Four Decades of Violent Content on Prime-Time Network Programming: A Longitudinal Meta-Analytic Review

Abstract

This paper uses longitudinal meta-analysis to review 57 content analyses that examined the frequency of violent content on American prime-time network programming between 1960 and 2002. The overall sample is composed of 4,988 hours of broadcasts from 32 seasons. The frequency per hour of most of the expressions of physical aggression, body harm violence as well as exploitative violence, shows a cubic pattern with 2 peaks: in the late 1970s and in the mid-1990s. The demographic composition of violent characters, namely, the share of women and White people among violence perpetrators, fluctuated similarly with the exception of smaller alterations. The discussion suggests sociological, historical, and industry-related explanations to the findings and concludes that throughout most of the years covered in this meta-analysis, TV violence could not be regarded as an accurate indicator of societal violence.