Family Violence Expert Downplays Role of Video Games in Teen Violence

October 7, 2006

During a question-and-answer session, a leading expert on family violence largely dismissed the role of video games in promoting violent behavior among teens.

Richard J. Gelles is dean of the School of Social Policy & Practice at the University of Pennsylvania and also serves as the director of the Center for Research on Youth and Social Policy.

Gelles, who has appeared on the Today Show, Good Morning, America and Oprah answered readers' questions about violence over the last few days on Philly.com, the website of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News.

While reading over Dr. Gelles' answers to numerous reader-submitted questions, we noticed this exchange:

Q: Excuse me sir, but what is your opinion on video games and the lack of parenting to control the ever increasing teen violence? A student, Philadelphia, Pennslyvania 10/05/06

A: Video games play almost no important role in teen violence. Teens with a predisposition to being violent may be drawn to violent video games, but overall, other factors (besides television, music, or video games) are more important risk factors for teen violence. Richard Gelles 10/05/06

We should mention that GamePolitics editor Dennis McCauley writes a column on video games for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

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Comments

Submitted by jakethe8lf (not verified) on Sat, 10/07/2006 - 08:21.

At least that guy gets it.

Submitted by hayabusa75 (not verified) on Sat, 10/07/2006 - 08:28.

It seems like we're seeing more support from folks like him these days; I dunno, maybe it's just my imagination. I just feel like when I joined Gamepolitics back in June, there were hardly any articles about meaningful people who were on our side.

Submitted by nightwng2000 on Sat, 10/07/2006 - 08:37.

Bet HEwon't be invited to that White House meeting on school violence. Last thing they'd want is for someone intelligent to be there.

nightwng2000
NW2K Software

Nightwng2000 NW2K Software http://www.facebook.com/nightwing2000 Nightwng2000 is now admin to the group "Parents For Education, Not Legislation" on MySpace as http://groups.myspace.com/pfenl

Submitted by Kail_Murushi (not verified) on Sat, 10/07/2006 - 11:03.

Isn't youth violence supposed to be decreasing, not increasing?

Submitted by Brer (not verified) on Sat, 10/07/2006 - 11:33.

@Kail

Not -supposed- to be. It -is- decreasing and has been for thirteen years.

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/homicide/teens.htm . Go down to "Homicide offending by age"

Submitted by Grahamr (not verified) on Sat, 10/07/2006 - 12:19.

FINALLLY! an Expert/"Expert" who actully doesn't think that games turn people into satan's minions!

Submitted by Gino (not verified) on Sat, 10/07/2006 - 12:29.

So let's see, who would be a better resource on video game violence, a dean of school of social and policy at a very reputable university with a Ph.D. in psychology or an bitter failed attorney with a vendetta, hmmmmm...

Submitted by -Jes- (not verified) on Sat, 10/07/2006 - 13:21.

Is it just me, or did Jack's inevitable Destroyer appear on GP? ;D

Submitted by Majestic_12_x (not verified) on Sat, 10/07/2006 - 13:49.

Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding!!!!!! Give the man a prize!

Submitted by theshroomguy (not verified) on Sat, 10/07/2006 - 14:18.

I would really like to see this guy debate jt at the whitehouse summit or anywhere. I hope he proves to be jt's downfall.

Submitted by Jordan (not verified) on Sat, 10/07/2006 - 15:40.

yeah! finally, now i'm off to play The Warriors.

Submitted by Lost Watcher on Sat, 10/07/2006 - 16:39.

Send this guy a Whitehouse invite to the meeting!

Submitted by the1jeffy on Sat, 10/07/2006 - 17:13.

You folks should read his answers to other debate questions. He's really not some manna from heaven.

~~All Knowledge is Worth Having~~

Submitted by mane115 (not verified) on Sat, 10/07/2006 - 17:35.

alrighty...score 1 for us.

Submitted by kurisu7885 (not verified) on Sat, 10/07/2006 - 18:06.

Again, another true expert whom will never be heard by politicians, as he has no "easy" answers and he woud lrequire real work to be done, and who should be in politics, but won't be.

Submitted by DarkTetsuya (not verified) on Sat, 10/07/2006 - 23:06.

Of course he's not invited, he's on the wrong side of the argument!!!

Submitted by Heil Halo (not verified) on Mon, 10/09/2006 - 18:38.

Thank god someone gets it. At least someone cares about possible factors in school violence aside from video games.
Watch now as this guy will get crucified for doing the right thing. What a crazy world.

Submitted by ZippyDSMlee (not verified) on Tue, 10/10/2006 - 14:13.

its nice to see a PHD with brains ...I am getting tired of the wind bag wacko jacko....they make a perfect pair tho......jacko and dabya....we dont know what the hell we are doing but we are going to do it anyway.

