Relationship Between Media Violence and the Effects on Children

A plethora of research has examined the relationship between media violence and the effects on children. Media violence is ubiquitous and comes in many forms, television and film, computer and video games, internet, music and radio and newspapers and magazines. However, the media that dominates the studies are television, then computer/video games and to a lesser degree music. Three types of evidence support the hypothesis that exposure to media violence is harmful to children. First there is anecdotes and case studies, then correlational studies and third the results of numerous experiments (Bernstein et al. 2006). However there are the sceptics that suggest the evidence is not conclusive in anecdotes and case studies, while correlations don’t mean causations and the experiments may not apply beyond the laboratory (Bernstein et al. 2006). Not all children are harmed by violent media, however one child harmed is one too many.

To look at the hypothesis that exposure to media violence is harmful to children, first look at it using Bronfenbrenner’s ecological approach. This approach demonstrates the overlapping ecological systems that operate together to influence what a person becomes as they develop. The individual, “with their biological and psychological characteristics” (Singleman & Rider 2008), is seen as rooted within the milieu of the microsystem (Jordan 2004). The connections between the microsystems are referred to as the mesosystem (Jordan 2004). While the social setting that influences a child’s development, but do not contain the individual, is the exosystem and the expansive cultural context that defines the child’s understanding of the influences in all the systems is the macrosystem (Jordan 2004). The individual and their family are in the microsystem, and the media is in the exosystem (Jordan 2004). The mesosystem connects the family with the individual and the family can offer ideas about violent media, such as discussing the violence as

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