Self-Control May Be Affected by Violent Media Exposure

It could be a vicious circle - too much time watching violence on TV and in video games may impair a person's ability to make sensible decisions about watching violence on TV and playing violent video games.

The final verdict to this quandary is still out, but several national studies are investigating potential links between violent media exposure and how the brain controls thoughts and behaviors. A new study published in the June 2005 issue of the Journal of Clinical Psychology by Indiana University School of Medicine researchers indicates that an association may exist.

Continuing their study of brain functioning and exposure to media violence, IU psychologists, psychiatrists and radiologists investigated the relationship between media violence exposure and executive functioning in a correlational study involving 54 boys and girls between the ages of 13 and 17 years.

Executive functioning is a person's ability to control and direct their thoughts and behavior. It involves such things as the ability to stay focused on a thought or task, the ability to plan, screen out distractions and to use experience to guide inhibitions.

Results showed statistically poorer executive functioning among adolescents who reported more past exposure to violent media. The result was more dramatic in teens with diagnosed behavior problems.

“The adolescents in the study with the most media violence exposure had the weakest executive functioning,” said William G. Kronenberger, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry at IU School of Medicine. “For one measure, a stronger relationship was found for teens who had a diagnosis of disruptive behavior disorder.”

The teens involved in the study fell into two groups: those with a disruptive behavior disorder (DBD) and those with no psychiatric diagnosis. The teens and their primary caregivers separately completed questionnaires evaluating the amount of time the adolescent spent watching violent television and playing violent video games. The teens then completed psychological tests measuring their concentration and ability to control behavior; their parents answered questionnaires about the adolescent's focus and self-control in the real world.

As stressed by Dr. Kronenberger and the other study authors, David Dunn, M.D., associate professor of child psychiatry, and Vincent P. Mathews, M.D., professor of radiology, the study shows a correlation but it does not pinpoint the cause.

Possibilities the researchers think merit investigation are that the teens with poor executive functioning skills seek out violent media, exposure to violent media reduces executive functioning skills, or some unknown variable is at work.

Although the research is preliminary, there may be a positive impact from the current results.

“Since disruptive behaviors often are characterized by poor self-control, these findings of a relationship between violent media exposure and executive functioning may affect how clinical evaluation and intervention programs are designed,” said Dr. Kronenberger.

In an earlier study, the IU researchers found that exposure to violent media affects the brains of youths with aggressive tendencies differently than the brains of non-aggressive youths. The results, released in December 2002, used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to evaluate brain activity in youths with and without DBD, said Vincent P. Mathews, M.D., principal investigator of the studies. The scans showed less brain activity in the frontal lobe while the youths with DBD watched violent video games. The frontal lobe is the area of the brain responsible for decision-making and behavior control, as well as attention and a variety of other cognitive functions.

Studies on violent media exposure research are ongoing at IU, Dr. Mathews said. The studies were funded by the Center for Successful Parenting.

Serving the following States in the U.S. and international locations:

Alabama (AL), Arkansas (AR), Alaska (AK), Arizona (AZ), California CA), Colorado (CO), Delaware (DE), District of Columbia (DC), Florida (FL), Georgia (GA), Hawaii (HI), Idaho (ID), Illinois (IL), Indiana (IN), Iowa (IA), Kansas (KS), Kentucky (KY), Louisiana (LA), Maine (ME), Maryland (MD), Massachusetts (MA), Michigan (MI), Minnesota (MN), Mississippi (MS), Missouri (MO), Montana (MT), Nebraska (NE), Nevada (NA), New Hampshire (NH), New Jersey (NJ), New Mexico, (NM) New York (NY), North Carolina (NC), Ohio (OH), Oklahoma (OK), Oregon (OR), Pennsylvania (PA), Rhode Island (RI), South Carolina (SC), South Dakota (SD), Tennessee (TN), Texas (TX), Utah (UT), Vermont (VT), Virginia (VA), Washington (WA), West Virginia (WV), Wisconsin (WI), Wyoming (WY), Canada, Mexico, Cayman Islands