There Is Broad Consensus: Media Researchers Agree That Violent Media Increase Aggression in Children, and Pediatricians and Parents Concur

News reports and even some researchers suggest that there is no consensus on the basic question of whether violent media increase aggression in children. The purpose of this study was to test whether media researchers are in fact divided on this issue, and to compare the opinions of researchers with those of pediatricians and parents. Participants (n = 371 media psychologists and mass communication scientists, n = 92 pediatricians, n = 268 parents) completed an anonymous online survey about whether exposure to different types of violent media (i.e., comic books, Internet sites, literature, movies, music, music videos, sports, TV programs, video games) increase aggression in children, whether that effect is causal, and whether it is a major factor in real-world violence. All groups agreed that exposure to media violence can increase aggression in children (overall d = 0.49, a medium-sized effect). Ratings for violent video games and movies produced the highest level of agreement, whereas ratings for violent literature and comic books produced the lowest level of agreement. This pattern was highly consistent across all groups, indicating broad consensus on this issue. The only question on which groups differed in their opinions was whether media violence was a major factor in producing real-life violence: parents and pediatricians agreed that it was, media researchers did not agree. Although a few vocal researchers claim there is a "debate" on this issue, the overwhelming majority of researchers believe that violent media increase aggression in children, and that the relationship is causal. Pediatricians are even more convinced, and parents also have little doubt.