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What to do when elective surgery is postponed. What happened to trusting medical experts? Stuttering in children: How parents can help. Evoking calm: Practicing mindfulness in daily life helps. Finding balance: 3 simple exercises to steady your steps. Violent video games and young people October 1, Experts are divided about the potential harm, but agree on some steps parents can take to protect children.
Key points Much of the research on violent video game use relies on measures to assess aggression that don't correlate with real-world violence. One view In its most recent policy statement on media violence, which includes discussion of video games as well as television, movies, and music, the AAP cites studies that link exposure to violence in the media with aggression and violent behavior in youths.
A more nuanced view In recent years, however, other researchers have challenged the popular view that violent video games are harmful. What parents can do Parents can protect their children from potential harm from video games by following a few commonsense strategies — particularly if they are concerned that their children might be vulnerable to the effects of violent content.
These simple precautions may help: Check the ESRB rating to better understand what type of content a video game has. Play video games with children to better understand the content, and how children react. Print This Page Click to Print. Free Healthbeat Signup Get the latest in health news delivered to your inbox! Sign Up. Close Thanks for visiting. The Best Diets for Cognitive Fitness , is yours absolutely FREE when you sign up to receive Health Alerts from Harvard Medical School Sign up to get tips for living a healthy lifestyle, with ways to fight inflammation and improve cognitive health , plus the latest advances in preventative medicine, diet and exercise , pain relief, blood pressure and cholesterol management, and more.
I want to get healthier. Close Health Alerts from Harvard Medical School Get helpful tips and guidance for everything from fighting inflammation to finding the best diets for weight loss Community violence: a meta-analysis on the effect of exposure and mental health outcomes of children and adolescents.
Development and Psychopathology. Exposure to community violence, including witnessing shootings and hearing gunshots, makes it harder for children to succeed in school.
Exposure to violence: psychological and academic correlates in child witnesses. Journal of Educational Psychology. When children live in neighborhoods where gun violence is common, they spend less time playing and being physically active, with one study finding that children said they would engage in an additional hour of physical activity every week if safety increased in their neighborhood. Unsafe to play? Neighborhood disorder and lack of safety predict reduced physical activity among urban children and adolescents.
American Journal of Health Promotion. Stress related to gun violence affects student performance and well-being in schools. School-aged children have lower grades and more absences when they are exposed to violence. High school students who have been exposed to violence have lower test scores and lower rates of high school graduation.
Collateral consequences of violence in disadvantaged neighborhoods. Social Forces. September In Syracuse, NY, elementary schools located in areas with high concentrations of gunshots had 50 percent lower test scores and higher rates of standardized test failure compared to elementary schools in areas with a low concentration of gunshots.
Community gun violence as a social determinant of elementary school achievement. Social Work in Public Health. Black high school students in the US are over twice as likely than white high school students to miss school due to safety concerns.
Violence-related disparities experienced by Black youth and young adults: opportunities for prevention. In Chicago, following spikes in neighborhood violence, students reported feeling less safe, experiencing more disciplinary problems, and having less trust in teachers. Neighborhood violence, peer effects, and academic achievement in Chicago. Sociology of Education. Recommendations for comprehensive gun safety laws include:.
The foundation of any comprehensive gun violence prevention strategy must be background checks for all gun sales. Under current federal law, criminal background checks are required only for sales conducted by licensed dealers. This loophole is easy to exploit and makes it easy for convicted felons or domestic abusers to acquire guns without a background check simply by finding an unlicensed seller online or at a gun show.
These laws, increasingly being adopted by states, empower family members and law enforcement to petition a judge to temporarily block a person from having guns if they pose a danger to themselves or others. Extreme Risk laws —also known as Red Flag laws—can help prevent suicide, too.
That is meaningful because suicide accounts for nearly two-thirds of gun deaths in this country, 43 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. Firearm suicide deaths to total gun deaths ratio developed using five years of the most recent available data: to Secure storage laws require people to store firearms responsibly to prevent unsupervised access to firearms. A subset of these laws, known as child access prevention laws, specifically target unsupervised access by minors.
