TV linked to violence, study says
By Paige Albiniak -- Broadcasting & Cable, 3/29/2002 12:04:00 PM
A new study performed over 17 years suggested that increased television viewing is responsible for violent behavior, and that the causal link between the two is stronger than even the connection between smoking and developing lung cancer.
Researchers, led by Dr. Jeffrey Johnson of Columbia University, studied 707 people and determined that children who watch more than one hour per day of television are likely to become violent adults. Specifically, the study found that 14-year-old boys who watched less than one hour per day were likely to have gotten into an average of 8.9 fights resulting in injury as young adults. That number increased to 27.5 if they had watched one to three hours per day of television, and to 41.7 if they had watched more than three hours per day.
Numbers for females at those ages were much lower, but they increased at similar rates.
"The present findings indicate that extensive television viewing by adolescents and young adults is associated with an increased likelihood of committing aggressive acts against others," the study said. "Our findings suggest that this association is only partially attributable to environmental characteristics that are associated with both television viewing and aggressive behavior."
In response, Dennis Wharton, spokesman for the National Association of Broadcasters, said: "For every study that concludes that there's a correlation between TV violence and behavior, there are a number of studies concluding just the opposite."
Marc Smith, spokesman for the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, said the cable industry provides ratings on its programs, as well as media-literacy programs to help parents choose what TV programs their kids can watch.
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