Grand Theft Childhood
Encyclopedia
Grand Theft Childhood: The Surprising Truth About Violent Video Games and What Parents Can Do is a book by Lawrence Kutner
Lawrence Kutner (psychologist)
Lawrence Kutner is an American child psychologist. He is a member of the faculty at Massachusetts General Hospital, and the author of a number of popular books on child psychology...

, Ph.D. and Cheryl K. Olson, Sc.D. In it, they draw various conclusions that run contrary to the rhetoric of some politicians and activists. Along with psychiatrist Eugene V. Beresin, M.D., Kutner and Olson are co-directors of the Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School is the graduate medical school of Harvard University. It is located in the Longwood Medical Area of the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts....

 Center for Mental Health and Media, a division of the department of psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital
Massachusetts General Hospital
Massachusetts General Hospital is a teaching hospital and biomedical research facility in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts...

.

Background

The book was based in part on original research funded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...

 to the Center for Mental Health and Media. The book's title is a play on the Grand Theft Auto
Grand Theft Auto (series)
Grand Theft Auto is a multi-award-winning British video game series created in the United Kingdom by Dave Jones, then later by brothers Dan Houser and Sam Houser, and game designer Zachary Clarke. It is primarily developed by Edinburgh based Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games...

series, a video game series that has attracted a great deal of controversy.

In contrast to previous studies that focused on potential harmful effects of violent video game play and links to real-life violence, Kutner and Olson take a more nuanced view of how video games influence young teens. The authors found previous research (including experimental studies on college students) of little help to parents, teachers, pediatricians or policymakers concerned about potential risks from video game play. They also suggest that potential benefits of video games (including some games with violent content) has not received enough attention. Their program of research included a school-based survey of 1,254 children in grades 7 and 8, a survey of 500 of their parents, and focus groups with adolescent boys and their parents.

Kutner and Olson first looked at what behaviors are normal for young adolescents today, including what games they play, where, how much, with whom, and why. They then looked for patterns of play associated with a higher risk of everyday problems of concern to parents. Because it’s not possible to show cause-and-effect with a one-time survey, the authors focused on identifying “markers” of increased risk for problems.

The authors described their findings as both “encouraging, and at times disturbing.” As they reviewed their data as well as reports by other researchers, they concluded that “parents, politicians, researchers and child advocates probably worry too much about the wrong things, and too little about more subtle issues and complex effects that are much more likely to affect our children” (page 18).

In an interview, Olson explained why they chose to write a popular book in addition to their academic publications: “We felt it was important to give intelligent people who haven't been involved in research a chance to see how media violence studies are planned, carried out and interpreted so they could judge for themselves what makes sense. We also wanted to share insightful comments made by teens about the role of video games in their lives, and the specifics of parents' concerns.”

Summary of book contents

  • Chapter 1 looks at fears and myths about violent video games (including their purported role in school shootings) and introduces the research.
  • Chapter 2 puts concerns about video game violence into context with panics over effects of earlier media (including paperback novels, gangster films and comic books).
  • Chapter 3 explains how media violence research
    Media violence research
    Research into the media and violence examines whether links between consuming media violence and subsequent aggressive and violent behavior exists...

     is actually carried out, and why various experts strongly disagree on its effects.
  • Chapter 4 describes the results of the authors' research, including what games 13-year-olds play, and correlations between certain game play patterns and aggressive behavior or school problems.
  • Chapter 5 reviews research on what attracts children to violent video games.
  • Chapter 6 goes beyond the issue of game violence to examine sexual content in games, web-based games by hate groups, “advergames,” and game addiction concerns.
  • Chapter 7 looks at game rating systems around the world, and what parents want from a rating system.
  • Chapter 8 looks at the politics of video games and the motivations behind and failure of efforts to regulate games.
  • Chapter 9 reviews parent concerns and provides specific advice on minimizing harm and maximizing benefits from children’s video game play.

Conclusions

In their school-based surveys, Kutner and Olson found that Mature-rated (age 17+) video game play was common among young adolescents; 68% of boys and 29% of girls had at least one M-rated title among five games played "a lot" during previous six months. Among boys, games in the Grand Theft Auto
Grand Theft Auto (series)
Grand Theft Auto is a multi-award-winning British video game series created in the United Kingdom by Dave Jones, then later by brothers Dan Houser and Sam Houser, and game designer Zachary Clarke. It is primarily developed by Edinburgh based Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games...

series were by far the most popular. Most of boys’ top games, however, were sports or Teen-rated fantasy games. Among girls, The Sims
The Sims
The Sims is a strategic life-simulation computer game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. Its development was led by game designer Will Wright, also known for developing SimCity...

series was most popular, but Grand Theft Auto claimed second place. The rest of the girls’ top ten were nonviolent games such as Mario
Mario
is a fictional character in his video game series, created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. Serving as Nintendo's mascot and the main protagonist of the series, Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creation...

titles, Dance Dance Revolution
Dance Dance Revolution
Dance Dance Revolution, abbreviated DDR, and previously known as Dancing Stage in Europe and Australasia, is a music video game series produced by Konami. Introduced in Japan in 1998 as part of the Bemani series, and released in North America and Europe in 1999, Dance Dance Revolution is the...

or simulation games.

The surveys also found correlations between violent gameplay and some common childhood problems. Boys who played any Mature-rated game a lot had twice the risk of certain aggressive behaviors (e.g., getting into fights, beating up someone, damaging property for fun) or school problems (e.g., getting in trouble with a teacher, getting poor grades), at least once during the past year, compared to boys who played games with lower age ratings. Among girls, the risk of problems was three to four times higher for those who played violent games vs. those who played other games.

Boys who didn’t play any video games during a typical week also had a higher risk for problems; however, there were not enough boys in this group to find statistically significant differences. Kutner and Olson stress that a one-time survey can't show causality
Causality
Causality is the relationship between an event and a second event , where the second event is understood as a consequence of the first....

 (it could be that already-aggressive teens prefer violent games, for example) and that most children who play violent games do not have problems. They also document many creative, social and emotional benefits from video game play—even games with violent content—which were used by many children to relieve stress and get out anger.

Ultimately, the authors express concern that "focusing on such easy but minor targets as violent video games causes parents, social activists and public-policy makers to ignore the much more powerful and significant causes of youth violence that have already been well established, including a range of social, behavioral, economic, biological and mental-health factors” (page 190).

In an April 16, 2008 interview on X-Play
X-Play
X-Play is a TV program about video games, known for its reviews and comedy skits...

, Kutner and Olson noted that although some studies have claimed to show a link between video games and violent or aggressive behavior, most research in this area has been flawed. Some studies dating back to the '80s looked at now-vintage arcade game
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...

s that don't remotely resemble modern video games. Some studies followed the behavior of only a few dozen children. Many of the studies don't define what constitutes violent or aggressive behavior, and many confuse short-term and long-term effects. Many also use poorly validated measures of aggression, that likely do not correlate well with real-life aggressive acts of interest to most parents and politicians.

"You'll sometimes see kids coming out of an action movie making kung fu moves against one another", said Kutner, as an example of the type of thinking behind some of the studies they looked at. "But that doesn't mean they're going to do that against the sweet little old lady down the street," he said.

External links

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