Aggression behavior of high school and university students playing and watching video games

This study was conducted to investigate whether aggression differs in high school and university students in regards to the status of playing and watching video games, the type of video game they play and watch, and the duration of playing and watching video games. Data were collected from 953 participants (245 female, 708 male; 538 high school students, 415 university students). "Personal Information Form" and "KAR-YA Aggression Scale" were used to collect data. Two way analysis of variance is conducted to analyze data. The results show that means of the aggression scores of the participants generally did not differ significantly in terms of playing and watching video games, gender, education level, the video game genre which played/watched, and the duration of playing/watching video game. However, significant differences were observed in some sub-scales. According to these findings, the mean scores of hostility of those who watch video games are significantly higher than those who do not. It was also found that female participants' mean scores of anger were significantly higher. In addition to these findings, the mean scores of hostility, anger and total aggression of those who play violent video games for more than 4 hours a day are significantly higher than the mean scores of those who play for less than 4 hours in a day. In addition, the verbal aggression mean scores of those who watch strategy games for more than 4 hours a day are significantly higher than those who watch strategy games for less than 4 hours in a day.