Video Games and Adolescent Fighting

Psychologists have found positive correlations between playing violent video games and violent and antisocial attitudes. However, these studies typically do not control for other possible covariates. This study exploits the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) that includes questions on both video game play and fighting. At least some of the unconditional correlation appears to be due to selection bias. The remaining positive association appears only at high levels of daily game play (regular play of five or more hours per day). On net, the increase in fighting appears modest and not statistically significant. Estimated magnitudes are small enough to call into question policy interventions that would seriously affect video game marketing