Aggressor Games: Of Violent Video Games and Aggression among Higher-income Group Schoolchildren in Malaysia

Abstract

Violent video games have been linked to being one of the causes for increased aggressive behaviour and juvenile crimes in many developed and developing societies. This exploratory study investigates the effects of high income and gender on playing violent video games in Malaysia, and how it results in poor academic performance amongst secondary school children. This is a case study for other middle income nations in Southeast Asia, which also have strong Eastern cultural and religious beliefs. Contrary to earlier findings, the results indicated that boys from higher income backgrounds had a higher propensity for playing violent video games than adolescents from lower income backgrounds. The same effect though, is not manifested on adolescent girls. Nevertheless, playing violent video games was positively related to trait aggressive and negatively to academic performance in both the sexes. Our findings shed new light on socio-economic and demographic factors influencing violent video gaming, offering insights to both policy-makers and theoreticians in researching gaming effects.