Danielle Cannova's List: Video games DGL

• Similar to earlier studies about television, the data about children's video game habits are correlated with risk factors for health and with poorer academic performance.
• When video game play is analyzed for violent content, additional risk factors are observed for aggressive behavior and desensitization to violence.  
  
• Given the fact that video games are able to have several positive effects, it should come as no surprise that they also can have negative effects
• Research has documented negative effects of video games on children's physical health, including obesity, video-induced seizures, and postural, muscular and skeletal disorders, such as tendonitis, nerve compression, and carpal tunnel syndrome.
• The research to date suggests that parents should be most concerned about two things: the amount of time that children play, and the content of the games that they play.
• Simply put, the amount of time spent playing video games has a negative correlation with academic performance. Playing violent games has a positive correlation with antisocial and aggressive behavior (most researchers define violence in games as when the player can intentionally harm other characters in the game). Content analyses show that a majority of games contain some violence. A majority of 4th to 8th grade children prefer violent games.
• Playing violent games leads to increased physiological arousal, increased aggressive thoughts, increased aggressive feelings, increased aggressive behaviors, and decreased prosocial helping.
• These studies include experimental studies (where it can be shown that playing violent games actually causes increases in aggression), correlational studies (where long-term relations between game play and real-world aggression can be shown), and longitudinal studies (where changes in children's aggressive behaviors can be demonstrated). For example, in a study of over 400 3rd - 5th graders, those students who played more violent video games early in the school year changed to become more physically aggressive later in the school year, even after statistically controlling for sex, race, total screen time, prior aggression, and other relevant variables. Apparently practice does make perfect.
• Almost all (98%) of pediatricians believe that violent media have a negative effect on children.
• Playing a violent game for hours every day could decrease school performance, increase aggressive behaviors,

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• Parents & Teachers:
  The Impact of Video Games
• • Tend to be more aggressive
  • Are more prone to confrontation with their teachers
  • May engage in fights with their peers
  • See a decline in school achievements. (Gentile et al, 2004).
• Players benefit from engaging in acts of violence and are then able to move to the game's next level.
• Gentile & Anderson (2003) state that playing video games may increase aggressive behavior because violent acts are continually repeated throughout the video game. This method of repetition has long been considered an effective teaching method in reinforcing learning patterns.

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• Parents looking to get their kid's attention -- or keeping them focused at home and in the classroom -- should try to limit their television viewing and video game play. That's because a new study led by three Iowa State University psychologists has found that both viewing television and playing video games are associated with increased attention problems in youths.
• The research, which included both elementary school-age and college-age participants, found that children who exceeded the two hours per day of screen time recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics were 1.5 to 2 times more likely to be above average in attention problems.
• Based on the study's findings, Swing and Gentile conclude that TV and video game viewing may be one contributing factor for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children.

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