Do violent video games make young people more aggressive? Not necessarily!

People who play violent video games do not necessarily become more aggressive, according to a study called “Does violence in video games impact aggression and empathy? A longitudinal study of Czech adolescents to differentiate within- and between-person effects“, conducted among 3,010 Czech adolescents, published by ScienceDirect.”The results presented contradict the GAM (general aggression model), which postulates that repeated exposure to violent content leads to an increase in aggression and a decrease in empathy.“, we can read in the study.

Following the results, the researchers distinguished between-person effects and within-person effects. Between-person effects reveal that individuals who play more violent games tend to have slightly higher scores on cognitive empathy and verbal aggression. On the other hand, within-person effects, which examine how changes in an individual’s gaming habits affect their behavior over time, show no significant impact of violent video games on aggression or empathy.

The study did, however, reveal interesting nuances such as the increase in empathy among participants during the third stage of data collection who tended to play fewer violent games during the fourth stage of the study. Those who showed an increase in physical aggression during the third wave, on the other hand, tended to play more violent games during the fourth wave. A finding that could therefore confirm a possible harmful effect but to be taken with a pinch of salt according to the researchers: “The only effect observed in this context is that an increase in affective empathy is associated with a decrease in violent video game playing. This is consistent with the selection hypothesis; however, as the effect was only observed from T3 to T4, it is possible that these effects are less stable than expected and may change under various circumstances that were not considered in this longitudinal study focusing on long-term effects (e.g., patterns of exposure to other digital media, individual life events, changes in the social environment).“.

External elements to take into account

For researchers, the relationship between violent video games and aggression is more complex and influenced by a combination of individual differences and contextual factors.In essence, if adolescents with higher general aggression prefer violent video games, this does not indicate that increased engagement in violent video games leads to increased aggression. Therefore, much of the previous evidence may have been influenced by the greater variability present at the inter-person level. This study highlights the imperative need to differentiate these two levels of analysis in order to elucidate the true causal relationships between violent video games and aggression.“, they explain.

External elements such as the global Covid-19 pandemic can equally influence their general aggressiveness: “They may be influenced by unmeasured situational variables, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, another potential explanation could arise from the COVID-19 pandemic situation that occurred during our data collection period, particularly regarding the impact on the first waves of data collection. This global crisis has led to significant behavioral changes, particularly among isolated children and adolescents, who reported spending more hours playing, especially multiplayer games, as a coping mechanism for psychological distress and to alleviate social isolation.“.

To measure aggression, the researchers used the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire – Short Form, a well-known tool for assessing various forms of aggression, including physical and verbal aggression. Empathy was assessed using the Adolescent Measure of Empathy and Sympathy, which measures both cognitive empathy (the ability to understand the emotions of others) and affective empathy (the ability to share the emotional experiences of others).

Although the analyses were continued from June 2020 to December 2022, only 1,052 people completed the four stages of the study, mostly young people, which may have influenced the study, they point out.

The researchers also qualified the results by indicating that gamers were able to freely name the video games they played the most, with Minecraft at the top followed by Roblox, Fortnite, GTA games and Brawl Stars: “Although violent video games were not assessed by the Critical Violence Rating Scale, but by expert ratings obtained from Common Sense Media and two independent raters, it still relies on participants’ self-reports of the names of the video games and their order. It may therefore not be entirely reliable, as participants could omit or forget some of the video games they played. Time spent in the games was also not assessed. Future research should therefore use objective measures of the video games played and the time spent on them.”.

Previous studies have already shown that playing video games does not lead to violence or aggression. Some have even found positive effects of playing video games both in terms of mental well-being and in raising awareness of humanitarian causes.