Academic Slams Game Violence Study

A Texan academic has slammed a recent study linking video games to violent behaviour in children.

Edge reports that Christopher Ferguson, assistant professor of psychology at Texas A&M International University, slammed the recent study by Iowa State University (ISU) in an open letter to US journal Pediatrics. According to Ferguson, the report, co-authored by Craig Anderson, contains "numerous flaws in the literature review, methodology and conclusions that greatly reduce my enthusiasm for [the study], and call into question the meaningfulness of it."

"In the literature review the authors suggest that research on video game violence is consistent when this is hardly the case," said Ferguson. "The authors here simply ignore a wide body of research which conflicts with their views ... the authors link their results to youth violence in ways that are misleading and irresponsible ... if anything it is remarkable how little effect that violent games had on trait aggression [in the study], considering that other relevant variables were not controlled."

The Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) aso criticised the report, questioning the validity of its conclusions. "For the better part of the past decade we – game consumers, makers, sellers and creators – have been waiting for the results of an unbiased, longitudinal and comprehensive study to be done which will inform us about the potential harmful effects of entertainment products on our children," said an ECA statement. "Unfortunately, with the report published in the latest issue of Pediatrics, we remain wanting."