Summary: http://trailfire.com/serene sounds/trailview/35103
As the evidence linking increased aggression to excessive exposure to violent entertainment has grown, psychiatrists, pediatricians, and other physicians and mental healthcare providers have joined the call for limits on the amount of violent depictions to which children are exposed. The American Psychiatric Association joins with other professional organizations in advocating for a significant decrease in violent programming on network and cable television.
Television violence has been shown to be a risk factor to the health and well-being of the developing child, adolescent, and to the stability of their families. The APA has encouraged voluntary restraint on the part of the TV industry to decrease TV violence. Since voluntary restraint has been ineffective in protecting our young people from the escalating harm and intrusive assault of TV violence, reasoned regulatory action should be pursued, consistent with constitutional guarantees.
In 1996, the National Television Violence Study examined the most extensive body of television programming ever collected for the purpose of content analysis. The study found that the majority of all entertainment programming contains violence. Especially disturbing was that the perpetrators of violence went unsanctioned in 73% of these violent scenes, since the most effective way of reducing the likelihood of young viewers imitating violent behavior is to show such behavior being punished.
