Does playing violent video games cause aggression? A longitudinal intervention study

Kühn, S., Kugler, D., Schmalen, K., etal. Does playing violent video games cause aggression? A longitudinal intervention study. Mol Psychiatry 24, 1220-1234 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-018-0031-7

Commentary

There has long been concern that violent video games promote aggression, reduce prosocial behavior, increase impulsivity, and interfere with player cognition and mood.

Past experimental studies have focused on the short-term effects of violent video gameplay on aggression, but these effects are believed to be primarily the result of priming.

This study, in contrast, used questionnaires, behavioral measures of aggression, and a large number of tests spanning sexual attitudes, empathy, interpersonal skills, and impulsivity-related constructs (such as sensation) to investigate the long-term effects of violent video gameplay. Seek, boredom tendency, risk-taking, delay discounting, mental health, and executive control functioning were assessed before and after two months of gameplay. The participants were asked to play a violent video game, Grand Theft Auto V, and a non-violent video game, The Sims 3, every day for two months.

The results showed that no significant changes were observed when the violent video game playing group was compared to the non-violent game playing group and the passive control group. No effects were also observed immediately after the intervention and during post-testing, or during follow-up assessments even two months after the intervention period had ended.