Wrestling on TV encourages teen violence

According to a new study teens are encouraged to behave more aggressively after watching professional wrestling on TV.

Researchers say the behaviour becomes evident when teens date and the violent tendencies are more pronounced in girls who watch more wrestling.

Of the 2,228 students who participated in the study, 48.4 percent were female.

Wake Forest University researchers, found that in both male and female students, the frequency with which they watched wrestling was associated with a number of indicators of violence and weapon-carrying.

Lead author Robert H. DuRant, a professor of pediatrics and social science and health policy at Brenner Children's Hospital, Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, says the findings are of concern as the frequency of watching wrestling was associated with being both the perpetrator and victim of date fighting.

He says the association was stronger among female adolescents than among male adolescents.

For the study the team questioned 2,228 North Carolina high school students on how many times they had watched wrestling on TV in the past two weeks; 63 percent of boys said had watched wrestling, and 24.6 percent six or more times during that period.

Of the girls, 35.1 percent said they had watched wrestling, and 9.1 percent had done so six or more times during the two-week period.

It seems that boys who watched wrestling were more likely to start fights with their dates, be a date-fight victim, and carry a gun or other weapon and had drank alcohol or used drugs during their last fight.

As far as the girls were concerned, watching wrestling led to higher rates of starting a fight with a date, being a victim of a date fight, carrying a gun at school, fighting, fighting at school, and being injured in a fight.

The girls also said they drank or used drugs during a fight.

DuRant says the more children and adolescents are exposed to violence, the more likely they are to engage in violence and the media plays a part in this.

DuRant suggests that part of the problem with professional wrestling is that women are often degraded and appear as both the victims and instigators of violence, and this has a spillover effect on teens who watch it.

He also notes that women in wrestling programs are often referred to in derogatory terms and the constant message received is that violence against women is justified.

While DuRant admits that watching wrestling on TV is not the sole cause of violent behaviour among teens, he says it is one causal factor in the overall socialization of teenagers and is another media source that has a negative effect.

Professionals in the world of wrestling deny any relationship between watching wrestling and health-risk behaviours and say the study is flawed.

However at least one expert thinks the new study reflects the impact of media on promoting violence among teens and is consistent with hundreds of other studies on violent media and aggression.

The study is published in the August issue of the journal Pediatrics.