The Effects of Violence on Children

Paper Summary:

This paper examines whether or not television violence affects children, putting forward different arguments from different sources and presenting the results of research carried out in recent years.

From the Paper:

"The statement that violence on television causes violence in children is a political statement and not necessary the right way to describe the problem. While the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, the American Psychological Association, and the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry produced a statement linking television shows as a link to violence and aggressive behavior; the author does not agree with this statement and believes it is a political statement (Arvidson, 12). Arvidson believes the issue of media and violence in children is more complicated than simply saying that the media causes violence in children. "... because not all children are exposed to media violence will act aggressively" (Hurst, 8). The fact is that just watching television or news does not necessary cause a person to go out and commit violence. In fact, thousands of viewers can watch the same television show and only one or two may express violence after the show. Some of the problems with the argument that media causes children to be violent is that it does not distinguish between different age groups or the time length in which the person saw the movie, news, or etc. (Arvidson, 14). However, this point of view about not children watching violence will become aggressive is true. One of the problems with violence and the media is that children often do not understand the difference between fantasy and reality."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Arvidson, Cheryl. "Statement Linking Media Violence in Kids Draws Criticism." The Freedom Forum Online 31 July 2000. Reprinted with Permission of The Freedom Forum.
• Hurst, Marianne D. "Researchers Target Impact of Television Violence." Education Week 24.12 17 Nov 2004: 8.
• Mcintosh, James C. "Violence Blame It on the Media." New York Amsterdam News 97.51 14 Dec. 2006: 1-40.
• Oppenheim, Mike. "TV Isn't Violent Enough." TV Guide 11 Feb 1984: 20-21.Reprinted with permission from TV Guide Magazine Group, Inc.
• "Prevalence of Media Violence." Safe Youth.org. 31 July 2007. <http://www.safeyouth.org/scripts/faq/mediaviolstats.asp>.

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• Cause and Effect Essay # 104417 : "The Effects of Media Violence on Society"

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