Boys aren't the only ones who are influenced by violence on television. Girls are affected, too. Across the board, more aggressive kids watch more violent programs, identify more with TV characters, and see violence as appearing to be more like real life than do less aggressive kids.

According to Leonard Eron, Ph.D., research professor emeritus at the University of Chicago, watching violent television leads to violent behavior not only among rural boys but among suburban Chicago youngsters. And others have found the same effects in Australia, Finland, Israel, and Poland.

Media violence alone does not account for the development of serious antisocial behavior. But its effect seems to be independent of all other influences.

Watching violence on television, says Eron, leads to heightened aggressiveness, which in turn leads to more violence-viewing on TV. "Children who behave aggressively are less popular—and, perhaps because their relations with their peers tend to be unsatisfying, less popular children watch more television and therefore view more violence." From TV, they learn new techniques of aggression, which makes them even less popular with their peers, which in turn drives them back to TV.

Poor academic performance also drives them deeper into TV violence, Eron found. Those who fail in school watch more TV, which isolates them from their peers and gives them less time to work for academic success. The cycle of aggression, academic failure, social failure, and violence-viewing is so tightly bound that, sadly, it perpetuates itself.

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