Mary E. Ballard

Video game violence and confederate gender: Effects on reward and punishment given by college males

We examined reward and punishment behavior amongmale college students (N = 119) following video gameplay. Most participants (N = 96) were White, theremainder (N = 23) were African American; most were from middle- to upper-middle-class backgrounds. Theparticipants played either a nonviolent (NBA Jam) or oneof three levels of a violent (Mortal Kombat) video game.After playing the video game for 15 minutes participants rewarded and punished a male orfemale confederate in a teacher/learner paradigm.Participants rewarded male (but not female) confederateswith significantly more jellybeans under the basketball condition than under any of the martial artsconditions. Participants rewarded confederates moreunder the NBA Jam condition than any of the MortalKombat conditions, but the Mortal Kombat conditions did not differ significantly from one another.Participants punished confederates significantly moreafter playing Mortal Kombat II than after playing NBAJam. While participants were punished more harshly under the Mortal Kombat II condition than theMortal Kombat conditions, these differences were notsignificant. Post hoc analyses showed that females werepunished significantly more stringently as game violence increased, but this finding should beinterpreted with caution.

Individual differences in preschoolers' physiological and verbal responses to videotaped angry interactions

Individual differences in selection of intensity of angry interactions and physiological and self-reported responses to interadult anger were examined in preschoolers (N=34). Children watched two videotaped angry interactions between adults, while their heart rates and skin conductance responses and levels were monitored; then they were interviewed. Before the second argument, children were given the perceived choice of watching an intense or mild angry exchange. Individual differences in responding to the angry interactions were found. Both (a) children with relatively higher externalizing behavior problems and (b) boys who chose to watch intense anger had lower tonic heart rates; 80% of boys with externalizing problems chose to watch intense anger. Further, children who chose to watch intense anger (a) exhibited lower declines in heart rates upon the presentation of the argument, (b) perceived the actors as more angry, and (c) reported lower amounts of distress during the argument than those who chose mild anger.

Correlates of video game screen time among males: Body mass, physical activity, and other media use

This study examined the correlations between media use, body mass variables, and physical activity among 116 male undergraduates (white n=106; African American n=5, Latin American n=1, Asian American n=2, and 2 others). Length of video game play during one sitting was positively related to body mass index (BMI; r=.27, p<.01) and negatively correlated with frequency of exercise (r=-.21, p<.05) and days of walking (r=-.22, p<.05). Frequency of video game play was negatively correlated with length of exercising (r=-.21, p<.05). Years of video game play was negatively correlated with length of exercise (r=-.21, p<.05). These results were stronger among those who play online games. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that video game use predicted BMI, accounting for 6.9% of the variance. The implications of the results are discussed.

Repeated Exposure to Video Game Play Results in Decreased Blood Pressure Responding

Repeated exposure to violent media is related to negative outcomes, including aggression, hostility, and cognitive and social deficits. We examined if cardiovascular and emotional responding to video game play changed across 3 weekly sessions. Participants were 41 adolescents (M age = 14.8; male = 29; female = 12) from rural Appalachia. Participants attended 3 weekly sessions and played 1 of 3 video games (basketball, fighting, or horror) each time. Measures included heart rate (HR); systolic blood pressure (SBP); diastolic blood pressure (DBP); self-reported aggression, anger, and reactions to game play; and history of video game play. Resting and posttest cardiovascular measures did not differ from session to session. Adolescents displayed HR and SBP reactivity to game play within each session. They also demonstrated decreased SBP and DBP responding to video game play across the 3-week period, regardless of game content. Affective responses did not change significantly across the course of the experiment. Adolescents who played the violent games reported more frustration and arousal than those who played the sports game. The implications of these findings are discussed.

A Writing Intervention for Negative Body Image: Pennebaker Fails to Surpass the Placebo

Abstract Pennebakers therapeutic writing paradigm was assessed as a brief intervention for negative body image. Females were randomly assigned to write about their body image (experimental; n = 23) or their bedroom (controls; n = 25) for four days. Body image, eating-disordered behavior, and mood were assessed at baseline, after the 4th day of writing, and at 1-month follow-up. Despite hypotheses that experimental participants would show more improvement over time, participation in the study, regardless of condition, was related to significant improvements in body image and mood, and decreased eating-disordered behavior over time. Placebo, sensitization effects, and regression to the mean are discussed as potential explanations for this unexpected finding. Suggestions for future research are made.

