by Theadora Ehlers

Created on: July 02, 2007

Ten-thousand fewer homicides each year in the U.S., 70,000 fewer rapes, and 70,000 fewer injurious assaults: this could be the difference if parents take initiative to help their children decide what is inappropriate media entertainment. Research by University of Washington Professor Brandon Centerwall has linked violent media to largely influencing about half of crime in America. Saying Hitler never played video games is like saying Sumo wrestlers never lay in front of the T.V. eating hamburgers and milkshakes. If parents take an active approach to help their children make responsible choices in media use, parents can intercept negative or contradicting lessons and teach their own values to their children instead.

The question of whether video games, television, and music lyrics play a role in violent behavior has been debated for many years. In the 2004 Association for Psychological Science Journal, there is extensive and definitive scientific research illustrated in the article "The Influence of Media Violence on Youth" by Psychology Researchers and professors at various universities. The studies state that "Short-term exposure increases the likelihood of physically and verbally aggressive behavior, aggressive thoughts, and aggressive emotions. Recent large-scale longitudinal studies provide converging evidence linking frequent exposure to violent media in childhood with aggression later in life, including physical assaults and spouse abuse."
Translation: Children who watched violence showed a short-term and long-term increase in negative behavior. Those who deny the correlation, South Carolina's Attorney General Charlie Condon said, "live in the same kind of dream world created for teen-agers by many of today's violent movies, video games and gangster-rap music." Yet, according to a report by the FTC there has been little change in the violent and crude behavior in this media.
Although not all individuals hold similar beliefs about violence, individuals who repeat what they see and hear in the media still have an effect on others, creating the social issue we have in America. Individuals with an internal locus of control recognize that witnessing violent and crude behavior might lower their morals, yet they acknowledge they are responsible for their actions, feelings, and behaviors.
In contrast, whether subconsciously or not, those with more of an external locus of control consider themselves a product of their environment. Children, the mentally ill,

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