This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Savage, J. Articles by Yancey, C. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

The Effects of Media Violence Exposure On Criminal Aggression

A Meta-Analysis

American University, jsavage{at}american.edu

Christina Yancey

American University

The article presents a meta-analysis of studies—yielding 26 independent samples of subjects—on the relationship between exposure to media violence and violent aggression. Mean effect sizes from aggregate and experimental studies do not suggest that media violence and criminal aggression are positively associated, but findings from prospective longitudinal studies are more ambiguous. Summary statistics based on models strictly conforming to each study's original design were compared to post hoc models (in which measures or model specification were not consistent with the original description). Overall, "original" models, controlling for "trait," did not suggest that exposure to media violence is associated with criminal aggression. The summary statistic for boys reached statistical significance, but the effect size was small, and conclusions based on this finding are attenuated because of known biases in the coefficients estimated.

Key Words: violent crime • media violence • meta-analysis • aggression

Criminal Justice and Behavior, Vol. 35, No. 6, 772-791 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0093854808316487


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?