“Brutal Kill!” Violent video games as a predictor of aggression

Abstract

Abstract In recent years, many international studies have investigated the relationship between violent games and violence, aggressiveness and delinquent behavior, but there are scarce studies in Brazil on the subject. The aim of this research was to investigate the relationship between dispositional behavior and antisocial behavior correlated with the playing of violent content video games. A total of 249 high school students participated in the study, of which 154 were women and 95 were men, aged 13-20 years (M = 15.4, DP = 1.12), who responded the following scales: Big Five Inventory, Buss and Perry Aggression Questionnaire, Antisocial and Criminal Behaviors Questionnaire and a new Scale of Video Games Violence. The regressions performed indicated that the violent games, antisocial behavior, anger and sex were predictors for physical aggression. In conclusion, the study confirms the hypothesis of the General Aggression Model on human aggression in which violent games are associated with aggressive behavior.

Keywords

• violence
• video games
• risk factors
• aggression