Psychology Commons^™

America's Newest Boogeyman For Deviant Teen Behavior: Violent Video Games And The First Amendment, Joseph C. Alfe, Grant D. Talabay

Pace Intellectual Property, Sports & Entertainment Law Forum

Are violent video games harming America’s youth? Is it possible a series of interconnected circuit boards can influence children (or even adults) to become, themselves, violent? If so, how should our society-- and government-- respond?

To properly answer this last query, violent video games must be viewed through the lens of the First Amendment. Simply put: do games depicting grotesque acts of depravity so profound as to negatively influence the psyche warrant the full constitutional protections ordinarily guaranteed under the mantle of free speech and expression? Are these guarantees without limit? If not, how far may the government go in …

The Effects Of Divorce And Its Associated Stressors On Children And Adolescents, Aaron Brownlee

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato

Four factors were looked at to determine how children of divorce are affected by their parents divorce. The Family Environment Scale (FES) assessed family environment, Social Support Scale for children (SSSC) assessed social support, and the Life Events Checklist (LEC) assessed appraisal of the stressors shown to co-occur with divorce. The Behavioral Assessment Scale for Children, second edition (BASC-2; parent and self-reports) measured the criterion of this study, behavioral and emotional functioning. The sample consisted of 91 children and their parents from the Mankato area public schools. Hierarchical multiple regressions indicated a main effect of the appraisal of co-occurring stressors …