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violence, and many variables at the individual level (e.g., personality variables), the peer level, the family level (e.g., poverty, parent aggression), and the school level (e.g., school climate). Violent video game play was one of the strongest predictors of aggression and aggressive delinquent behaviors two years later.

Wallenius and Punamäki studied 316 Finnish 12- and 15-year-olds for two years. This study also found that violent game play predicted later aggression, controlling for earlier aggression. Interestingly, this study found that parent communication could moderate the effect. Better parent-child communication lessened the effect of violent game play on later aggression.

One common criticism of longitudinal work is that no study measures all of the variables that relate to aggression. This is not an entirely fair criticism. It is certainly true that many variables influence aggression, such as poverty and parent aggressive attitudes. These would therefore be part of the reason that children might be aggressive at Time 1. By controlling for Time 1 aggression, however, this also controls for all those other variables that might influence Time 2 aggression. (Actually, it’s an even more complicated statistical issue.) In sum, although no one study is perfect, these longitudinal studies provide strong evidence that violent video game play does influence later aggressive behaviors.

A second area of research that is continuing to build strength is on computer, Internet, and video game “addiction.” It is important to note that the research is becoming clear that some children and adults are using these Internet and regular video games in such a way that it damages their social functioning, their school functioning, their occupational functioning, their family functioning and their psychological functioning. In fact, this is what it means to have a pathological behavior pattern. It is also important to note that although these studies often focus on one of these media—either Internet or video games—we expect that as the research evidence grows about the underlying issues, we will find that they are not different in any way other than medium of choice. In other words, all media probably can be used for addictive behavior. The early research seems to suggest that no matter which medium is studied specifically, the problems that some people have seem to be very similar. The research is still in the early phases. In sum, we seem to know that some people do have patterns of use that damages several areas of their lives. We do not know, however, which people are at greatest risk, how long and severe the problem is, or what types of help are most needed. We therefore are recommending that more resources be put into studying this emerging problem, and we will be hosting an international summit in 2009 in order to help understand the scope of the problem.

For a complete list of the references used to compile this report, please click here (PDF).