• Online Features  This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on Web of Science (7)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Topic Collections  • Pediatrics  • Adolescent Medicine  • Violence and Human Rights  • Violence and Human Rights, Other  • Humanities  • Medicine and the Media  • Alert me on articles by topic  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Sonya S. Brady, PhD; Karen A. Matthews, PhD

Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2006;160:341-347.

Objective  To test the effects of media violence exposure on blood pressure, negative affect, hostile social information processing, uncooperative behavior, and attitudes toward health risk behaviors among young men varying in lifetime violence exposure within the home and community.

Design  Experimental laboratory study.

Setting  University campus situated within an urban environment.

Participants  One hundred male undergraduates aged 18 to 21 years.

Intervention  Men who had previously reported differing amounts of lifetime home and community violence were randomly assigned to play The Simpsons: Hit and Run (low-violence condition) or Grand Theft Auto III (high-violence condition).

Main Outcome Measures  Systolic and diastolic blood pressure; negative affect; hostile social information processing; uncooperative behavior; and permissive attitudes toward violence, alcohol use, marijuana use, and sexual activity without condom use.

Results  Men randomly assigned to play Grand Theft Auto III exhibited greater increases in diastolic blood pressure from a baseline rest period to game play, greater negative affect, more permissive attitudes toward using alcohol and marijuana, and more uncooperative behavior in comparison with men randomly assigned to play The Simpsons. Only among participants with greater exposure to home and community violence, play of Grand Theft Auto III led to elevated systolic blood pressure in comparison with play of The Simpsons (mean, 13 vs 5 mm Hg).

Conclusions  Media violence exposure may play a role in the development of negative attitudes and behaviors related to health. Although youth growing up in violent homes and communities may become more physiologically aroused by media violence exposure, all youth appear to be at risk for potentially negative outcomes.

Author Affiliations: University of Pittsburgh (Drs Brady and Matthews), Pittsburgh, Pa. Dr Brady is now a postdoctoral fellow in the Health Psychology Program at the University of California, San Francisco.

CiteULike    Connotea    Delicious    Digg    Facebook    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Prospective Associations Between Early Childhood Television Exposure and Academic, Psychosocial, and Physical Well-being by Middle Childhood
Pagani et al.
Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2010;164:425-431.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Video Game Effects--Confirmed, Suspected, and Speculative: A Review of the Evidence
Barlett et al.
Simulation Gaming 2009;40:377-403.
ABSTRACT  

Exposure of US Adolescents to Extremely Violent Movies
Worth et al.
Pediatrics 2008;122:306-312.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Impact of Singular Excessive Computer Game and Television Exposure on Sleep Patterns and Memory Performance of School-aged Children
Dworak et al.
Pediatrics 2007;120:978-985.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Exploring the Impact of Media on Children: The Challenges That Remain
Jordan
Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2006;160:446-448.
FULL TEXT