A study on association between watching television and videos with violent behaviors in male secondary and high school students of Pakdasht district

Research shows that watching scenes of violence can increase incidence of high violent behavior in youth. Expansion of television networks and higher accessibility to video films in Iran was a motivation for studying the association between behavior of television and video watching and some violent behaviors is adolescents.

This cross-sectional study investigated the pattern of television and video film watching in weekdays and weekend separately in middle and high school boy students in Pakdasht district. After cluster sampling, 604 eligible students answered to a standard questionnaire about the number of hours they spend to watch television and video films and their practice regarding some violent behaviors in the past 12 months.

High school students spent more times in weekdays and weekend to watch television and video. We found a positive and significant correlation between watching TV and video films and target violent behaviors. Meanwhile, students that reported to carry some kind of weapon such as knife and chain, had significantly more violence behavior than the other peers (p<0/01).

Parents and school authorities should be more sensitive to what adolescent students watch. Cultural authorities should consider the negative effects of these products on committing violent behavior among children and adolescents. Also health educational programs for increasing the information of students about the concepts of violence in television and video films is the suggestion of this research.