The Relationship Between Movie Violence and Violent Behavior in Adolescents: A Cross-Sectional Population-Based Study in Isfahan, Iran

Violent behavior in adolescents is one of the important public health problems; however, studies on this issue in developing countries are limited. Nowadays, adolescents spend a lot of day-night time watching TV.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between watching violent movies and perpetrating violent behaviors among adolescents.

In this cross-sectional study, 2800 adolescents, aged 11 - 18 years, residing in urban and rural areas of Isfahan province were enrolled. This study received a part of a grant No. 188169 dedicated to a project scrutinizing if watching violent movies by adolescents encouraged violent behaviors in the three domains of physical, verbal, and psychological violence. The data were gathered by a valid and reliable questionnaire, and SPSS software was used for data analysis.

Violent behaviors were significantly higher among adolescents who watched more violent movies (adjusted OR = 1.6, CI: 1.3 - 2.1). Physical, verbal, and psychological types of violence achieved the adjusted ORs of 1.6 (CI: 1.3 - 2.05), 1.3 (CI: 1.1 - 1.6), and 1.07 (CI = 0.8 - 1.3), respectively.

Watching violent movies can noticeably increase the frequency of violent behaviors among adolescents, especially in boys and rural students.