Viewing Movie Violence & Interest in Guns

• Sponsor: Ohio State University (Other)
• Overall Status: Completed
• CT.gov ID: NCT03220412
• Collaborator: (none)
• Enrollment: 104
• Arms: 2
• Actual Duration (Months): 5.6

Study Details

Study Description

Brief Summary

More American children die by accidental gun use than children in other developed countries. One factor that can influence children's interest in guns is exposure to media containing guns. The objective of this study is to test whether children who see a movie containing guns will handle a real gun longer and will pull the trigger more times than children who see the same movie without guns.

Condition or Disease	Intervention/Treatment	Phase
Psychology, Social; Adolescent Behavior	Behavioral: Movies with Guns	N/A

Detailed Description

A recent analysis of top selling films found that the depiction of guns in violent scenes in PG-13 films that target youth has increased from the level of G and PG files in 1985 when the rating was introduced, to the level of R films by 2005, to exceed the level of R films since 2012. By definition, a PG-13 movie is supposed to have less violence than an R-rated movie. The Motion Picture Association of America says on its website that the violence in a PG-13 movie "does not reach the restricted R category." Our study shows that it does. By including guns in violent scenes, film producers may be inadvertently increasing aggression in youth via a weapons effect. This experiment directly tests this hypothesis.

Study Design

• Study Type: Interventional
• Actual Enrollment: 104 participants
• Allocation: Randomized
• Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
• Intervention Model Description: Participants are randomly assigned to watch a movie containing guns, or a movie not containing guns.Participants are randomly assigned to watch a movie containing guns, or a movie not containing guns.
• Masking: Single (Participant)
• Masking Description: Participants did not know which condition they were in. Participants' parents were aware of the deception (hidden gun) and what condition their children were in (with or without guns). Research personnel knew conditions as well. Research assistants who transcribed recorded laboratory sessions did not know what condition they were coding (eg. what type of movie participants watched)
• Primary Purpose: Other
• Official Title: Exposure to Gun Violence in Movies Increases Interest in Real Guns
• Actual Study Start Date: Jul 15, 2015
• Actual Primary Completion Date: Jan 1, 2016
• Actual Study Completion Date: Jan 1, 2016

Arms and Interventions

Arm	Intervention/Treatment
Experimental: Experimental Condition Intervention was guns in movies. Participants in this condition viewed a movie with guns, as it was filmed and distributed. The actual scenes in the movie (National Treasure or The Rocketeer) was not edited, but the same scenes were used as the Experimental Condition Intervention is m	Behavioral: Movies with Guns; Participants in this arm viewed movies (National Treasure, The Rocketeer) without guns. The movies, rated PG, were edited to remove guns from the scenes
No Intervention: Control Condition Participants in this condition viewed a movie without guns. The movie (National Treasure or The Rocketeer) was edited to remove guns from scenes.

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

1. Trigger Pulls [20 minutes after intervention]

   The adjusted median of the number of trigger pulls per child. These data refer to the reduced Generalized Estimating Equation model for the two conditions. This model included participant gender and condition, bu not any of the other control variables.

2. Seconds Holding Gun [20 minutes after intervention]

   Number of seconds participant held gun

Eligibility Criteria

Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 8 Years to 12 Years
• Sexes Eligible for Study: All
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Inclusion Criteria:

Age 8-12yrs, had not participated in study prior, was able to schedule participation with a known peer (8-12yo).

Exclusion Criteria:

Younger than 8yo, older than 12yo, had participated in study prior, could not schedule participation with a known peer (8-12yo)

Contacts and Locations

Locations

No locations specified.

Sponsors and Collaborators

• Ohio State University

Investigators

• Principal Investigator: Brad J Bushman, PhD, The Ohio State Universit

Study Documents (Full-Text)

None provided.

More Information

Publications

None provided.

• Responsible Party: Brad Bushman, Professor of Communication & Psychology, Ohio State University
• ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03220412
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2013B0542-3
• First Posted: Jul 18, 2017
• Last Update Posted: Jun 3, 2019
• Last Verified: May 1, 2019

• Individual Participant Data (IPD) Sharing Statement: Undecided
• Plan to Share IPD: Undecided
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated Drug Product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated Device Product: No
• Keywords provided by Brad Bushman, Professor of Communication & Psychology, Ohio State University: adolescent; gun; violence; media

Study Results

Participant Flow

Arm/Group Title	Experimental Condition	Control Condition
Arm/Group Description	Participants in this condition viewed a movie without guns. The movie (National Treasure or The Rocketeer) was edited to remove guns from scenes. Movies without Guns: Participants in this arm viewed movies (National Treasure, The Rocketeer) without guns. The movies, rated PG, were edited to remove guns from the scenes	Participants in this condition viewed a movie with guns, as it was filmed and distributed. The actual scenes in the movie (National Treasure or The Rocketeer) was not edited, but the same scenes were used as the Experimental Condition
Period Title: Overall Study
STARTED	54	50
COMPLETED	54	50
NOT COMPLETED	0	0

