The Relations Between Violent Video Games And Aggressive Behavior Of Junior Middle School Students: A Moderated Mediation Model

Many theories have explained the relationship between violent video games and aggressive behavior.The representative is professor Anderson.He mentioned the general aggressive model(GAM)theory is the most important theory in this field.The theory points out that violent video games activate the individual’s offensive cognition and thinking network to induce emotional states dominated by anger,and use physiological arousal to induce individuals to evaluate and make aggressive behaviors,thereby generate aggressive behavior(Anderson,Craig A.Dill,2000).Violent video games do not enhance aggressive behavior is also a typical theory.The representative is professor Ferguson.He believes that exposure to violent video games does not necessarily enhance the aggressive behavior of players,but only serves as a catalyst to promote the occurrence of aggressive behaviors.The interaction of the player ’s genes and the environment It is the main factor leading to aggressive behavior that led to the catalyst theory(Christopher J Ferguson,2007).Therefore,the impact of violent video games on an individual’s aggressive behavior is complex,it is not only has direct effect,but also have indirect effects of the internal mechanism of the individual.At present,domestic and foreign research on the impact of violent video games against aggressive behavior only considers a single mediation variable or moderator variable without comprehensive effects,so the results may in deviations.In addition,the mediation and moderator analysis are only the stepwise analysis not a systematic full model test method.The conclusions drawn by the results of the stepwise testing method also cause the results to be biased.Based on the above two points,in this research violent video game is used as independent variables,anger,hostility and self-control are used as mediation variables,coping style is used as moderator,and aggressive behavior are used as dependent variables.Using moderated mediation model to discusses the impact of violent video games on aggressive behavior.The results show that(1)boys in junior middle school have higher scores on violent video game exposure than girls,and the 8th grade students have the highest scores in violent video games;(2)boys in junior middle school have higher verbal and physical aggressiveness than girls.For girls,the scores of anger and hostility are not significant different from those of boys.The 6th grade students have the highest scores for anger and hostility,and the differences in verbal and physical aggression behaviors are not significant.(3)there are no significance differences of coping styles between boys and girls.The 9th grade students have the highest positive coping style,the 6th grade students have the lowest positive coping style,the 8th grade students have the highest negative coping style,and the 6th grade students have the lowest negative coping style.(4)There was no significant difference between boys and girls on self-control.The 6th and 8th grades scored higher in the impulsive system scores,the lower score were in the 9th grade,and the control system scores were the highest in the 9th grade and the lowest in the 6th grade.(5)Aggressiveness of violent video games on both physical aggressive and verbal aggressive have a positive effect,anger and hostility on both physical aggressive and verbal aggressive have a positive effect,the positive coping styles have a negative effect on verbal aggressive and the negative coping style have a positive effect on verbal aggressive;(6)There are 3 paths of moderator mediation effects,the negative coping style negative moderated violent video games affecting both physical and verbal aggressive via anger,respectively,the more negative coping style the more the mediation,the third path is the positive coping style positive moderated violent video games affecting verbal aggressive via hostile,the more positive coping style the less the mediation;(7)There are three paths of mediation effects,the first is the hostile mediates the impact of violent video games on physical aggressive,which the effect is the 11.11% of total effect,the second and the third are the impulse system mediates the impact of violent video games on physical and verbal aggressive,which the effects are 3.70% and 9.52%,respectively.Conclusion:Among the shanghai middle school students,violent video games can affect aggressive behavior positively.Impulsivity,hostile and anger can mediate the impact of violent video games on aggressive behaviors,and the coping style moderated some of the mediation effects.The study provide strong evidence for mental Health Intervention to adolescent.