CONSTRUCTION OF MEANINGS RELATED TO VIOLENT CONTENTS OF VIDEO GAMES IN CHILDREN AGED 11 TO 14

Abstract

This project was part of the research line entitled "Violence and the Media" developed by the Faculty of Psychology of the Universidad de la Sabana. , The aim of the study was to enquire about the meaning that children give to violent contents of videogames. Participants were four children between the ages of 11 and 14, who attended public schools in the village of Chía (Colombia). The research had a qualitative approach and used a descriptive-explanatory method, adopting the single-case study strategy. Based on the participants' narratives an analysis was made of the meanings that children gave to topics such as recognition of violence, conflict perception, conflict resolution, gender identity, relationship between family and videogames and the power of videogames. Data were collected through the use of Focus Groups and analyzed according to Strauss and Corbin's theory (2002). Results show that there is a relationship between the violent contents of videogames and the meaning given to them by the participants in the focus group. This underlines the influence that videogames have on the development of values and beliefs in children

Keywords

• violence
• media
• videogames
• meanings
• power and focus group