MONDAY, Nov. 3 (HealthDay News) -- Exposure to violent video games is a significant risk factor for later physical aggression, and the effect is seen in both American and Japanese youths, indicating that it is not affected by cultural differences or by the level of violence prevalent in either society, according to a report published in the November issue of Pediatrics.

Craig A. Anderson, Ph.D., of Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, and colleagues conducted a study of 181 Japanese students aged 12 to 15, a second Japanese cohort of 1,050 students aged 13 to 18 years, and 364 U.S. students in the 3rd to 5th grade, aged 9 to 12 years. The subjects' participation in video games and tendencies toward physically aggressive behavior were assessed at two time points with an interval of three to six months.

In all three samples, habitual participation in violent video games was a predictor of later aggression, and there was a dose-dependent response, the researchers found. The magnitude of the effect of violent video games was similar in Japan and America, the study showed.

"That both cultures yielded significant longitudinal effects of approximately the same magnitude illustrates the power of violent video games to affect children's developmental trajectories in a harmful way," the authors write. "These findings also further suggest that common social learning processes underlie media violence effects across cultures."

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