Statistics: 
1. 60% of the television programs that children spend 3-4 hours on include some violence. A smaller 40% of the programs include heavy violence.
2. Children are also found to spend multiple hours playing violent video games, where a study in 2004 found that 94% of games suitable for teenagers were violent. 

Experiments: The results from the experiments highlight how individuals who indulge in different media that include violent behaviors are more likely to become violent or aggressive themselves. This is even more prevalent in children. 

Cross-sectional and longitudinal studies: Based on different kinds of studies involving youth and violent media, it was found that there is a correlation between exhibiting aggressive behaviors in children who constantly watch violent media.

Violence inTelevision, Films and Video Games

Empirical research illustrates that childhood exposure to media violence has short-term and long-term effects in arousing aggression and violence for an individual.  

California Baptist University

Media violence is a visual portrayal of acts of physical aggression by one human or humanoid character towards another. As video games have evolved over time, the concept and definition of media violence have changed to fit the new idea of violence. 

Aggressive behavior is an action that is meant to hurt or annoy another person. This behavior can either be physical or non-physical and does not have to be considered violent. On the other hand, violent behaviors are more serious types of physical aggression that can seriously injure a victim. These actions are due to different factors that intersect over time. Research has shown that violent mass media is a factor that influences the risk for violence and aggression, even if not every child who engages in violent mass media becomes violent. 

Background on Media Violence

Huesmann L. R. (2007). The impact of electronic media violence: scientific theory and research. The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine, 41(6 Suppl 1), S6–S13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2007.09.005

References for The Impact of Electronic Media Violence: Scientific Theory and Research

Key Empirical Studies

There is current research that has highlighted the effects of media violence on children and how they are restrained by the content they witness. This can include factors such as the attraction of viewers, the amount of aggression it contains, and real-world scenarios that depict violence.

Violence in video games differentiates individuals who should be attacked, the types of acts that increase aggression, and the rewards the player gets for such acts. 

Further studies have shown that children who were not aggressive before violent media ended up being more aggressive than those who were. The long-term effects have been noted to be severe for young children compared to the short-term impacts for older children.  

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