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

Sleaker: @PHX Corp, I can't take a person seriously that is less frightened at the possibility of privacy issues, and more scared about controller feedback technology05/25/2013 - 11:35am

PHX Corp: http://www.unwinnable.com/2013/05/24/trigger-warning/ Trigger Warning05/25/2013 - 6:37am

beemoh: Unless that pic of a Kinect taped to the underside of a phone is a joke05/25/2013 - 1:58am

beemoh: Kinect being used in prototype to stop people walking into people while texting: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-2263173105/25/2013 - 1:57am

Cecil475: @hellfire7885 - Makes me want to support Nintendo even more.05/24/2013 - 4:49pm

hellfire7885: Man, EA seems to be determined to destroy the Wii U ,and the evidently are so arrogant as to believe not making games for it will do that.05/24/2013 - 4:45pm

DorthLous: Pwahahahha http://www.destructoid.com/wii-u-sales-drastically-spike-after-xbox-one-presentation-254449.phtml#LlG8HEYbQj2krql5.0105/24/2013 - 2:23pm

james_fudge: she gets no credit until she employs some common sense. - 2 credits for her.05/24/2013 - 11:22am

Andrew Eisen: To Stender's credit, she did unmoderate my most recent comment within a day's time. There's even a couple other replies. None from her though.05/24/2013 - 11:18am

james_fudge: apparently gamers are all 14 - 21 years-olds living in basements according to her way of thinking...05/24/2013 - 11:11am

ZippyDSMlee: EZK: 0_o thier video card chipset is at the very least 3 versions behind the top PC video card.......05/24/2013 - 7:38am

MechaTama31: "You just wouldn't understand how my parenting preferences are more important than everybody else's freedoms."05/24/2013 - 7:37am

DorthLous: I love how she plays the "I'm a parent, you're a gamer, you couldn't understand" card... I'm a parent and I find her position despicable...05/23/2013 - 4:16pm

E. Zachary Knight: She didn't address your questions because she doesn't have any answers.05/23/2013 - 3:38pm

Andrew Eisen: I replied to her comment. Maybe in a few weeks I'll get a reply.05/23/2013 - 3:24pm

Thomas Riordan: @Andrew Eisen To what bowling alley does she go that puts sexual images in the faces of 6 year olds?05/23/2013 - 3:17pm

Andrew Eisen: Well, it took a month but Linda Stender finally replied to me... and didn't address a single one of my questions. http://aswlindastender.com/2013/04/23/follow-up-video-games-and-their-effect-on-children/05/23/2013 - 3:13pm

Imautobot: Also, from a tech perspective the PS4 is apparently already winning. http://bgr.com/2013/05/22/xbox-one-vs-playstation-4-specs/05/23/2013 - 3:12pm

Imautobot: Sony's PS4 motto should be "We play games." Microsoft's should be "We play games, when we're not rewinding your tapes."05/23/2013 - 3:11pm

Andrew Eisen: Oh look, Dying Light was just announced For Everything But Wii U. That's 73.05/23/2013 - 2:06pm

All shouts

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