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