to higher rates of
helping the peer partner and turntaking with play
objects than did viewing a television show with .
less violent content. The authors concluded that
“the demand qualities of the immediate
environment can be made sufficiently strong to
override the effects of a brief exposure to different Increased aggression may not be the only
types of television content” and that “the consequence of watching televised violence.
accumulated findings to date indicate that the Exposure to violence in programming may also
effects of television content and form depend on increase fears and anxieties about becoming the
the environmental circumstances surrounding the victim of a violent act. Bryant, Carveth, 5 Brown
child ” . (1981) asked undergraduates who had been
randomly assigned to groups to select their
television fare according to several guidelines.
Light viewers were asked to watch very little
television. Heavy viewers were asked to watch at
least 28 hours of television per week. After six
weeks, heavy viewers reported that they believed
themselves to be more likely to become victims of
violence than did light viewers regardless of their
initial levels of anxiety and whether the violence
they saw was justified or unju$tified. Thus,
watching television may lead to the development
of attitudes that portray the world as a more
dangerous place than it actually is because
violence is more salient and frequent on television
than it is in most real life experiences. In fact, it
seems that paradoxically television may both
desensitize individuals to violence and sensitize
them to it. Perhaps perceiving oneself as more
vulnerable to violence also serves to legitimize
violent actions as a defence.

The Probable Impact of

Expanded Cable Access, VCR Use,
and Videogame Exposure on Children

Expanded cable accessand VCR use should

function to increase the choices in programming
that exist at any one moment for children to
watch. By itself, this process could make it possible
for children to increase either their prosocial diet
or their antisocial diet of TV fare. Much of the use
that children make of this increased choice will
thus depend on factors such as the degree of
monitoring that parents carry out of their
children’s viewing.
Research on videogames is in its infancy, but in children aged five to seven who had been exposed
many ways parallels the research that has to either a violent or nonviolent videogame, but
investigated the effects of television. However, the children were only observed playing for five
researchers have pointed out that playing minutes.
videogames differs from watching television in that
the former activity involves much more active Watching a violent videogame may make children
involvement. One drawback of this research is that less likely to behave in a prosocial fashion.
most of the studies have investigated the effects of Chambers 8 Ascione (1987) had 160 children
only very short exposure to videogames and from grades three, four, seven, and eight play
assessedonly very short-term (namely the either a violent or nonviolent videogame or fill out
immediate) consequences. Perhaps because of a questionnaire about videogames for an average
these factors, the research to date is largely of 10 minutes.’ Children who had played the
inconsistent and inconclusive. violent videogame either alone or competitively
with another child donated significantly fewer of
Cooper 6 Mackie (1986) assigned 84 children the nickels they had earned to the town’s “poor
from grades four and five to pairs. One member of children” than did children who had played the
the pair played either a violent or a nonviolent nonviolent videogame alone (children who played
videogame or did maze puzzles for eight minutes the nonviolent game cooperatively did not differ in
while the other children watched. The pairs of donations from any of the other conditions). There
children were subsequently observed in free play were no differences between groups in the number
to determine how long they played with violent or of pencils sharpened to help the experimenters.
nonviolent toys. Finally, children were asked to
push a button to show how much a hypothetical What is the Role of Parents?
child should be punished for doing a bad thing and
rewarded for doing a good thing. They found that Parent can provide the most enduring influence of
girls, but not boys, who had been exposed to the all adults on children. Whereas individual teachers
violent videogame played more with the and other models disappear with time, parents
aggressive toys and changed activities more often endure. They determine what kind of
than those who had been exposed to the environment children live in, what sort of toys
nonviolent videogame or the mazes. There were they play with, and how much and what type of
no differences between groups on the amount of television their children watch. They also interpret
punishment or reward given to the hypothetical for children what is happening on the screen.
child. Graybill, Strawniak, Hunter, 8 O’Leary Previously-noted studies by Grusec (1973) and
(1987), in a similar study, paired 146 children Watkins et al. (1980) indicate that adults can have
from grades two to six. One of the paired children a very significant effect on what children learn
played one of three violent or one of three from television and how they react to it. Parents
nonviolent videogames for a total of 14 minutes can serve as models, gatekeepers, and interpreters
while the other child watched the game. Each for television and other important aspects of the
child was then individually given an opportunity child’s life. However, the extent to which they
to anonymously help or hurt a child playing a actually serve these functions is another question.
game in a different room (the child did not really A number of studies have indicated that direct
exist) by pushing one button to make a handle parent intervention to prevent children from
easier to turn or pushing another button to make watching programs with violent or other
the handle hot. There were no differences in inappropriate content is infrequent (Bower, 1973;
behaviour towards the other child between groups Mohr, 1979; Streicher I? Bonney, 1974). St. Peters,
who had played or observed the violent Fitch, Huston, Wright, 6 Eakins (1991) found that
videogames and groups who had played or parents were most likely to discourage children
observed the nonviolent videogames. The results from watching horror shows and soap operas, but
from both these studies indicated no differences were largely neutral about crime shows, cartoons,
between those who had actually played the and superhero shows. St. Peters et al. (1991) also
videogames and those who had observed. Schutte, discovered that the type of show that children and
Malouff, Post-Gorden, 5 Rodasta (1988) found no their parents watched together was more strongly
differences in the free play of slightly younger related to adult preferences than child preferences,

