Citation

von Salisch M, Vogelgesang J, Kristen A, Oppl C. Media Psychol. 2011; 14(3): 233-258.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/15213269.2011.596468

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

A one-year longitudinal study with 324 German third and fourth graders was conducted in order to find out whether a preference for violent electronic games socializes children to become more aggressive or whether aggressive individuals tend to select this type of game. Cross-lagged panel analyses suggest that children who were rated as openly aggressive at Time 1 intensified their preference for violent electronic games over time. We determined that it could be ruled out that this selection effect was due to a number of underlying variables ranging from ecological variables (neighborhood) to family variables (migration status, older brother) and child variables (gender, self-esteem, level of achievement). Discussion focuses on the emerging preference for violent electronic games among children.