VIOLENCE ON TV IS LINKED TO BEHAVIOR OF CHILDREN

For the first time, the American Psychological Assn. has taken a position on potential dangers in television violence, concluding that there is a link between the mayhem on the tube and aggressive behavior in children.

The psychological association’s Council of Representatives, citing no new evidence but referring to the accumulated weight of previous studies, passed a resolution warning about TV violence.

In the resolution, the association encouraged “parents to monitor and to control television viewing by children,” asked the TV industry to reduce “imitateable violence in ‘real-life’ fictional children’s programming,” and urged more research on mitigating the effects of TV violence on children.

“Televised violence does not harm every child who watches it,” said Dr. Diana Zuckerman of the association’s Office of National Policy Studies. “However, the evidence clearly shows that many children imitate the violent behaviors and attitudes they see on TV.”