An exploratory study on association between Internet game contents and aggression in Korean adolescents

Abstract

The debate about the influence of violent game on aggressive behaviors has been going on for decades. The current study aimed to investigate the influence of several variables, such as game use, genre of game, and age ratings of game, on aggression. 1038 students (aged 12–13) completed questionnaire included information on game and Internet use, aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behavior. Participants were grouped with information on game use for comparisons. Compared to those who did not play games, participants who used games showed a slight increase in aggressive behavior and thoughts. A similar pattern was found for game age ratings. There was no significant difference among the average scores of aggression-related variables in terms of game genre. Although the degree of the increase is not large, this study found that playing video games, especially violent video games, has increased aggressive beliefs.