Viewing Movie Violence & Interest in Guns

Adolescent Behavior Clinical Trial

Official title: Exposure to Gun Violence in Movies Increases Interest in Real Guns

Status Completed

Clinical Trial Summary

More American children die by accidental gun use than children in other developed countries. One factor that can influence children's interest in guns is exposure to media containing guns. The objective of this study is to test whether children who see a movie containing guns will handle a real gun longer and will pull the trigger more times than children who see the same movie without guns.

Clinical Trial Description

A recent analysis of top selling films found that the depiction of guns in violent scenes in PG-13 films that target youth has increased from the level of G and PG files in 1985 when the rating was introduced, to the level of R films by 2005, to exceed the level of R films since 2012. By definition, a PG-13 movie is supposed to have less violence than an R-rated movie. The Motion Picture Association of America says on its website that the violence in a PG-13 movie "does not reach the restricted R category." Our study shows that it does. By including guns in violent scenes, film producers may be inadvertently increasing aggression in youth via a weapons effect. This experiment directly tests this hypothesis. ;

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Adolescent Behavior
• Psychology, Social

• NCT number: NCT03220412
• Study type: Interventional
• Source: Ohio State University
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: July 15, 2015
• Completion date: January 1, 2016