Television Violence and Children's Behavior School shootings and massacres are just two of the many violent pastimes of today's youth. Does television contribute to this insidious erosion of children's respect for life? Much research has been done in an attempt to answer this question. Most of the findings are very similar in content and the results are grim. Television violence has been shown to cause four important changes in children's behavior: "Increasing aggression and antisocial behavior, increasing their fear of becoming victims, making them less sensitive to violence and victims of violence, and increasing their desire of other violence in entertainment and real life." (AAP Commission) Television is causing a change in American children, and it's not a change for the better. If watching television increases children's aggressive behavior, then is it also causing a higher crime rate? Once again, the answer is a resounding yes. “Longitudinal studies that tracked a single individual's viewing habits and behavior patterns found that 8-year-old boys who watched the most violent programs while growing up were more likely to engage in aggressive and delinquent behavior by age 18 and in serious criminal behavior by age 30." (Booth, Mullins, Scott and Woolston) Not only do our children show an immediate reaction to violence in the media, but also a long-term effect of an increased propensity to commit crimes. Another population study stated that the murder rate doubled within ten to fifteen years of the introduction of television in different places where television was introduced at different times. (Facts about violence in the media) We are all affected... center of paper...if a child reaches the age of 16, he or she will have witnessed 200,000 acts of violence on television, including 33,000 murders. (Juvenile Crime and TV) We seemingly accept what we see over and over again as normal behavior. We are teaching our children that violence is acceptable by inviting it into our homes every day. In turn, they are becoming increasingly violent, from playgrounds to prisons. Works Cited Booth, Vicki, Mullins, Heather, Scott, Erika and Woolston, Jonathon. "Youth crime and TV". Online. http://staff.gc.maricopa.edu/mdinchak/eng101/juvenile.htm"Facts about violence in the media." Online. http://www.ama-assn.org/ad-com/releases/1996/mvfacts.htm AAP Committee on Pediatrics. “Some things you should know about violence in the media and media literacy.” Online. http://www.aap.org/advocacy/ChildHealthMonth/media.htm