10
so that children’s exposure to violence in crime
shows and news programs may largely be a Conclusions: The Effects
function of parental choices. of Violence in the Media
It is probably the whole fabric of parent-child on Children
interaction that affects the ways in which children
are affected by television. Parents model their
values repeatedly in a myriad of situations. In
some sense, the way that parents respond to
television is just a special case of this broader
pattern of reactions. Rothschild 6 Morgan (1987),
for example, found that less parental control, both Schramm, Lyle, 6 Parker (1961) concluded that
globally and as measured only in regard to tele- “For some children, under some conditions, some
vision, was related to higher levels of fearfulness in television is harmful. For some children under the
adolescents, especially when combined with lower same conditions, or for the same children under
levels of family cohesion. It thus seems quite other conditions, it may be beneficial. For most
possible that some of the effects attributed to children, under most conditions, most television is
children’s exposure to violence on television may probably neither particularly harmful nor
be due indirectly to more general characteristics of particularly beneficial. ” Although we have not
their parents. One of the most frequently reviewed here the evidence for the positive effects
replicated predictors of aggression in children is for children of television viewing, it is quite clear
lack of monitoring and lack of effective disciplining that they can be substantial, and may in fact be
in parents (Patterson, DeBaryshe, 6 Ramsey, more significant than the negative effects (Hearold,
1989). It appears likely that parents who do not 1986).
check on or effectively control their children’s
activities will both have children who have more Huesmann 6 Eron (1986b) have stressed the fact
opportunities to watch more violent television and that aggression in children appears to be causally
children who can engage in and experience few over determined. That is, there is a whole
negative consequences for aggressive behaviour. constellation of variables besides exposure to
Thus, parental monitoring and ineffective violent TV content that predict aggression and
discipline may be critically important variables in many of them must be present for aggression to
determining the link between viewing of violent result. Nevertheless, it does appear that exposure
content and later aggression in children, while to televised violence does bear an important and
exposure to violence on television may constitute consistent relationship to aggression. Its
only one of several pathways through which the significance may lie partially in the fact that it
influence of parental characteristics affects identifies a discrete focus for some rather
aggression in children. In this context, to make straightforward intervention approaches that are
real changes in how aggressive a child is, it may be perhaps less sensitive than interventions that
necessary to address not only what the parent does identify a more general focus such as global
in relation to the television, but also what he or parental characteristics.
she does in other interactions with the child.
Industry, Community, and Government
We should finally point out that parents do have Approaches to Countering the Effects of
some important constraints on their influence on Vidlence in the Media
children. Particularly as children get older and
spend more time outside the family in the In order to survey initiatives of these three sectors,
company of peers, parents exert less influence over we contacted the Ministers of Education in each
them. Eron et al.‘s (1983) identification of the province and territory, wrote to each major
period between 6 and 10 years of age as a period broadcast network in addition to related
of particular importance seems to correspond well organizations (Canadian Association of
to the time when parents can still exert substantial Broadcasters, Canadian Radio-Television and
control over children’s behaviour and can also Telecommunications Commission), and
influence their thinking and attitudes markedly. approached community organizations with
interests in the area of exposure to violence and its

