A new study that looked at thousands of adolescents who regularly play violent video games found that these youth were more likely to exhibit aggressive behavior.

USA Today is reporting on the international study, conducted by a team of researchers from Dartmouth, which looked at more than 17,000 youth ages nine to 19 between 2010 and 2017 who played violent video games such as “Call of Duty” and “Grand Theft Auto.” The analysis found that they were morel likely to exhibit behavior such as fighting or hitting non-family members.

“Although no single research project is definitive, our research aims to provide the most current and compelling responses to key criticisms on this topic," said the study’s lead author Jay Hull, associate dean of faculty for the social sciences at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, and the Dartmouth Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences.

"Based on our findings, we feel it is clear that violent video game play is associated with subsequent increases in physical aggression," he said.

Research into this area began years ago after it was learned that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the two teens who committed the Columbine High School shooting, played a first-person shooting game known as Doom.

Since that time, the perpetrators of numerous other violent crimes were found to have strong connections to violent video games. For example, Aaron Alexis, who murdered 12 people at the Washington Navy Yard in 2013 was obsessed with Call of Duty. Anders Breivik who gunned down 77 people in Norway in 2011 later admitted to police that he "trained" for the deadly rampage with video games. Adam Lanza, the gunman who murdered 20 children and six staff at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut in December 2012 was also addicted to violent gaming. James Holmes, who gunned down 12 people in an Aurora, Colorado movie theater in 2012 was an avid player of another violent video game known as World of Warcraft.

Thus far, there is no strong link between these violent games and criminal activity but, as Hull’s research found, there is evidence that it is linked to aggressive behavior such as children being sent to the principal’s office for fighting. Hull’s previous research also points to an increase in risk behaviors such as reckless driving, binge drinking, unsafe sex, and smoking.

"A lot of people ask, do these games really cause these kids to behave aggressively? I would say that is one possibility," he said. "The other possibility is that it's a really bad sign. If your kids are playing these games, either these games are having a warping effect on right and wrong or they have a warped sense of right or wrong and that’s why they are attracted to these games. Either way you should be concerned about it."

Hull’s research was published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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