Baseline Characteristics

Arm/Group Title	Experimental Condition	Control Condition	Total
Arm/Group Description	Participants in this condition viewed a movie without guns. The movie (National Treasure or The Rocketeer) was edited to remove guns from scenes. Movies without Guns: Participants in this arm viewed movies (National Treasure, The Rocketeer) without guns. The movies, rated PG, were edited to remove guns from the scenes	Participants in this condition viewed a movie with guns, as it was filmed and distributed. The actual scenes in the movie (National Treasure or The Rocketeer) was not edited, but the same scenes were used as the Experimental Condition	Total of all reporting groups
Overall Participants	54	50	104
Age (Count of Participants)
<=18 years	54 100%	50 100%	104 100%
Between 18 and 65 years	0 0%	0 0%	0 0%
>=65 years	0 0%	0 0%	0 0%
Age (years) [Mean (Standard Deviation) ]
Mean (Standard Deviation) [years]	9.7 (1.5)	10.14 (1.5)	9.9 (1.5)
Sex: Female, Male (Count of Participants)
Female	16 29.6%	26 52%	42 40.4%
Male	38 70.4%	24 48%	62 59.6%
Ethnicity (NIH/OMB) (Count of Participants)
Hispanic or Latino	1 1.9%	2 4%	3 2.9%
Not Hispanic or Latino	53 98.1%	48 96%	101 97.1%
Unknown or Not Reported	0 0%	0 0%	0 0%
Race (NIH/OMB) (Count of Participants)
American Indian or Alaska Native	0 0%	0 0%	0 0%
Asian	2 3.7%	0 0%	2 1.9%
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander	0 0%	0 0%	0 0%
Black or African American	14 25.9%	17 34%	31 29.8%
White	33 61.1%	29 58%	62 59.6%
More than one race	5 9.3%	4 8%	9 8.7%
Unknown or Not Reported	0 0%	0 0%	0 0%
Region of Enrollment (Count of Participants)
United States	54 100%	50 100%	104 100%

Outcome Measures

1. Primary Outcome

Title	Trigger Pulls
Description	The adjusted median of the number of trigger pulls per child. These data refer to the reduced Generalized Estimating Equation model for the two conditions. This model included participant gender and condition, bu not any of the other control variables.
Time Frame	20 minutes after intervention

Outcome Measure Data

Analysis Population Description

[Not Specified]

Arm/Group Title	Experimental Condition	Control
Arm/Group Description	Participants in this condition watched movies as they were released, with guns.	Participants in this condition watched the same movie and same scenes with guns edited out of the scenes.
Measure Participants	54	50
Median (95% Confidence Interval) [Number of trigger pulls]	2.8	0.01

2. Primary Outcome

Title	Seconds Holding Gun
Description	Number of seconds participant held gun
Time Frame	20 minutes after intervention

Outcome Measure Data

Analysis Population Description

[Not Specified]

Arm/Group Title	Experimental Condition	Control Condition
Arm/Group Description	Participants in this condition viewed a movie without guns. The movie (National Treasure or The Rocketeer) was edited to remove guns from scenes. Movies without Guns: Participants in this arm viewed movies (National Treasure, The Rocketeer) without guns. The movies, rated PG, were edited to remove guns from the scenes	Participants in this condition viewed a movie with guns, as it was filmed and distributed. The actual scenes in the movie (National Treasure or The Rocketeer) was not edited, but the same scenes were used as the Experimental Condition
Measure Participants	54	50
Mean (95% Confidence Interval) [seconds]	53.1	11.1

Adverse Events

Arm/Group Title	Experimental Condition		Control Condition
Arm/Group Description	Participants in this condition viewed a movie without guns. The movie (National Treasure or The Rocketeer) was edited to remove guns from scenes. Movies without Guns: Participants in this arm viewed movies (National Treasure, The Rocketeer) without guns. The movies, rated PG, were edited to remove guns from the scenes		Participants in this condition viewed a movie with guns, as it was filmed and distributed. The actual scenes in the movie (National Treasure or The Rocketeer) was not edited, but the same scenes were used as the Experimental Condition
All Cause Mortality
	Experimental Condition		Control Condition
	Affected / at Risk (%)	# Events	Affected / at Risk (%)	# Events
Total	/ (NaN)		/ (NaN)
Serious Adverse Events
	Experimental Condition		Control Condition
	Affected / at Risk (%)	# Events	Affected / at Risk (%)	# Events
Total	0/54 (0%)		0/50 (0%)
Other (Not Including Serious) Adverse Events
	Experimental Condition		Control Condition
	Affected / at Risk (%)	# Events	Affected / at Risk (%)	# Events
Total	0/54 (0%)		0/50 (0%)

Limitations/Caveats

[Not Specified]

More Information

Certain Agreements

All Principal Investigators ARE employed by the organization sponsoring the study.

There is NOT an agreement between Principal Investigators and the Sponsor (or its agents) that restricts the PI's rights to discuss or publish trial results after the trial is completed.