11
effects on children (Media Watch, the Children’s violence is part of life, they undertake to avoid
Broadcast Institute/Alliance for Children and presenting violence that could produce harmful
Television, Towards A Gentler Society). Each of effects on the child. They also attempt to produce
these groups was asked to describe any current or shows that model more positive approaches to
future initiatives designed to address the issue of solving problems (Passe-Partout, Robin et Stella,
how violence in the media affects children. In Catimini) and can actually teach children to be less
general, these consultations revealed that there is influenced when exposed to media violence (Club
much less activity related to this topic than there is des 100 watts).
to the issues of the effects of advertising, gender
stereotyping, and violence directed towards The aforementioned working group to eliminate
women or children in the media. Media Watch, for violence from children’s shows included
example, makes it clear in its mandate that it is broadcasters (Radio-Canada, Tel&Metropole,
concerned almost exclusively with gender issues. Videotron, TQS, le Canal Famille , Radio-Quebec)
This is particularly surprising given the amount of as well as a coalition of organizations and pressure
attention that the topic of violence on television groups whose goal was to eliminate violence from
has received from government and the community children’s programming. The shows identified as
over the last two decades, most notably in the problematic by this coalition had been produced
United States but also in Canada and other outside of Canada and were presented by private-
countries. sector broadcasting. The representatives of the
broadcasters found it impossible to agree on a
All private networks referred us to the Canadian common point of view and recommended that
Association of Broadcasters (CAB), who referred problem be dealt with case by case by competent
us to the Canadian Radio-Television and authorities.
Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). The
CRTC has recently published two reports, available The Quebec Ministry of Communications
through the CRTC office, that deal with television forwarded us a copy of a 1992 report, available
and violence. The first (Martinez, 1992) reviews through their offices, on the family and television
scientific studies evaluating the effects of televised in Quebec (Groupe de recherche sur les jeunes et
violence. The second (Atkinson 6 Gourdeau, les m&has, 1992), which describes how families
1992) reviews the findings of previous public use and interact around the television set. This
enquiries and reports from the international arena document includes statistics on the frequency with
(Ontario, Britain, France, Australia, New Zealand, which males and females are depicted as
UNESCO) and how violence has been regulated in aggressors and victims in French and English
these other countries. These reviews will serve at drama series (the rates are quite comparable for
least in part as the basis for a new policy on both linguistic groups).
violence in programming, due in early 1993,
which is currently in the development stage by Of the 10 provincial or territorial Ministries of
the CRTC. Education who replied to our request for
information, only Ontario specifically covered the
CBC forwarded us a letter which pointed out that topic of violence in the media in a resource book
it does not produce or acquire children’s shows ,for a Media Literacy course designed for
that have significant violent content due to its intermediate and senior level students. At the level
longstanding concerns with the effects of media of the primary grades there is a program dealing
violence on young audiences. with preventing violence (&and Step), but it does
not specifically focus on media violence. Alberta
Radio Quebec furnished us with copies of its policy has prepared a fact sheet on media violence and
on televised violence, information on children’s children for use in Family Violence Prevention
shows that address the issues of dealing with Month in 1991 and 1992. The article reprinted on
conflict in a prosocial manner and how to develop this fact sheet, which appeared originally in the
critical viewing skills, and information on a Institute for the Prevention of Child Abuse’s
working group to eliminate violence in children’s publication Connectionin the summer of 1992,
programming which took place in 1991-1992. suggests that parents turn off the television more
They indicated that, while recognizing that often for children under the age of 10, particularly

12
when action or horror films are on, encourage and prosocial alternatives for children to watch, \
more imaginative activities, and teach children the group probably decreases children’s viewing of
what the real life consequences of aggression are. violent content somewhat.
New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island also had
specific courses in media literacy with more TAGS (Towards A Gentler Society) is a group
general objectives such as critical viewing skills initiated in Ottawa in 1992. Its main goal is to
specified. Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, initiate public debate on the effects of violent toys
Nova Scotia, and the Northwest Territories cover and television on children. In 1992 the
units dealing with media literacy in courses such as organization held a toy fair to publicize these
English, Language Arts, Health, Learning for issues and to make nonviolent toys more easily
Living, Personal Life Skills, and Social Studies. available to parents.
Such courses were much more likely to have
content specified in the areas of advertisements on The North York Inter-Agency and Community
television, violence toward women, or sexual Council is planning to hold a conference from May
abuse than on the topic of violence on television. 12 to May 14,1993 to examine the impact of
In general, -without a clearly-specified curriculum, violence on young children (up to grade 6) and the
the onus appears to rest with individual teachers implications of this for parents and other adults
or local districts to decide whether and how to involved with children. One planned focus is how
discuss the influence of television violence. to recognize the influences of the media on
children and how to monitor and influence the
The Nova Scotia Education Media Library did list media.
one film that seemed particularly relevant to the
topic: *Shockwaves: Television in America”, The C.M. Hincks Institute in Toronto is currently
Marlin Films, 1984, documents how rates of organizing a conference on the effects of televised
aggression increased in a B.C. town that received violence on children. The conference will take
television for the first time (the Williams study). place in February, 1993 if funding is obtained, and
will bring together representatives of the television
The Quebec Ministry of Education has prepared a industry and regulating board (CAB, CRTC,
package, available through its office, to facilitate representatives of the various networks) with
students’ discussions of the issues of sexism and advocacy groups, researchers, workers in the area
violence in music videos ( ” Clippe mais clippe of children’s mental health, and members of the
egal”). public. The goal is to promote dialogue and to
serve as a vehicle for public education.
The Children’s Broadcast Institute, a national
coalition of broadcasters, producers, writers, The Centre for Media and Values in Los Angeles,
advertisers, and children’s advocacy groups, was California has produced a media literacy workshop
formed 20 years ago to promote quality television kit, available through its office, that includes
programming for children. To reach this goal it handouts and suggested exercises that can be used
annually presents awards of excellence for both to sensitize parents to the issue of violence in the
French- and English-language programs. This year media.
the organization renamed itself the Alliance for
Children and Television (ACT). Alan Mirabelli, its
chairman, indicated in an interview that the
organization hopes to represent better the interests
of parents and educators in its new format. Several
initiatives are currently being developed. Local
workshops on issues such as violence in television
will be offered and reviews of relevant research
will be prepared to better inform parents and
teachers, and a regional office will be opened to
serve Quebec. ACT does not directly address the
issue of televised violence; however, by rewarding
the creation of shows that offer more imaginative

