A Survey of the Predictors of Amount of Aggression in the Adolescent Users of Violent Video Games in Qom City, 2012, Iran

Adolescents are the main audiences of video games. Attractive technologies of these games make virtual faces seem real characters to their audiences. There is a high tendency to show violent and deadly scenes. The present study was done with the purpose of determining the predictors of the amount of aggression in the adolescent users of violent video games in Qom city. In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 100 adolescent users of violent video game referring to game-nets of Qom city were selected by random sampling method and filled out the questionnaires of demographic information, aggression scale, and attitude toward violence scale)ATVS). The data were analyzed using correlation, one-way analysis of variance, and regression analysis tests. The significance level was considered p<0.05. The mean age of adolescents was 14.2±1.6 years. The results showed that three variables of attitudes toward violence, number of hours of playing per week, and the average grade of the last educational level have been able to predict 34% of variance of aggression among the adolescent users of violent video games (r2=0.43, f=6.6, p<0.0001). According to the results of this study, Media educational programs should more focus on changing positive attitudes toward violence and reducing the number of playing hours per week. Also, applying encouraging strategies in order to academic achievement can reduce hours of play with this media.