APA warns against linking violent video games to real-world violence

Enlarge / Don't assume this kid is going to become more violent because of the games he plays, the APA warns. (credit: Flickr/ Luderbrus)

In a statement this week, the American Psychological Association clarified that, despite popular and political suggestions to the contrary, "there is insufficient scientific evidence to support a causal link between violent video games and violent behavior."

The APA's new resolution on this matter is an update to a 2015 APA resolution, which the group said at the time "confirms [the] link between playing violent video games and aggression." But that increase in generalized aggression cannot and should not be extended to link violent games to violent behavior, despite "many occasions in which members of the media or policymakers have cited that resolution as evidence that violent video games are the cause of violent behavior, including mass shootings," the APA said this week.

The updated resolution makes this important distinction plain right from the start:

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