ED402085 PS024863
Title: Viewing Violence: How Media Violence Affects Your Child's and
Adolescent's Development.
Author(s): Levine, Madeline
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 1996
ISBN: 0-385-47686-8
Available from: Document Not Available from EDRS.
Availability: Doubleday and Company, 1540 Broadway, New York, NY 10036-4094
(U.S., $22.95; Canada, $31.95).
Language: English
Document Type: Book (010); Guides--Non-classroom (055); Information
Analysis (070)
Geographic Source: U.S.; California
Journal Announcement: RIEAPR1997
Numerous studies
have shown that viewing media violence encourages aggression, desensitization,
and pessimism in children. This book reviews research on the effects
of television and movie violence on children and adolescents, offering
parents suggestions for dealing with the problems it creates. It
is asserted that parents frequently underestimate the impact of
violent television on children and may be surprised at what children
find upsetting. The position is taken that society is increasingly
at risk not only for higher levels of violence but for a greater
tolerance and acceptance of this violence. The book is divided into
four parts. The first part traces the development of television
in the United States and examines more than 40 years of research
on the subject of media violence and children. The second part
presents a developmental approach which helps parents understand
that children at different ages think about, understand, and experience
the world in very different ways. The third part helps parents understand
the effects of the media at different ages in order to help them
make decisions about what is appropriate and what is potentially
harmful to their children. The fourth part of the book focuses on
how parents, as well as government, schools, and the media, can
best approach the problem. A final section provides parents with
phone numbers and addresses of the major networks and suggests how
to contact government agencies involved with media regulation. (AMC)
Descriptors: Adolescents; Advocacy; Affective Behavior; Aggression;
Attachment Behavior; *Behavior Development; Cognitive Development;
Emotional Development; *Emotional Response; Government Role; *Mass
Media Effects; Moral Development; Parent Attitudes; Parent Influence;
Parent Responsibility; Parent Role; Personality Development; Separation
Anxiety; Television Research; *Television Viewing; *Violence; Young
Children
Identifiers: Childrens Preferences; Childrens Responses; *Television
Criticism
