Kids’ media interest not dependent on violence

By age 18, a child in the U.S. will have seen 16,000 simulated murders and 200,000 acts of violence.

Those statistics are according to the American Psychiatric Association, but their level of attraction for young viewers might be overrated. A study published in the current issue of “Media Psychology,” conducted by IU assistant professor of  telecommunications Andrew Weaver, suggests the amount of violence in television and movies does not increase a child’s interest in them.

“One of the reasons there is so much violence in children’s cartoons is because producers assume it’s what kids want and that violence sells,” Weaver said.

Researchers used a sample of 128 school children from ages 5 to 11 and varied the amount of violence in a children’s cartoon found on YouTube. They then tested their identification with, as well as overall liking of, the characters.

Ultimately, it was determined that males responded more to characters when they were nonviolent as opposed to when they were engaged in violence, Weaver said. Furthermore, females identified more readily with violent characters than males did, according to the study.

Results also showed males preferred the high-action version of the cartoon to the low-action.

“One of the reasons kids might like violent shows is because of the action, and not the violent content, per se,” Weaver said.

Sherri Stover is a licensed clinical social worker and a child and adolescent development specialist in Louisville, Ky. As a mother of two children, ages 3 and 4, she will not allow her children to watch programs that contain violence. She said kids don’t have the capability to distinguish reality from fantasy.

“When kids are exposed to violent behavior they tend to have a lot more aggressive behavior,” she said. “I have seen kids as young as five and six who play ‘Halo’ and ‘Call of Duty,’ and they are getting in trouble at school for hitting people and they wonder why.”

However, there’s an age  threshold for parental surveillance.

“Parents usually control the remote until about age five. After that, kids are watching whatever they want,” said David Kleeman, president of the American Center for Children and Media.

While these results may not show a decrease in children watching violent programs, there are programming alternatives.

“At PBS we don’t have any violent programs, but I would hope these results would have an effect on what parents and caregivers would allow their children to watch,” Phil Meyer, station manager at WTIU, said.

Weaver said violence is sometimes an easy way for the media to close a
storyline.

“It’s easy to use violence to convey action or suspense or justice-restoring outcomes. It takes a bit more creativity to represent these things in nonviolent ways,” Weaver said. “It’s certainly possible and could be worthwhile both from a parent’s and a producer’s point of view, but old habits are hard to break.”