Parental evaluative mediation used to lessen violent television-induced aggressive behavior.

Abstract

Violent television increases the likelihood of ensuing aggressive behavior in the viewer, and young children are especially susceptible to this effect due to their underdeveloped cognitive abilities. Parental evaluative mediation was utilized in an attempt to reduce this effect following the viewing of a violent video. Three groups of preschoolers viewed violent scenes from a movie, then were videotaped playing in a group for 10 minutes. The three groups were those children who viewed the video alone, those who viewed with a parent and discussed the video, and those who viewed with a parent but did not discuss the video. The Aggressive Behavior Checklist was used to measure the children's aggression using the videotapes of free play. No significant differences among groups were found. Several possible reasons are discussed as to why the expected outcome was not found.