Submitted by 7 Reason To Avoid Kids (not verified) on Fri, 10/13/2006 - 22:37.

Avoiding School And Teen Violence

REASON ONE: A little girl was talking to her teacher about whales. The teacher said it was physically impossible for a whale to swallow a human because even though it was a very large mammal its throat was very small. The little girl stated that Jonah was swallowed by a whale. Irritated, the teacher reiterated that a whale could not swallow human; it was physically impossible . The little girl said, "When I get to heaven I will ask Jonah". The teacher asked, "What if Jonah went to hell?" The little girl replied, "Then you ask him ".

REASON TWO: A Kindergarten teacher was observing her classroom of children while they were drawing. She would occasionally walk around to see each child's work. As she got to one little girl who was working diligently, she asked what the drawing was. The girl replied, "I'm drawing God." The teacher paused and said, "But no one knows what God looks like." Without missing a beat, or looking up from her drawing, the girl replied, "They will in a minute."

See all seven reasons:
http://www.madweird.com/weird-news/avoiding-school-and-teen-violence

Poll

Shout box

E. Zachary Knight: New Humble Bundle Weekly Sale. Alan Wake: https://www.humblebundle.com/weekly No Linux or Mac support. :(05/22/2013 - 1:46pm

E. Zachary Knight: Microsoft talks about the lack of backward compatability. You're backwards. http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/192801/If_youre_backwards_compatible_youre_really_backwards.php05/22/2013 - 1:39pm

E. Zachary Knight: That is absolutely nuts there. As bad an experience XBox Indie Games was, the problems weren't with the self published side of things. Forcing a publisher onto independent studios is not going to help.05/22/2013 - 10:43am

MaskedPixelante: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-05-22-microsoft-wont-let-indies-self-publish-on-xbox-one And the hits just keep on coming.05/22/2013 - 9:20am

E. Zachary Knight: AE: You beat me to it. That's what I get for taking the night off.05/22/2013 - 7:40am

E. Zachary Knight: To continue the confused and convoluted messaging system present in EA, They are making Wii U games: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/192753/EA_is_working_on_Wii_U_games_after_all.php05/22/2013 - 7:33am

Imautobot: I gotta admit, I seriously believed Microsoft was going to "Bring It" with this new console. But they failed, and I think that failure might be Epic.05/22/2013 - 7:27am

Andrew Eisen: Well, the Xbox One reveal certainly had an interesting affect on the big 3's stock prices. https://twitter.com/AndrewEisen/status/33705126448977100805/21/2013 - 10:45pm

PHX Corp: http://kotaku.com/so-the-xbox-one-reveal-screwed-up-a-lot-of-peoples-kin-509179256 So The Xbox One Reveal Screwed With Some People's Kinects05/21/2013 - 10:36pm

Zen: On a funny side note...both of my boys have already voted NOT to get the Xbox One as soon as they found out Minecraft won't transfer lol. Some people have priorities damnit! ;)05/21/2013 - 9:27pm

Andrew Eisen: Here's the full quote on EA making Wii U games according to Neogaf: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=56112105/21/2013 - 8:19pm

Andrew Eisen: Xbox One may not be always on but that doesn't mean you can use it without an internet connection. http://kotaku.com/xbox-one-does-require-internet-connection-cant-play-o-50916410905/21/2013 - 7:39pm

Andrew Eisen: Polygon says EA's CFO says it is developing games for Wii U but doesn't provide that quote. http://www.polygon.com/2013/5/21/4351844/ea-developing-wii-u-games05/21/2013 - 7:11pm

Andrew Eisen: Well, I was right. Both Sony and Microsoft's consoles will be out by the year's end and both will be significantly more powerful than the current gen.05/21/2013 - 5:06pm

james_fudge: thnx05/21/2013 - 4:47pm

Zen: Just to let ya know...you called it the "Xbox 260" in the backwards compatibility article lol.05/21/2013 - 4:26pm

Zen: @PHX Awesome, I will hit those up after class tonight. Going back to college finally! :) My kids have had a blast telling ME to do my homework now lol.05/21/2013 - 4:19pm

PHX Corp: @Zen I sent you a friend request on both PSN and XBL, just a heads up05/21/2013 - 4:16pm

Zen: I noticed it with the football players when EA showed off Madden as well.05/21/2013 - 4:11pm

Zen: Is it just me or is call of duty hitting the "uncanny valley" with their nicely modeled faces and dead looking eyes? I found it distracting and seemed actually "less" real to me lol.05/21/2013 - 4:10pm

All shouts

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