There’s this new “Anderson Study” out of Iowa State that supposedly shows a “conclusive” link between violent behaviour and children/teenagers.  You can read about it from the Washington Post article.

The study, conducted by researcher Craig Anderson, looked at children from Japan and United States and found an increase in violent behavior and aggressiveness that lasted up to five to six months after exposure.  The fact that the effects transcended cultural differences supposedly makes a powerful statement.

But the study is plagued with problems as GamePolitics.com reports.   According to their report, Texas A&M International University researcher Christopher Ferguson openly disputes the study, stating that it failed to take into account other variables such as genetics, family violence exposure, peer group influences and other media such as music and movies.

The study also didn’t look at actual violent behavior but made its conclusions based on test subjects’ hypothetical responses to aggressive situations presented to them by researchers.

Oh that’s good!  It doesn’t take a genius to realize that what people say they’ll do and what they will actually do, or be capable of doing, can be very different things— especially when you ask children!

In Ferguson’s own words, the researchers of the study  “simply ignore a wide body of research which conflicts with their views…”

The parents are the single most significant influence in a child’s life.   You don’t need a PhD to figure that out.  Yet these kinds of studies seem hell bent on laying the blame on everything else but the parents for the behavior of their children.