Only murky ties between real, video game violence

True or false: Violent video games cause children to become more aggressive. Sorry, that was a trick question. Despite much bandying of statistics and loud talking by critics on both sides of the argument, the real answer is that there is no real answer - at least not one that's been proved scientifically.

So say Cheryl Olson and Lawrence Kutner in their new book, "Grand Theft Childhood." "In fact, much of the information in the popular press about the effects of violent video games is wrong," write the husband and wife team, who direct the Center for Mental Health and Media at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

That will, of course, be of tremendous comfort to concerned parents trying to figure out which video games, if any, to allow in their homes.

But the fact is, the research can't be boiled down to a simple headline, say Kutner and Olson, who conducted a $1.5 million study funded by the U.S. Department of Justice that looked at the effects of violent video games on 1,200 middle-school-age children.

Kutner and Olson became interested in the subject after watching their son, now 18, play video games. "For most kids and most parents," they write, "the bottom-line results of our research can be summed up in a single word: relax."

Kutner and Olson are not apologists for the video-game industry, however. While they cite a 2001 FBI study that showed no link between violent video games and school shootings, their own research did show links between 12- to 14-year-olds who almost exclusively played rated-M (for mature) games and a much more common schoolyard problem: bullying. (This was among both boys and girls who played more than 15 hours a week, which Kutner and Olson note, is not the norm.)

Middle-schoolers in this category also were more likely to get into fights, destroy property and argue with their teachers. However, Kutner and Olson are careful to point out that their study does not prove causality: It may be that more aggressive children are drawn to more violent games, and not that the games themselves are to blame.

But for parents who are contemplating throwing out their son's Wii, wait a minute: The research showed that boys who don't play video games at all were the most likely to engage in bullying and other antisocial behaviors. That may be because video games are such an important part of socializing for that age, Kutner and Olson say, that these boys are, by definition, "abnormal." Here again, Kutner says, there's no proof of causality. "We're not saying 'Oh just have a video game, and he'll be fine.' No, it doesn't work that way."

Parents should be aware that not all video games are equal. Manhunt and Postal "are two games that no child should ever go near," says Olson.