WASHINGTON (AP) -- Children love teen horror flicks, shoot-'em up interactive video games, hard-core rock and rap and risque television. And in one of the most definitive statements yet on violence in American culture, four national health associations link the violence in television, music, video games and movies to increasing violence among children.
"Its effects are measurable and long-lasting," the four groups say in a statement. "Moreover, prolonged viewing of media violence can lead to emotional desensitization toward violence in real life."
The joint statement by the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychological Association and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry was to be the centerpiece of a public health summit Wednesday on entertainment violence.