Watching violent television content in early childhood may have serious long-term consequences for boys, according to a new study that followed nearly 2,000 children for over a decade. The research, published January 20 in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, reveals that exposure to violent TV at ages 3 and 4 can predict aggressive behaviors in teenage years.
Long-Term Impact
The comprehensive study, led by Linda Pagani at the Université de Montreal’s School of Psychoeducation, tracked 963 girls and 982 boys born in 1997 and 1998. The research team found that boys exposed to violent content in preschool showed increased antisocial behavior by age 15, including aggressive acts, theft, and involvement in gang fights.
“Although past evidence showing causal links between modelling and getting rewarded for violence had an immediate impact on aggressive behavior in 4-year-old children, few studies have investigated long-term risks with antisocial behavior,” explains Pagani, who also conducts research at the Centre de recherche Azrieli du CHU Sainte-Justine.
The study defines screen violence broadly, including physical, verbal, and relational aggression that intentionally causes harm to others. Researchers note that children are particularly drawn to fast-paced, stimulating content featuring appealing characters like superheroes who are rewarded for aggressive acts.
Gender Differences
While the study followed both boys and girls into their teens, the impact was notably different between genders. By age 15, only boys showed significant behavioral effects from early violent TV exposure. These behaviors included hitting others to obtain things, stealing, making threats, and participating in gang fights. The study even found links to weapon use in some cases.
The absence of similar effects in girls wasn’t surprising to researchers, as boys typically have higher exposure to violent content.
“It was ideal to study this question with typically developing middle-class children because, as a population, they have the lowest chances of engaging in aggression and behavior harmful to others,” Pagani notes. This focus helped researchers isolate the specific impact of TV violence from other potential risk factors.
The research team took careful steps to ensure their findings weren’t influenced by other factors. “We statistically took into account alternative child and family factors that could have explained our results, to be as close as possible to the truth in the relationships we were looking at,” Pagani explains.
Public Health Implications
“Our study provides compelling evidence that early childhood exposure to media violence can have serious, long-lasting consequences, particularly for boys,” Pagani concludes. “This underscores the urgent need for public health initiatives that target campaigns to inform parents and communities about the long-term risks and empower them to make informed choices about young children’s screen content exposure.”
The research team, which included scientists from the United States and Italy, emphasizes that parents and communities play a crucial role in preventing future problems by carefully monitoring young children’s exposure to violent media content.
The study was conducted under the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development and received support from multiple Quebec institutions, including the Fondation Lucie et André Chagnon and the CHU Sainte-Justine.