A negative feedback-loop model page 1
Violent media content and aggressiveness in adolescents: A negative feedback-loop
model
Abstract
Theory and research on media violence provides evidence both that aggressive
youth seek out media violence (selective exposure) and that media violence prospectively
predicts aggression in youth. We argue that both relationships, when modeled over time,
should be mutually reinforcing, in what we call a negative feedback-loop model. The
present study uses structural equation models to analyze two sets of cross-lagged
relationships between these variables, each measured approximately eight months apart
in panel data. The measure of use of media violence included viewing action films,
playing violent computer and video games, and visiting violence-oriented Internet sites
by students from six middle schools in three districts from three different regions in the
U.S. Chi-square difference tests indicated that violent media content use was
prospectively predicted by aggressiveness after controlling for baseline scores and
demographic control variables, and that in turn aggressiveness was prospectively
predicted by violent media content use after controlling for selective exposure as well as
baseline and demographic control variables. The path coefficients were significant for
the hypothesized relationships in all but one of the selective-exposure links. The findings
appear largely consistent with the proposed negative feedback-loop model. The
implications of this model for theorizing about media effects on youth, and for bridging
active audience with traditional media effects perspectives, are discussed.
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Convention