Video game violence and family resilience

There is much debate about whether or not violent video games give rise to violent tendencies in those who play them. Some research shows this to be the case while other studies demonstrate the opposite. However, a third factor may be critical to understanding what role, if any, such games play in society and that is "family resilience."

Writing in the International Journal of Innovation and Learning, Mirjana Radetić-Paić of the Faculty of Educational Sciences, at Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, in Croatia, has investigated the influence of violent video games on player aggression and violent tendencies in the context of this third factor.

She has found that in general, emotional maturity, responsibility, and an ability to keep promises within the family is linked to playing video games with non-violent content. "The results are especially important for future teachers, since they need to be able to develop appropriate strategies which prevent adverse impacts on learning abilities such as social and communication skills," Radetić-Paić explains.

"Although special attention has to be paid to reaching conclusions and looking for a direct correlation among violence, video games with violent contents and family resilience factors, it can be deduced that this occurrence has many causes, which means that a larger number of variables has been used in the interpretation," she adds.