Swedish Study: Video Games DON’T Make Kids Violent

I love Sweden, don’t you? The Swedish Media Council have carried out a report that they say proves ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ that video games actually don’t make kids violent.

The meta-study, which has reviewed "100 articles about violent computer games and aggression which have been published in international scientific journals since 2000," concludes that it’s not the games that make kids violent – “family conflicts and poor health among children can make children more drawn to computer games and result in a higher level of aggression."

Those previous studies carried out on the link between video games and violence? According to the report, “many of the studies use different methods to measure aggression, many of which lack a clear connection to violent behaviour.”

All in all, the Council concludes that “there is no evidence that violent computer games cause aggressive behaviour.”

“If research can't provide any simple answers about how games make children aggressive, perhaps we adults should stop judging the games children play based on whether they are violent or not." Researcher Ulf Dalquist told the Aftonbladet newspaper. “As parents, we can stand and freeze on the sidelines of a football pitch or listen to out of tune recorder concerts – but we can't engage in their computer gaming. It may not be about how much violence a game contains, but rather what sort of values the game expresses."

I think I owe Mr Dalquist a beer.

[Source: The Local]