Center on Media and Child Health

Research Toolbox: CMCH Database- Advanced Search

The CMCH Database of Research (DoR) can be searched using three different tools: Advanced Search, Guided Search, and Browse by CMCH Subject. Today were are going to explore the Advanced Search function and try out an example search for violence and video games. 

• Step One: Go to the CMCH DoR Advanced Search page. Here you can enter your search criteria by typing the word(s) you’d like to search into the text boxes. You can narrow or broaden your search by connecting words using the Boolean operators OR, AND, NOT. Using the drop-down menu you can limit the fields that are searched to Subject term, Abstract, Title, Journal, Author, or Source of Funding or you can keep your search broad by choosing All fields. 

• Step Two: Searches can be limited by Age Group, Study Design, Publication Type, and Year. Simply click on the specific age group, study design, etc that you would like to limit your search to. You can choose as many or as few limits as you’d like. Also, you can limit your search to Peer-reviewed or CMCH Authors. 

• Step Three: After all your search criteria is entered click Search Now to see your results. If you have too many or too few results you can go back and revise your search to make it broader or narrower. For example if you did not get many search results try going back and taking out some the limits you put in place.  

Now let's try out a real search! 

Example: 

I’ve decided that I want to do a search about violence and video games:

1. I enter the word violence into a search box and enter video games into another search box.
2.  I change the Boolean operator to AND, so that I am doing a search for violence AND video games. 
3. I leave the drop-down menu on All fields. 

I’d like to see if there have been any peer-reviewed experimental studies done with adolescents in the last five years:

1. I select the age group limit Adolescence (13-17) and the study design limit Experimental Study.
2. I do not limit the search by Publication Type. 
3. I select the years 2007-2012 by clicking on 2007 and then holding down the computer’s control key to click on the other years. Lastly, I limit the search by Peer-reviewed studies.

 Below is a screenshot of my search criteria (click for bigger image): 

Here are the six search results I got from this search: 

• Hummer, T. A., Wang, Y., Kronenberger, W.G., et al. (2010). Short-term violent video game play by adolescents alters prefrontal activity during cognitive inhibition. Media Psychology, 13(2), 136- 154.

• Nije Bijvank, M., Konijn, E.A., Bush, B.J., & Roelofsma, P.H.M.P. (2009). Age and violent-content labels make video games forbidden fruits for youth. Pediatrics, 123(3), 870-876.

• Barlett, C., Branch, O., Rodeheffer, C. & Harris, R. (2009). How long do the short-term violent video game effects last? Aggressive Behavior, 35, 225–236. 

• Gentile, D. A., Anderson, C.A., Yukawa, S., et al. (2009).  The effects of prosocial video games on prosocial behaviors: International evidence from correlational, longitudinal, and experimental studies.  Personality and  Social Psychology Bulletin, 35(6), 752-763. 

• Polman, H., de Castro, B. O. & van Aken, M. A. (2008). Experimental study of the differential effects of playing versus watching violent video games on children's aggressive behavior. Aggressive Behavior, 34, 256–264. 

• Konijn, E. A.,  Nije Bijvank, M. & Bushman, B.  (2007). I wish I were a warrior: The role of wishful identification in the effects of violent video games on aggression in adolescent boys. Developmental Psychology, 43(4), 1038-1044.

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Now go ahead and try out your own search! If you have any questions about the DoR  please do not hesitate to e-mail us at cmch@childrens.harvard.edu. 

Recent Questions on Ask the Mediatrician

If you haven't checked out Ask the Mediatrician lately, head on over to see these and other recent questions from parents and answers from Dr. Michael Rich, Director of CMCH:

• My son wants Call of Duty, but how do these games affect teen boys?
• Will my preschooler fall behind if she doesn't learn how to use the computer?
• Does multitasking with media distract kids from homework?

If you know of a website whose audience could benefit from the free Ask the Mediatrician service, send the webmaster these simple steps to add an Ask the Mediatrician button like the one below!

Suicide & Social Networking Sites - Prevention vs Encouragement

Within the past week, there have been two major headlines about social networking  technologies preventing suicides:

• A UK teen who was describing his suicide plans on Facebook was saved by a Maryland teen who alerted police to the situation.  See story
• Actress Demi Moore saw a woman post a suicide threat on Twitter and called police who found the woman unhurt but in need of help.  See story

This is a complete reversal of several past news stories where the internet played a key role in teens going through with suicide:

• Teen Megan Meier committed suicide after an online courtship ended.  It was later revealed that the boy she thought she was communicating with was actually a phony account created by a neighbor.  See story
• College student Abraham Biggs broadcast his suicide over the internet, egged on by viewers who encouraged him to "go ahead and do it."  See story

Advice for Parents:

• Remember, the internet, like all media, is neither good nor bad -- it is all in how it is used.  Recent studies show that the internet is an important tool for socialization, so don't assume all internet use is bad.
• Talk to your kids about how they use the internet, who they talk to online, and what they tell others about themselves.  A recent study showed that when kids were reminded that strangers were looking at their public information, they took action to "clean-up" the kind of information they displayed.    
• Meet your kids where they are: Go online and start a Facebook or MySpace account, then ask your kids if you can be friends with them through these sites.  If they give you permission, your presence will remind them that others are looking at their profiles, and you may learn about new media from your kids in the process!

Don't Warn Parents about Harmful Effects of Video Game Violence?

In early January, Rep. Joe Baca (D-CA) reintroduced a bill in the California Congress that would require all video games rated T (Teen) or higher to include a label that reads "WARNING: Excessive exposure to violent video games and other violent media has been linked to aggressive behavior."

