Violent Video Game Effects on Aggressive Behavior among Children: The Role of Aggressive Motivation and Trait-Aggressiveness in China

ABSTRACT

Based on the General Aggression Model (GAM), we examined the interactive effects of situational factors (e.g., violent video games [VVG]) and personal factors (e.g., age, sex, trait-aggressiveness) on aggressive behavior, and the mediating role of aggressive motivation (e.g., instrumental, revenge). We recruited 480 children (50% girls) from three Chinese kindergartens. Games were rated as VVG or nonviolent via 120 experts, then participants played either VVG or matched nonviolent video games. Their aggressive motivation and aggressive behavior were then measured. Results were that brief exposure of children to VVG increased aggressive behavior. Participants aged 5 displayed more aggressive behavior than those aged 6 in VVG condition. Boys displayed more aggressive behavior than girls in VVG condition. Mediation analyses suggested that the VVG effect on aggression was mediated by aggressive motivation and revenge motivation, but was not mediated by instrumental motivation. Moderation analyses suggested that the VVG effect on aggression was moderated by trait-aggressiveness. These findings indicated that VVG lead to increases in aggression-related variables, as predicted by the General Aggression Model. Aggressive motivation, especially revenge motivation, might be considered in the prevention and intervention of children’s aggression in realistic settings.

KEYWORDS:

• Violent video games
• aggressive behavior
• aggressive motivation
• trait-aggressiveness

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the children, parents, and teachers of JinYun Kindergarten, Bauhinia Kindergarten and Dawn Innovation Kindergarten who participated in and contributed to this study. We thanked graduate students Yi Cao and Yan Li for their assistance with data collection and analysis, and Professor Douglas A. Gentile from Iowa State University in the United States and Dr. Julie Papastamatelouc from University of Business and Society in Germany for their helpful comments on an earlier version of this article.

Disclosure of Interest

Author Qian Zhang has received a research grant from National Social Science Foundation of China. Author JingJin Tian owns the kindergarten whose children served as study participants. Authors Qian Zhang, JingJin Tian, & LunChao Chen declare that they have no conflicts to report.

Ethical Standards and Informed Consent

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation [Of the Faculty of Education committee affiliated with Southwest University in China] and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. Informed consent was obtained from all participants and parents for being included in the study.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the National Social Science Foundation of China (grant number: 17CSH006), the Central University’s Fundamental Grant (grant number: SWU2009201), the Basic Grant of Educational Science from the Ministry of Education (2020) the Grant of Chongqing University Teachers and students’ Ideological and Political Work Research and Consultation Center (20SZYZZD005), the Grant of Planned Social Sciences in Chongqing (2017YBJY085), and the Major Grant of Basic Education Quality Monitoring Collaborative Innovation Center in China (2020-06-005-BZPK01).