Attributional Style, Depressive Features, and Self-Esteem: Adult Children of Alcoholic and Nonalcoholic Parents.

Undergraduate adult children of alcoholics (ACOAs; N=57) were compared to children of nonalcoholic parents (CONAs; N=100) on measures of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), selfesteem, and attributional style. ACOA status was determined using the Children of Alcoholics Screening Test (Jones, 1981). ACOAs were found to have significantly higher scores on the BDI and to have significantly lower self-esteem, as measured by the Index of Self-Esteem, than CONAs. ACOAs were also more likely to have a depressive attributional style, in that they perceived failure as more internal, stable, and global than CONAs. Further, females had significantly higher BDI scores than males.

Social Context and Video Game Play: Impact on Cardiovascular and Affective Responses

We examined if cardiovascular and affective responding to video game play changed across social context or with game content. Male participants (13–22 years old) played a violent or nonviolent video game. Each participant played the game individually, competitively against a male partner, and cooperatively with the partner. There was no effect of social condition on heart rate (HR) or diastolic blood pressure (DBP). Participants had significantly higher systolic BP (SBP) when playing individually and competitively than when playing cooperatively, probably because play was more continuous. There was no impact of game type for HR or SBP. DBP was significantly higher for participants who played the violent game, perhaps because participants found the violent game more exciting and enjoyable. Participants who played the violent game rated the experimenters more positively than those who played the nonviolent game. Participants found game play more exciting, enjoyable, stressful, and frustrating, but less boring and relaxing, when they played competitively or cooperatively than when they played individually. The results are discussed in terms of the general aggression model.

Virtual Warfare Cyberbullying and Cyber-Victimization in MMOG Play

The popularity of massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) has elicited concern that this is a context for cyberbullying. We used an online survey to examine the prevalence and types of cyberbullying in MMOG play and group differences in bullying behavior. Since most MMOGs are violent and research indicates that electronic mediums have high rates of bullying, we predicted that cyberbullying would be common in MMOG play. The participants (N = 151)—a sample of self-selected MMOG players—frequently reported being cyber-victimized (52%) and engaging in cyberbullying (35%) during MMOG play. Rank was the most common motive for cyberbullying. We found that (a) males perpetrate more cyberbullying in MMOGs than females do; (b) heterosexuals perpetrate bullying at higher rates than lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) participants do; (c) female and LGBT participants experienced significantly higher rates of sexually related cyber-victimization; and (d) opponents are bullied more than teammates. Rates of victimization and perpetration overlapped substantially.

School Aggression and Dispositional Aggression among Middle School Boys

Abstract We examined the relationship between dispositional (trait) aggression and administrative reports of school aggression among 100 adolescent male participants from an urban middle school. Aggression was fairly common among the sample; 58 boys had a record of school aggression, and many of those were repeat offenders. Our hypothesis that those higher in dispositional aggression would have more records of aggression at school was supported. Dispositional aggression was significantly, positively correlated with verbal and physical aggression at school. Regression analyses indicated that dispositional aggression accounted for a substantial amount of the variance in administrative reports of school aggression. Two other factors, family income and age, accounted for a minimal amount of the variance in school aggression.

Sexual identity and risk behaviors among adolescents in rural Appalachia.

Previous research suggests that rural youth and youth who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, and questioning (LGBQ) have higher risk of multiple psychological and behavioral risk factors compared with their heterosexual counterparts. This study compared risk for bullying victimization, suicide risk, school violence, drug use, and sexual risk behavior between rural LGBQ youth and heterosexual youth. The Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), was administered by the local health department in 2 high schools in rural Appalachia. Findings indicate that rural LGBQ youth are at much higher risk than rural heterosexual youth for suicide risk, bullying victimization, school violence, drug use, and sexual risk behavior. Risk was particularly high for LGBQ youth in regard to bullying victimization and for suicide risks. Further, bullying victimization resulting from the perception of LGBQ status partially mediated drug use, but not suicide risk or school violence. Our results have particular implications for possible interventions targeting LGBQ youth by high school system personnel in rural Appalachia.