Programming-Based Intervention: A Cross-Cultural Examination of the Role of Nonviolent Mediated Sports Content on Youth-Aggression Reduction

Abstract:Limited research has analyzed the reduction of youth aggression via the appropriate use of nonviolent mediated sports programming. Therefore, the current study cross-culturally examined the impact of nonviolent mediated sports content integrated within violent content on youth aggression, employing a 2 (level of media violence) × 2 (gender) × 2 (country) repeated-factorial design. Based on excitation-transfer theory, it was hypothesized that nonviolent sports media would have a positive impact on aggression reduction and that gender and trait aggressiveness would mediate the relationship between stimuli and aggressive behavior. A significant decrease in the level of aggressive behavior was found in the nonviolent condition. Moreover, gender and trait aggressiveness played significant roles on aggressive behavior, while the impact varied as a function of cultural difference.