Secure firearm storage practices are associated with reductions in the risk of self-inflicted and unintentional firearm injuries among children and teens—up to 85 percent depending on the type of storage practice.
Gun storage practices and risk of youth suicide and unintentional injuries. Study found households that locked both firearms and ammunition had an 85 percent lower risk of unintentional firearm deaths than those that locked neither.
Children are frequent casualties of domestic violence homicides when a gun is involved. Research also shows that the presence of a gun in a domestic violence situation makes it five times more likely that a woman will be killed.
Risk factors for femicide within physically abuse intimate relationships: results from a multisite case control study. It is imperative to keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers to keep women, children, and their families safe. When abusers are convicted of domestic violence or subject to final restraining orders, they should be blocked from purchasing guns and required to turn in those they already own.
It is true that people who are poor, non-White, and living in crowded inner-city areas deal with a lot of violence. Community violence also occurs, though, in White, middle-class areas, both suburban and rural. All kinds of youth are at risk for community violence. Over one-third of girls and boys across the country ages 10 to 16 years are victims of direct violence.
Direct violence includes attempted kidnapping, physical and sexual assault. Even more children have faced indirect community violence. That is, they have seen violence or they know a victim of community violence. In one study, over three-quarters of children in a high-violence urban area reported coming into contact with community violence.
Of note, more than half of the parents said that their children had not been exposed to violence in the community. Sadly, there is no way to make sure your child does not face community violence. However, we do know some of the factors that add to a child's risk for coming into contact with community violence:.
If hurt by violence, a child may have to cope with physical or medical problems. A child may also have mental health problems, including PTSD. Some people think that young children are not harmed by community violence because they are too young to understand or remember.
People usually give hints that they are considering violence toward other people, such as: Talking about violence, especially violence directed toward specific people or groups of people, such as student groups, or places, such as schools, churches, or government buildings.
Talking, writing, or drawing about death and violence. Having unexplained mood changes. Having intense anger or losing his or her temper every day. Fighting often. Acting aggressively toward others. This may include: Hurting animals.
Teasing or taunting others by calling them names, making fun of them, or threatening them. Making threatening phone calls. Following or stalking another person. Damaging or vandalizing another person's property.
Using alcohol, drugs, or tobacco. Having risk-taking behavior, such as speeding, drinking and driving, or high-risk sexual behaviors. Carrying or talking about a weapon, especially a firearm. Buying or talking about other means, such as poisons, that could kill or harm others. Not taking responsibility for his or her actions or saying that the actions are justified because of how he or she has been treated. The possibility of teen violence also increases when the following factors are present in a teen's behavior over several weeks or months: Aggressive or violent behavior Drug or alcohol use Spending more time listening to music about violence or watching violent shows on TV, videos, or the internet Gang membership or having a strong desire to become part of a gang Access to or a fascination with guns or other violent weapons Threatening other people regularly Withdrawal from friends, family, and usually pleasurable activities Fear of other people paranoia Feeling rejected, alone, or disrespected Being a constant victim of bullying Poor school performance or attendance Frequent problems with figures of authority What can you do if you are worried about someone's behavior?
Don't spend time with people who show warning signs. Tell someone you trust and respect, such as a family member, counselor, or teacher, about your concerns and ask for help.
If you are worried about being a victim of violence, ask someone in authority to help you. Do not resort to violence or use a weapon to protect yourself. Don't try to deal with situation by yourself. Ask for help. Develop a safety plan to help you if you are in a potentially dangerous situation. How can you manage your own anger without becoming violent? Talk to someone. Find a trusted friend or adult to help you one-on-one if you're afraid to talk or if you can't find the right words to describe what you're going through.
Be calm. Try to express criticism, disappointment, anger, or displeasure without losing your temper or fighting.
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