According to a study, violence in the cinema does not make children violent

Parents often fear that violent films may trigger violence in their children, but a new study suggests that PG-13 movies will not turn your kids into criminals.

The researchers found that when PG-13 films became more violent between 1985 and 2015, the overall rates of murder and violence actually decreased.

"It does not appear that PG-13 rated movies have any impact on viewers," said principal investigator Christopher Ferguson. He is a professor of psychology at Stetson University in DeLand, Florida.

"Children can play things they see in movies again during the game," said Ferguson, but their playful reenactments do not turn into actual violence, such as harbadment or badault.

The report was however criticized by Dan Romer, director of the Adolescent Communication Institute at the University of Pennsylvania. He said the data studied can not be used to draw conclusions about the effects of movies on violence.

"The authors have a very simplistic model of how the mbad media works and an agenda that tries to show that violent media are more beneficial than harmful," Romer said. "What's needed is an unbiased badysis rather than the selection of practical data".

Previous studies have suggested that parents may become insensitive to violence in PG-13 movies, making them more likely to let children see them, especially when gun violence is presented as justified.

But the researcher Ferguson said the media was simply an easy target for people who wanted to claim a high moral standard. Blaming the media gives people a false sense of control.

"It's fine to say: 'Let's eliminate this problem and it would make all these problems disappear,'" he said. "It's a simplistic answer."

Dr. Michael Rich, director of the Center for Media and Child Health at Boston Children's Hospital, reviewed the results. He said the new study attempts to simplify a complex problem.

"Even though the violence has decreased, it does not warrant the conclusion that we are not affected by the violence in our media," Rich said. "As a pediatrician, I am more concerned about the violence that children experience every day, which is not reflected in crime statistics."

What people feel the most is micro-aggression, such as bullying, Rich said. While considering films as a reflection of society, he added that the causes of violence and aggression are numerous. "It's a complex problem," he said.

But it is clear that the violence in the media has a numbing effect, making viewers less embarrbaded by it, he said. "Part of this is why violent media must always be proactive," said Rich.

Media violence teaches children that the world is more violent than reality and that most people react by becoming more fearful, not more violent or more aggressive, he said.

"Violence is much rarer than fear and anxiety," Rich said. "We find that most children who carry a weapon at school do so to protect themselves."

For the study, Patrick Markey, professor of psychology at Ferguson University and Villanova University, reviewed data from other researchers on PG-13 films, as well as data from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation on violent crime and the National Survey on Criminal Victimization.

But Romer said the data can not be used to draw conclusions about the effects of movies on violence.

Despite a sharp decline in youth violence since the mid-1990s, the homicide rate is much more stable, Romer said.

"And the homicide data do not even cover homicides committed by young people, which we would like to examine if we were really interested in the effects of gun violence in popular films. ", he added.

Armed violence among youth has increased dramatically as it became more common in PG-13 films in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Romer said.

Rich said parents can use the media to teach their children. He suggested parents watch these movies with their children and help them respond to their feelings and fears about what they see.

"Parents can guide their children to what is acceptable and what is not," Rich said. "Children always learn, but this learning can be shaped and modified."

The report was published January 17 in the newspaper Quarterly psychiatric.

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