The Entertainment Consumers Association has responded to the proposal by launching a campaign that has drummed up a good deal of support from gaming blogs. Despite the fact that the bill (and the sticker it proposes) would not restrict video game content, the ECA campaign attempts to show that the bill "is an unconstitutional restraint on speech that will harm consumers and parents alike." It also claims that "the vast majority of studies show that there is no proven causal link between violent media of any type and aggressive behavior."

The research, however, indicates otherwise. Lab-based research by Craig Anderson suggests that playing violent video games increases players' aggressive behavior and makes it more likely that they will deal with conflict aggressively. For more information, see the APA website, or see Chapter 11 of The Handbook of Children, Media, and Development, which reviews the most current research on the relationship between media violence and aggression in young people. 

Discussing Risky Behavior Online is...Well...Risky

This month's issue of Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine includes two related studies about teens' online discussion of their own risk behaviors, whether real or invented, in the real world. Researchers at Seattle Children's Research Institute conducted both studies.

One study found that most teens do discuss sex, substance use, or violence on social networking sites. The other shows that many of these teens can be convinced to change their online behavior with relatively little prompting--in this case, a researcher emailed teens whose public profiles included risk-behavior content. The email recommended making their profiles private or taking down such content, pointing out that anyone--including potential employers--could see it. It also raised health concerns about the behaviors. Many students who received the email took some of her suggestions.

In both USA Today and White Coat Notes (Boston.com's blog about the Boston medical community), CMCH Director Michael Rich, MD, MPh, comments on the studies. The blog posting says that, according to Dr. RIch, "social networking sites [are] venues where young people channel their images and ideas, connecting with peers as they try on different identities. Where they can get into trouble is believing what they put on their profiles remains anonymous." And as this research suggests, a wake-up call might make them reconsider.

Wii Wand Doesn't Increase Aggression...but Violent Video Games Do

After the release of "Manhunt II" for the Wii--in which players use a motion-detecting wand to punch, stab, and dismember other characters--many experts expressed concern over the potential effects of reinforcing such violent movements in video game play.

A study soon to be published in Computers and Human Behavior, however, did not find that using motion capture controls (like the Wii wand) adds to the increase in aggression that is linked to violent video games. This finding comes as a surprise to many experts, who believed that such wands were likely to exacerbate the games' negative effects.

The study did show that playing violent video games increased aggression regardless of the type of control used. It also addressed the question of whether people who are already more prone to aggression are more susceptible to such effects, and it seems that the answer is yes. For more information on the effects of violent video games and ways to alleviate them, see CMCH's page on video game violence.

More Links Between Violent Media and Aggression

Over the past 50 years, research has linked violent media exposure to increased aggression in young people. This month's Pediatrics adds two new studies to the mix: one on Internet violence and one on violent video games. Both recommend reducing or eliminating youth exposure to violent media.

One study found a link between being exposed to Internet violence and exhibiting seriously violent behavior, such as murder, assault, and robbery. The research showed that, with each additional type of violent site (e.g., hate sites, snuff sites, and sites showing satanic rituals) viewed, a youth's likelihood of reporting such behavior increased by 50%. In another finding described by CNN.com, young people who reported that " 'many, most or all' of the Internet sites they frequented featured 'real people fighting, shooting or killing' were five times more likely than their peers who didn't visit violent Web sites to engage in seriously violent behavior."

The second study further explores the connection between playing violent video games and increased aggression. It found that habitually playing violent video games increased young people's chances of being physically aggressive in the future, regardless of whether they already exhibited such behavior. It also showed that these effects occur across cultures (in this case, the U.S. and Japan)--even, as the researchers indicated, when the cultures display very different levels of violence.

Children's Safety vs. Free Speech?

On Wednesday, California will once again bring to the courts the question of whether to bar the sale or rental of violent video games to minors. The Mercury New reports that supporters intend to protect children from the negative effects of exposure to media violence. Opponents, however, say that the law is unconstitutional and claim that the link between violent video games and violence in children has not been sufficiently demonstrated.

A similar question of safety vs. free speech rages in South Korea this week, after the suicide of actor Choi Jin-si. According to the LA Times, rumors on the Web had blamed her for a friend's suicide and may have pushed her toward her own. Government officials who were already advocating harsher punishments for such behavior are using this incident as additional leverage.

As in the California case, proponents say that such punishments will help protect the innocent. But those who oppose the law believe that there is little research to support the connection between such harassment and rates of depression. They also say that it could be used to stifle free speech or discourage political dissent.

Does TV Violence Affect Children of Different Races and Genders Differently?

Many studies have explored the relationship between kids' exposure to media violence and harmful health effects, but there has been little research into whether these effects tend to differ depending on the viewer's gender or race.

A study published in September's Perspectives on Psychological Science brings some new evidence to the table. Researchers found that, among elementary-school-aged White males and females and African-American females, those who watched more violent TV programming tended to do less well in school and to be more aggressive than those who watched less.

African-American males, however, seemed to have a different relationship to violent television: Those who watched more of it did not tend to do less well in school or display more aggression than those who watched less. These results may suggest that TV plays a different role in the lives of African-American males than it does for members of the other three groups. Researchers call for additional study in this area.

Violence on YouTube

A gunman opened fire in a Finnish school Tuesday, killing 10 students and himself. The AP reports that the suspect posted threatening videos on YouTube the day before the shooting, which prompted police questioning but not confiscation of his gun.

The event brought renewed attention to YouTube's policy about posting threatening videos. Although the site previously took a hands-off approach to content selection (except in cases of pornography, graphic violence, or hate speech), The Guardian reports that the site's guidelines changed earlier this month to specifically ban videos that incite violence.

What does that mean practically? In terms of content regulation, not much will change--the site continues to rely on users to report inappropriate content, which can then be removed. But Google, which owns the site, says that reviewing each video before posting is impractical. Criticism of the policy continues.