NP - It's not the video games

[alice wellintown]

Longitudinal effects of violent video games on aggression in Japan and
the United States.

CONCLUSIONS:

These longitudinal results confirm earlier experimental and
cross-sectional studies that had suggested that playing violent video
games is a significant risk factor for later physically aggressive
behavior and that this violent video game effect on youth generalizes
across very different cultures. As a whole, the research strongly
suggests reducing the exposure of youth to this risk factor.


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18977956


A longitudinal study of the association between violent video game
play and aggression among adolescents.

Sustained violent video game play was significantly related to steeper
increases in adolescents' trajectory of aggressive behavior over time.
Moreover, greater violent video game play predicted higher levels of
aggression over time, after controlling for previous levels of
aggression, supporting the socialization hypothesis. In contrast, no
support was found for the selection hypothesis. Nonviolent video game
play also did not predict higher levels of aggressive behavior over
time. Our findings, and the fact that many adolescents play video
games for several hours every day, underscore the need for a greater
understanding of the long-term relation between violent video games
and aggression, as well as the specific game characteristics (e.g.,
violent content, competition, pace of action) that may be responsible
for this association.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22040315

Researchers have reported experimental evidence linking violent video
games to more aggressive behavior, particularly as it relates to
children who are at more sensitive stages in their socialization.
These effects have been found to be particularly profound in the case
of child-initiated virtual violence.

http://yvpc.sph.umich.edu/2011/08/24/video-games-influence-violent-behavior/