The study of the influence of the genre of computer games used by teenagers on their level of aggression

Abstract

The article examines an important aspect of the possible influence of the type of computer games that teenagers use more often on their level of aggression and Internet addiction. This is one of the urgent problems of modern society all over the world. The authors relied on the approaches to this problem in the scientific works of K. Anderson, V.N. Burkova, M.L. Butovskaya, A.E. Voiskunsky. A study has been conducted to identify the presence or absence of such a relationship between the dominant type of computer games used by adolescents and their indicators of general aggressiveness as a personal trait manifested in communication and relationships with others. The study was conducted using a questionnaire of adolescents to identify their preferred type of games, the Bass-Darkey questionnaire to identify aggression and hostility indices, and the scale of Internet addiction from the questionnaire by A.E. Zhichkina. «Online behavior». The study involved 108 8th grade adolescents (aged 14-15 years). At the first stage of our study, adolescents in the study sample were surveyed to identify their preferred genres of computer games, based on the approaches of the genre typology of games by T.H. Kutlaliev. At the second stage, two groups were identified: those who prefer «paramilitary» games of the «Action» genre and the second – those who are not inclined to such games. At the final stage, a comparative study of these groups was conducted on aggression and hostility indices using the Bass-Darkey questionnaire.