TOPIC: Adolescents With High-risk Sexual Attitudes Attract Peers With Similar Attitudes

Article from ScienceDaily

High-risk sexual behavior in adolescents appears to be influenced by the sexual attitudes of peers, and young people select friends whose attitudes about sex are consistent with their own attitudes. These are the conclusions of a new study conducted by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago and published in the May/June 2007 issue of the journal Child Development.
The study addressed issues of peer influence. Researchers sought to determine how adolescents come to resemble their peers in risky attitudes and behaviors, attempting to learn whether they are encouraged by peers to adopt certain behaviors or gravitate toward others with similar attitudes and behaviors. They also examined the role of peer attitudes in the development of high-risk behaviors. The study analyzed data on 1,350 15- to 18-year-old male and female students taking part in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a nationwide study of individual, peer, family, school, and community factors related to health.
High-risk sexual behavior was defined by the number of partners with whom adolescents had intercourse without a condom, since having multiple sex partners without using condoms puts adolescents at risk for contracting HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases [STDs]. The researchers also constructed a measure of attitudes about the undesirable consequences of sex. These measures of sexual behavior and attitudes, from individual adolescents and their friends, were compared over time.
Some of the study's findings showed that peers influence adolescent attitudes and behavior. Adolescents whose friends had intercourse without a condom were more likely to have intercourse without a condom the following year. Those whose friends believed that sex had undesirable consequences were likely to change attitudes to be similar to those of their friends, and were less likely to have intercourse without a condom the following year. The effect of friends' attitudes on sexual behavior was stronger for females than for males.
Other findings showed that adolescents choose new friends with attitudes that are similar to their own. Teens who believed that sex had undesirable consequences were likely to choose new friends and retain existing friends with similar attitudes. This occurred to a similar extent in males and females, but occurred less often among Hispanic adolescents than among non-Hispanic white and African American adolescents. "This study has two implications for prevention," according to David B. Henry, associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the study's lead author. "First, it supports the use of adolescent leaders for preventive interventions. Second, it suggests that interventions that use attitude change to change behavior may be more effective among females than among males."
The study was funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Summarized from Child Development, Vol. 78, Issue 3, Peer Selection and Socialization Effects on Adolescent Intercourse without a Condom and Attitudes about the Costs of Sex by Henry, DB, Schoeny, ME, Deptula, DP, and Slavick, JT (University of Illinois at Chicago). Copyright 2007 / The Society for Research in Child Development, Inc. All rights reserved.

Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by Society for Research in Child Development.

TOPIC: Violent Video Games And Hostile Personalities Go Together
Source: Science Daily
Credit: Photo by Bob Elbert
New research by Iowa State University psychologists provides more concrete evidence of the adverse effects of violent video game exposure on the behavior of children and adolescents.
ISU Distinguished Professor of Psychology Craig Anderson, Assistant Professor of Psychology Douglas Gentile, and doctoral student Katherine Buckley share the results of three new studies in their book, "Violent Video Game Effects on Children and Adolescents" (Oxford University Press, 2007). It is the first book to unite empirical research and public policy related to violent video games.

Study One: Kids' games still have behavioral effect
The book's first study found that even exposure to cartoonish children's violent video games had the same short-term effects on increasing aggressive behavior as the more graphic teen (T-rated) violent games. The study tested 161 9- to 12-year-olds, and 354 college students. Each participant was randomly assigned to play either a violent or non-violent video game. "Violent" games were defined as those in which intentional harm is done to a character motivated to avoid that harm. The definition was not an indication of the graphic or gory nature of any violence depicted in a game.
The researchers selected one children's non-violent game ("Oh No! More Lemmings!"), two children's violent video games with happy music and cartoonish game characters ("Captain Bumper" and "Otto Matic"), and two violent T-rated video games ("Future Cop" and "Street Fighter"). For ethical reasons, the T-rated games were played only by the college-aged participants. The participants subsequently played another computer game designed to measure aggressive behavior in which they set punishment levels in the form of noise blasts to be delivered to another person participating in the study. Additional information was also gathered on each participant's history of violent behavior and previous violent media viewing habits.
The researchers found that participants who played the violent video games -- even if they were children's games -- punished their opponents with significantly more high-noise blasts than those who played the non-violent games. They also found that habitual exposure to violent media was associated with higher levels of recent violent behavior -- with the newer interactive form of media violence found in video games more strongly related to violent behavior than exposure to non-interactive media violence found in television and movies. "Even the children's violent video games -- which are more cartoonish and often show no blood -- had the same size effect on children and college students as the much more graphic games have on college students," said Gentile. "What seems to matter is whether the players are practicing intentional harm to another character in the game. That's what increases immediate aggression -- more than how graphic or gory the game is."

Study Two: The violent video game effect
Another study detailed in the book surveyed 189 high school students. The authors found that respondents who had more exposure to violent video games held more pro-violent attitudes, had more hostile personalities, were less forgiving, believed violence to be more typical, and behaved more aggressively in their everyday lives. The survey measured students' violent TV, movie and video game exposure; attitudes toward violence; personality trait hostility; personality trait forgiveness; beliefs about the normality of violence; and the frequency of various verbally and physically aggressive behaviors.
The researchers were surprised that the relation to violent video games was so strong. "We were surprised to find that exposure to violent video games was a better predictor of the students' own violent behavior than their gender or their beliefs about violence," said Anderson. "Although gender aggressive personality and beliefs about violence all predict aggressive and violent behavior, violent video game play still made an additional difference. We were also somewhat surprised that there was no apparent difference in the video game violence effect between boys and girls or adolescents with already aggressive attitudes," he said.
The study found that one variable -- trait forgiveness -- appeared to make that person less affected by exposure to violent video games in terms of subsequent violent behavior, but this protective effect did not occur for less extreme forms of physical aggression.

Study Three: Violent video games and school
A third new study in the book assessed 430 third-, fourth- and fifth-graders, their peers, and their teachers twice during a five-month period in the school year. It found that children who played more violent video games early in the school year changed to see the world in a more aggressive way, and became more verbally and physically aggressive later in the school year -- even after controlling for how aggressive they were at the beginning of the study. Higher aggression and lower pro-social behavior were in turn related to those children being more rejected by their peers. "I was startled to find those changes in such a short amount of time," said Gentile. "Children's aggression in school did increase with greater exposure to violent video games, and this effect was big enough to be noticed by their teachers and peers within five months."
The study additionally found an apparent lack of "immunity" to the effects of media violence exposure. TV and video game screen time was also found to be a significant negative predictor of grades.
The book's final chapter offers "Helpful Advice for Parents and Other Caregivers on Choosing and Using Video Games." The authors say that providing clear, science-based information to parents and caregivers about the harmful effects of exposure to violent video games is the first step in helping educate the people who are best able to use the information.

The Sope-Bocks: I've been preaching this message for years now. Hopefully, people are starting to hear the voices of reason and force the marketplace to change. Specifically, parents should NOT allow their children to play such garbage. Remember, GIGO - Garbage IN, Garbage OUT. What we take into our eyes, mind and brain WILL come out -- in one way or another. Simple, but 100% true.
BTW, the same outcome would be probable regarding exposure to violent music, movies and television (though these studies show less violent behavior from non-interactive exposure).