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Abstract
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OBJECTIVE: There is a positive link between violent media exposure and aggressive behaviors, including bullying behaviors. However, we do not know if violent video game exposure is longitudinally associated with bullying behaviors. The aim of the present study is to address this research gap.
METHOD: We examined the longitudinal link between violent video game exposure and bullying perpetration at both the within- and between-person levels among 774 Chinese early adolescents (61.8% boys, aged 12-15 years) over 1 year. We also tested whether trait aggressiveness and moral identity moderated this longitudinal relationship.
RESULTS: Findings showed that violent video game exposure was positively associated with bullying perpetration over time (i.e., within-person effect) and trait aggressiveness moderated this relationship at both the between-person and cross-levels. There was a stronger positive linkage between exposure to violent games and bullying perpetration among adolescents with higher (vs. lower) levels of trait aggressiveness. Moreover, moral identity moderated the relationship between violent game exposure and bullying perpetration, but only at the between-person level and not at the within-person level. This finding suggests that adolescents with high moral identity have weaker associations between violent video game exposure and bullying perpetration (i.e., buffer role), compared to low moral identity adolescents.
CONCLUSION: The findings implicate the importance of developing and implementing integrated strategies that target at reducing violent video game exposure and trait aggressiveness and promoting positive moral development among early adolescents in bullying prevention and intervention efforts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)
Language: en |