Media Violence and the Violent Male Adolescent Essay -- Argumentative

Media Violence and the Violent Male Adolescent      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   My research led me to form some new hypotheses on the correlation of violence in the media, namely television, movies, and video games, to the rise in violent behavior in adolescents. For this essay, I will focus on male adolescents. I will use multiple lenses for my research to (1) establish the increase in violent acts by adolescents in the past two decades; (2) use proven research to show the impact of media violence on the individual; and (3) to illustrate my "recipe for disaster," four correlations that contribute to the effects of media violence on male adolescents.    Rise in Youth Violence According to the United States Department of Justice ("DOJ"), (1999) in a committee report, "The number of juvenile violent crime arrests in 1997 exceeded the 1988 level by 49%. Of that number, 2,500 were arrested for murder and 121,000 for other violent crimes. Eighteen percent of high school students now carry a knife, razor, firearm, or other weapon on a regular basis, and 9% of them take a weapon to school." The Committee report noted that a principal cause for the increase was media violence. " Eighty-seven percent of American households have more than one television, and 88.7% of homes with children have home video game equipment, a personal computer, or both. An average teenager listens to 10,500 hours of rock music during the years between the 7th and 12th grades. By age 18 an American child will have seen 16,000 simulated murders and 200,000 acts of violence. Television alone is responsible for 10% of youth violence. A preference for heavy metal music may be a significant marker for alienation, substance abuse, psychiatric disorders, suicide ris... ...f, Senate Committee on the Judiciary, "Children, Violence, and The Media,' (online document) A Report for Parents and Policy Makers. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Utah, Chairman, 1999, Sept. 14, Available  Ã‚   (http://www.senate.gov/~judiciary/mediavio.htm)    Mediascope Press, "How Violence Manipulates Viewers." Issue Briefs. Studio City, Calif.: 1997 Available: (http://www.mediascope.org/pubs/ibriefs/hvmv.htm)    Putnam, Robert,   "Bowling Alone" America's Declining Social Capital, Journal of Democracy; 1995, Jan., (pp. 65-68)    Strasburger, Victor C. M.D. Chief, Division of Adolescent Medicine, "How much influence do the media have?" Adolescent Medicine; State of the Art Reviews--Vol. 4, No. 3, October 1993 Philadelphia, Hanley & Belfus, Inc. Available online: http://www.cyfc.umn.edu/Documents/C/B/CB1030.html