Exposure to Gun Violence in Video Games Increases Interest in Real Guns

Effect of Exposure to Gun Violence in Video Games on Children's Interest in Real Guns: A Randomized Clinical Trial

More American children die by accidental gun use than children in other developed countries. One factor that can influence children's interest in guns is exposure to media containing guns. The objective of this study is to test whether children who play a video game containing guns will handle a real gun longer, will pull the trigger more times, and pull the trigger while pointing the gun at themselves or another than children who see the same movie without guns.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Psychology, Social; Adolescent Behavior
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Video games and violence

Detailed Description

The design will be a 2 (player vs. observer) x 3 (nonviolent, violent with sword, violent with gun) between-subjects study. Participants will randomly be assigned to conditions. Participants will be tested in pairs. The participant in the player condition will play a video game while the participant in the watcher condition will watch. The participants will be in the same room, seated next to each other.

Video games will be chosen for the three conditions which have no violent content (nonviolent condition), violent content with a sword as a weapon for the player (violent with sword condition), and violent content with a gun as a weapon (violent with gun condition). All games chosen will be age appropriate (rated E) and have a consistent perspective (i.e., 1st person or 3rd person) between conditions. Participants will be asked how familiar they are with the video game used to control for experience with the stimulus. Gameplay will last for 20 minutes.

The measures for experiment 3 will include the media habits, aggressive behavior, attitude toward guns, and guns in the home measures listed for experiment 1. In addition, parents will be asked if their children have taken a gun safety course and a behavioral measure will be whether or not children handle a real (but non-firing) gun and whether they pull the trigger.

Participants will be tested in pairs, with a sibling or friend. Participants will be placed in a room containing toys, with a camera on the wall. Participants will be told that they can play with any of the toys in the room for the next 20 minutes. The toys will be placed will be placed in drawers inside a cabinet. Inside the room, two brightly colored plastic Nerf dart guns and two handguns will be placed in separate drawers, as in previous research. The handguns will be modified so they cannot fire. Inside the magazine, the handguns contain no bullets. They do, however, contain a sensor that counts the number of times the trigger is depressed with sufficient force to discharge the weapon. This allows us to distinguish reliably the children who pull the trigger from those who only handle the gun. Parents will be asked to predict whether their child will handle the real gun and pull the trigger. The researcher and the parents will be able to watch the session via a monitor in a control room. A thorough debriefing will follow (see attachment). The investigators also have received letters of support from the Director of the School of Communication and from the Chief of Police (see attachments). The investigators predict the highest levels of playing with guns and firing them among participants who see a violent clip containing guns.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 250
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Ohio
    • Columbus, Ohio, United States, 43210
      • Ohio State University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 8 years to 12 years (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age 8-12yrs, had not participated in study prior, was able to schedule participation with a known peer (8-12yo).

Exclusion Criteria:

• Younger than 8yo, older than 12yo, had participated in study prior, could not schedule participation with a known peer (8-12yo)

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Other
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Factorial Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

3

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Experimental: Violence with guns; Participants in this condition will play a video game with violent content which includes guns.	Behavioral: Video games and violence; Participants will be randomly assigned to play a video game which contains either (1) no violent content, (2) violent content with swords, or (3) violent content with guns. The game, rated E, is age appropriate and modded to include guns in the appropriate condition.
Experimental: Experimental: Violence without guns; Participants in this condition will play a video game with violent content which does not include guns. Instead, the violence will include weapons such as swords.	Behavioral: Video games and violence; Participants will be randomly assigned to play a video game which contains either (1) no violent content, (2) violent content with swords, or (3) violent content with guns. The game, rated E, is age appropriate and modded to include guns in the appropriate condition.
Other: Control: No violence; Participants in this condition will play a video game which contains no violent content or weapons.	Behavioral: Video games and violence; Participants will be randomly assigned to play a video game which contains either (1) no violent content, (2) violent content with swords, or (3) violent content with guns. The game, rated E, is age appropriate and modded to include guns in the appropriate condition.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Time Spent Holding Gun	Time (in seconds) participant spent holding the real firearm during the play session	20 minute play session
Number of Trigger Pulls	Number of times participant pulled trigger of real firearm during the play session	20 minute play session
Number of Trigger Pulls Aimed at Self or Other	Trigger pulls while the firearm is aimed at the child holding the firearm or the other participant.	20 minute play session

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Ohio State University

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Chang JH, Bushman BJ. Effect of Exposure to Gun Violence in Video Games on Children's Dangerous Behavior With Real Guns: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Netw Open. 2019 May 3;2(5):e194319. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.4319. Erratum In: JAMA Netw Open. 2019 Jun 5;2(6):e197377.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): July 1, 2017
• Primary Completion (Actual): August 24, 2018
• Study Completion (Actual): August 24, 2018

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 22, 2017
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 22, 2017
• First Posted (Actual): August 23, 2017

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 11, 2020
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 28, 2020
• Last Verified: April 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: adolescent; violence; gun; media
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2013B0542

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: Undecided
• IPD Plan Description: The investigators are considering making individual participant data available, but need to determine steps and appropriateness according to our institutional IRB board.

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No