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      Is playing violent video games a risk factor for aggressive behaviour? Adding narcissism, self-esteem and PEGI ratings to the debate

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          Abstract

          Introduction

          Aggressive behaviour is a challenge for society. There continues to be considerable debate over whether the consumption of violent video games affects aggression, as violent video game content has become more accessible in recent years due to the growing use of online distribution platforms. Personality traits often linked to aggression, such as narcissism and self-esteem, have been considered in the context of violent video game play and their relationship with aggression.

          Methods

          We surveyed an international population of 166 game players on their personality traits and their three favourite video game choices, which were classified as violent or non-violent, using Pan European Game Information (PEGI) 16 and 18 ratings.

          Results

          We found that violent video game choice is a predictor of verbal aggression alongside narcissism, and hostility alongside self-esteem. A categorical regression highlighted the desire to impersonate society’s undesirable role models (e.g., ‘be a thief or a killer’) as one of the motivations for aggression and violent video game choice.

          Discussion

          These findings show that video game violence should be considered a risk factor for aggression, as in other violent media, as it provides a social reinforcement of aggressive behaviour and observational learning of aggressive models, calling for the introduction of stricter online age verification procedures on online game platforms to safeguard children from violent video game content; and increased use of parental controls on content fruition. More granularity should be considered in the PEGI classifications.

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          Most cited references44

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          G*Power 3: A flexible statistical power analysis program for the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences

          G*Power (Erdfelder, Faul, & Buchner, 1996) was designed as a general stand-alone power analysis program for statistical tests commonly used in social and behavioral research. G*Power 3 is a major extension of, and improvement over, the previous versions. It runs on widely used computer platforms (i.e., Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Mac OS X 10.4) and covers many different statistical tests of the t, F, and chi2 test families. In addition, it includes power analyses for z tests and some exact tests. G*Power 3 provides improved effect size calculators and graphic options, supports both distribution-based and design-based input modes, and offers all types of power analyses in which users might be interested. Like its predecessors, G*Power 3 is free.
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            Society and the Adolescent Self-Image

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              The aggression questionnaire.

              A new questionnaire on aggression was constructed. Replicated factor analyses yielded 4 scales: Physical Aggression, Verbal Aggression, Anger, and Hostility. Correlational analysis revealed that anger is the bridge between both physical and verbal aggression and hostility. The scales showed internal consistency and stability over time. Men scored slightly higher on Verbal Aggression and Hostility and much higher on Physical Aggression. There was no sex difference for Anger. The various scales correlated differently with various personality traits. Scale scores correlated with peer nominations of the various kinds of aggression. These findings suggest the need to assess not only overall aggression but also its individual components.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Journal
                Front Psychol
                Front Psychol
                Front. Psychol.
                Frontiers in Psychology
                Frontiers Media S.A.
                1664-1078
                05 July 2023
                2023
                : 14
                : 1155807
                Affiliations
                [1] 1Department of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London , London, United Kingdom
                [2] 2Department of Information Studies, University College London , London, United Kingdom
                [3] 3Institute of Artificial Intelligence, De Montfort University , Leicester, United Kingdom
                Author notes

                Edited by: Marko Siitonen, University of Jyväskylä, Finland

                Reviewed by: Stanislava Yordanova Stoyanova, South-West University ‘Neofit Rilski’, Bulgaria Magdalena Maria Rowicka, The Maria Grzegorzewska University, Poland

                *Correspondence: Szymon Zbigniew Olejarnik, szymon.olejarnik.19@ 123456ucl.ac.uk
                Article
                10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1155807
                10354552
                37476087
                bc1ddd99-6681-4254-9394-45c8e36fe765
                Copyright © 2023 Olejarnik and Romano.

                This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

                History
                : 31 January 2023
                : 21 June 2023
                Page count
                Figures: 12, Tables: 2, Equations: 0, References: 58, Pages: 13, Words: 9368
                Categories
                Psychology
                Original Research
                Custom metadata
                Media Psychology

                Clinical Psychology & Psychiatry
                aggressive behaviour,violent video games,narcissism,self-esteem,social psychology

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