Children, Adolescents, and Media Violence provides a comprehensive review and critique of the literature related to media violence in all its forms during childhood and adolescence. Special attention is paid to evaluating the role of the development processes in media violence research and to stressing the importance of methodology in understanding that research. The developmental analysis taken by the author allows for the identification of age-related gaps in the literature and helps students to become critical consumers of research. The book provides the most comprehensive overview available of the effects of media violence on children and adolescents. PowerPoint slides for this book are available to adopters by contacting [email protected].

Children, Adolescents, and the Media, Third Edition provides a comprehensive, research-oriented overview of how the media impact the lives of children and adolescents in modern society. The approach is grounded in a developmental perspective, focusing on how young people of different ages and levels of cognitive, emotional, and social development interact with the media. Incorporating the most up-to-date research available, Authors Victor C. Strasburger, Barbara J. Wilson, and Amy B. Jordan target areas most controversial and at the heart of debates about the media and public health—equipping students to approach the media as critical consumers.

This text on media violence and its effects on children and adolescents explores new findings and key topics such as Internet aggression, viewing violence in sports, and playing violent video games. The author evaluates the role of developmental processes in media violence research and stresses the importance of metholdology in understanding that research. This allows for identification of age-related gaps in the literature and helps students become cirtical consumers of research--from the publisher.

Taking an approach grounded in the media effects tradition, this book provides a comprehensive, research-oriented treatment of how children and adolescents interact with the media. Chapters review the latest findings as well as seminal studies that have helped frame the issues in such areas as advertising, violence, video games, sexuality, drugs, body image and eating disorders, music, and the Internet. Each chapter is liberally sprinkled with illustrations, examples from the media, policy debates, and real-life instances of media impact.

Violent video games are successfully marketed to and easily obtained by children and adolescents. Even the U.S. government distributes one such game, America's Army, through both the internet and its recruiting offices. Is there any scientific evidence to support the claims that violent games contribute to aggressive and violent behavior? As the first book to unite empirical research on and public policy options for violent video games, Violent Video Game Effects on Children and Adolescents will be an invaluable resource for student and professional researchers in social and developmental psychology and media studies.

Publisher Description

A campus shooting. A gang assault. A school bus ambush. With each successive event, fingers are pointed at the usual suspects: violent films, bloody video games, explicit web sites. But to what extent can—or should—the media be implicated in youth crime? And are today's sophisticated young people really that susceptible to their influence? Adolescents, Crime, and the Media critically examines perceptions of these phenomena through the lens of the ongoing relationship between generations of adults and youth. A wealth of research findings transcends the standard nature/nurture debate, analyzing media effects on young people's behavior, brain development in adolescence, ways adults can be misled about youth’s participation in criminal acts, and how science can be manipulated by prevailing attitudes toward youth. The author strikes a necessary balance between the viewpoints of media providers and those seeking to restrict media or young people's access to them. And the book brings scientific and intellectual rigor to culturally and politically charged issues as it covers: Violence in the media. Media portrayals of crime and youth. Research on violent television programs, video games, and other media as causes of crime. Effects of pornography on behavior. Public policy, censorship, and First Amendment issues. Adolescents, Crime, and the Media is an essential resource for researchers, graduate students, professionals, and clinicians across such interrelated disciplines as developmental psychology, sociology, educational policy, criminology/criminal justice, child and school psychology, and media law.