It's official: Violent video games make kids more aggressive

Washington, Mar 2 (ANI): Exposure to violent video games makes more aggressive, less caring kids - regardless of their age, sex or culture, concludes a new study.

Iowa State University Distinguished Professor of Psychology Craig Anderson and colleagues analyzed 130 research reports on more than 130,000 subjects worldwide to reach the conclusion.

The study was published today in the March 2010 issue of the Psychological Bulletin, an American Psychological Association journal.

It reports that exposure to violent video games is a causal risk factor for increased aggressive thoughts and behavior, and decreased empathy and prosocial behavior in youths.

"We can now say with utmost confidence that regardless of research method -- that is experimental, correlational, or longitudinal -- and regardless of the cultures tested in this tudy [East and West], you get the same effects," said Anderson, who is also director of Iowa State's Center for the Study of Violence. "And the effects are that exposure to violent video ames increases the likelihood of aggressive behavior in both short-term and long-term contexts. Such exposure also increases aggressive thinking and aggressive affect, and decreases rosocial behavior." (ANI)