When President Trump cited violence in media and video games as a driver of mass shootings like those last weekend in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio, he was met with mockery by critics.
But a newly published Ohio State University in Psychology Today said that there is a direct link to the gun violence children see and their use of guns.
“If children find an unsecured gun in a home, many factors can influence whether they will handle it. Our research has identified exposure to gun violence in the mass media (e.g., television, movies, video games) as one of those factors,” said the study from Brad J. Bushman, a professor of communication and psychology at Ohio State.
His study was prompted by children who find unsecured guns at home.
But it looked at gun violence in the media and in video games and said that children who see it are much more likely to pick up a gun and shoot it.
It’s almost common sense, but Bushman, widely published and quoted, set out to study the impact, which he said has been seen with tobacco and booze.
In a video game test, 220 children ages 8-12 were shown three versions of Minecraft, one with players killing monsters with guns, another with swords and a final nonviolent episode.
In the game room, two safe guns were hidden in a toy cabinet.
“The results showed that children who played the video game with guns handled it longer (91.5 seconds vs. 71.7 seconds in the sword condition and 36.1 seconds in the nonviolent condition), pulled the trigger more times (10.1 times vs. 3.6 times in the sword condition and 3.0 times in the nonviolent condition), including at themselves or their partner (3.4 times vs. 1.5 times in the sword condition and 0.2 times in the nonviolent condition),” said the magazine writeup shared with Secrets.
A similar movie test was conducted and produced similar results, including one child who pointed the gun at people in a street.
“Children who watched the movie clip with guns held the handgun longer (53.1 vs. 11.1 seconds), and pulled the trigger more times (2.8 vs. 0.01 times) than those who saw the same movie clip without guns. Some children engage in very dangerous behaviors with the real gun, such as pulling the trigger while pointing the gun at themselves or their partner. One boy pointed the real gun out the laboratory window at people in the street,” said the study.
Bushman said the message was clear that parents and guardians must secure weapons at home. And, he said, they have to police their child’s media intake.
“Parents should monitor the media their children consume, because children who see media characters use guns may be more likely to use real guns themselves if they have the chance,” said the study.
