DYING IN CYBERWORLD: VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES EXTINGUISHED CHILDREN’S DEATH CONCEPT AND ATTITUDE
Keywords:
Violence Video Games, Death Concept & Death AttitudeAbstract
Death is often a taboo topic in society, especially among the Chinese community. Most of the violent video games spread immoral values of life and death. Hence deformed death concept and death attitude are easily moulded in children particularly without proper supervision from parents. The misconception of death concept and death attitude can manipulate primary school children’s attitudes towards death which gradually might lead children to harm themselves or others. This study is aimed at identifying the relationship between violent video games and children’s death concept and death attitude (Fear of death, Death avoidance, Approach Acceptance, Escape Acceptance). The differences between the level of exposure to violent video games towards children’s death concept and death attitude are also carried out in this study. A total of 397 data was collected from Malaysian Chinese schoolchildren between 10 to 12 years of age by using the purposive sampling method. Instruments used in this study consist of demographic information, Death Attitude Media Violence Exposure. The study showed that a high level of exposure towards violent video games had a significant negative correlation with death concept and fear of death, whilst significantly positive correlation with escape acceptance. The result of the independent samples t-test showed that children with high exposure to violent video games had lower death concept and fear of death and a higher level of escape acceptance. Further research is needed to explore the death concept and attitude among children as technology has become an inseparable part of human beings in the 4th Industrial Revolution.
References
Fonseca, L. M., & Testoni, I. (2012). The emergence of thanatology and current practice in death education. Journal of Death and Dying, 64(2), 157-169. doi: 10.2190/OM.64.2.d Funk, J. B., Baldacci, H. B., Pasold, T., & Baumgardner, J. (2004). Violence exposure in real-life, video games, television, movies, and the internet: Is there desensitization? Journal of Adolescence, 27(1), 23-39. Gauthier, J. M., Zuromski, K. L., Gitter, S. A., Witte, T. K., Cero, I. J., Gordon, K. H., ... & Joiner, T. (2014). The interpersonal-psychological theory of suicide and exposure to video game violence. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 33(6), 512-535. Krahé, B., Möller, I., Huesmann, L. R., Kirwil, L., Felber, J., & Berger, A. (2017). Desensitization to media violence: Links with habitual media violence exposure, aggressive cognitions, and aggressive behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100(4), 630. doi: 10.1037%2Fa0021711 McGuire, S. L., McCarthy, L. S., & Modrcin, M. A. (2013). An ongoing concern: Helping children comprehend death. Open Journal of Nursing, 3(3), 307-313. doi: 10.4236/ojn.2013.33042 Messias, E., Castro, J., Saini, A., Usman, M., & Peeples, D. (2011). Sadness, suicide, and their association with video game and internet overuse among teens: Results from the youth risk behavior survey 2007 and 2009. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 41(3), 307-315. doi: 10.1111/j.1943-278X.2011.00030.x Nguyen, S. P., & Rosengren, K. S. (2004). Parental reports of children's biological knowledge and misconceptions. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 28(5), 411-420. doi: 10.108/01650250444000108 Osman, M. A., Talib, A. Z., Sanusi, Z. A., Tan, S. Y., & Alwi, A. S. (2012). A study of the trend of smartphone and its usage behaviour in Malaysia. International Journal in New Computer Architectures and Their Application, 2(1), 275-286.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
Total Views: 0
| 
Total Downloads: 0
