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Abstract
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A longitudinal study investigated the extent to which children's exposure to aggressive and prosocial television models in drama programmes influences their aggressive and prosocial behaviour. In The Netherlands we did not find significant positive correlations between prosocial behaviour and the viewing of prosocial behaviour on television. Positive correlations were found, however, between aggression and television violence viewing. This relationship disappeared almost completely when corrections for the starting level of aggression and intelligence were applied. The hypothesis, formulated on the basis of social learning theory, that television violence viewing leads to aggressive behaviour could not be supported. Our findings are further discussed and compared with the results found in the other countries participating in the international study.
VioLit summary:
OBJECTIVE:
The objective of this study by Wiegman et al. was to test the hypothesis that children's exposure to aggressive and prosocial television models in drama programs leads to changes in long term aggressive, prosocial behavior in children.
METHODOLOGY:
A quasi-experimental, longtudinal, cross-cultural design based on the social learning theory was combined with a non-probability sample of 466 children from the USA, the Netherlands, Poland, Israel, Finland, and Australia to measure children's aggressive behavior over a 3-year period. At the end of the research 354 children remained in the study. Every May children were interviewed face-to-face at school. Common internal consistency and test-retest reliability measures were used in the various countries to evaluate the different instruments of measurement. Aggression was measured by a modified version of the Peer-Rating Index of Aggression (1961). Aggression was defined as an act in which a person harms or injures another person or persons. Prosocial was defined as an act in which a person supports or helps another person or persons. Prosocial behavior measured only in the Netherlands was determined by a peer-nomination technique. The authors state, "A validation study showed the instrument Sprafkin and Rubinstein (1979) used to measure prosocial behavior correlated highly with ours (r=.76; N=75)."
FINDINGS/DISCUSSION:
No significant relationship was found between viewing prosocial behavior on television and prosocial behavior in children. However, viewing more prosocial behavior correlated (r=.90) with more violence viewing indicating that these subjects were heavy television viewers. Correlations between aggressive behavior and frequency of viewing were significant (boys r=.21, p<.01; girls r=.28, p,.001) and consistent with correlations between aggression and violence viewing. (CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado)
KW - Finland
KW - Netherlands
KW - Poland
KW - Israel
KW - Australia
KW - US-Foreign Comparison
KW - Cross-National Analysis
KW - Cross National Comparison
KW - Foreign Countries
KW - Longitudinal Studies
KW - Child Aggression
KW - Child Behavior
KW - Child Prosocial Behavior
KW - Child Problem Behavior
KW - Aggression Causes
KW - Media Violence Effects
KW - Television Viewing
KW - Television Violence
KW - Social Skills Development
KW - Child Development
KW - Middle Childhood
KW - Late Childhood
KW - Social Learning Theory
Language: en |