Childhood Aggression: Fallout from Violent Movies Viewing

Abstract

The focus of this study was to examine the issue of childhood aggression as a result of violent movies being paraded on the television screens. The level of aggression shown by children particularly during their formative and educational years have been found to be associated to the volume and type of aggression and violence they see paraded on the television. The study sample consisted of 199 students drawn from a secondary school in Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State. Video films consisting of violent scenes were shown to the participants for a period of time after which they were examined for their level of aggression after watching the films. The results showed that participants who were exposed to viewing violent movie reported higher level of aggression than those who are exposed to non-violent movies (t = 3.593, df = 197, p>0.05). The result also showed that female participants reported a higher level of verbal aggression than their male counterparts (t = 0.002 df = 197, p<0.05). The study opined that young children needs to be monitored in the selection of what they watch on television because they could be easily influenced or prone to imitating any action they observe on the screens.

Keywords: aggression, television, violence, influence, movies