13
 successof two interventions designed to make
Suggestions for F ‘uture children less susceptible to the effects of violent
Initiatives in this Area television content. Both of these interventions
were carried out on children who had the greatest
preference for highly violent shows and reported
watching these shows most of the time. The first
intervention, carried out when the children were
in grade 2 or grade 4, involved three hour-long
training sessions designed to point out that
characters in the violent shows behaved differently
than most real people, that television techniques
Lobbying to eliminate all violence from television enabled these characters to appear to carry out
programming has been singularly unsuccessful. feats that were actually impossible, and that the
Part of the problem is that cable television makes average.person used different methods than the
available programming from outside of Canada TV characters to solve problems. A comparison
regardless of what is done by Canadian networks, group also watched television and engaged in
but concerns from private broadcasters about discussions for three hours but did not see violent
maintaining audiences and about how to define programs and did not discuss the realism of the
violent content have also worked against such televised presentation. There were no differences
lobbying efforts. between intervention and comparison groups after
treatment on the judged realism of television
Working to develop good quality children’s shows and no changes in either group on
programming probably impacts somewhat on how peer-assessed aggression or reported viewing levels
much violent content children are exposed to by of television violence three months after the
making available more nonviolent options, but intervention. To the extent that the content of this
one cannot always be assured that children will intervention was similar to many media literacy
watch these shows and children also watch shows programs, these results suggest that simple media
primarily designed for older audiences. literacy courses alone will not make children less
Nevertheless, encouraging the development of vulnerable to violent content on television.
prosocial programming appears to be important as
a means of fostering attitudes and behaviour that A second intervention, conducted 9 months later
are incompatible with aggression and this using the same children, employed more powerful
approach should be further supported. Hearold procedures to change attitudes and behaviour.
(1986) has demonstrated that these positive effects Children in the treatment group all agreed to
of television are especially strong. participate in the making of a fiim to show
children who had been “fooled by television or
One strong recommendation for action is that harmed by television violence or got into trouble
information packages be designed for the use of because of imitating it”. They wrote out arguments
teachers and parents ‘describing what they can do describing the negative aspects of television
to counter the effects of television violence on violence, were recorded on videotape reading
children. These could be distributed through local these arguments, watched the videotapes of
schools, community groups, and treatment themselves and their classmates, and answered
agencies. The schools seem to be a particularly questions about their presentations during the
important point of intervention since they reach course of two sessions. Children in the comparison
all children. The existing media literacy materials group also wrote an essay, were videotaped
that we reviewed had little content directly refated reading it, and viewed their own and those of
to this topic, so that clearly new content classmates, but the theme of the essay was “Why
addressing the issue of violence on television everyone should have a hobby”. After the inter-
should be developed. vention, the treatment group held significantly
more negative attitudes towards television than
Huesmann, Eron, Klein, Brice, Er Fischer (1983) the comparison group and believed it to be
have described a program that is particularly significantly less realistic. More importantly, the
pertinent to this issue. They reported on the treatment group was assessedby peers as

14
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