Identifying and explaining the relationship between parental mediation andchildren's aggression

A survey of 394 parents and children in 2nd through 6th grades was conducte d to explore the relations between parental mediation of violent television and children's generalized and TV-induced aggressive tendencies. In additi on explanations for why mediation is related to aggression were sought by e xploring a number of intervening variables. It was found that parental acti ve mediation and restrictive mediation were both negatively related to chil dren's generalized and TV-induced aggressive inclinations, whereas parental coviewing was positively related to children's TV-induced aggressive tende ncies. The data also revealed that parental mediation works by first influe ncing either how important children perceive violent TV to be or how much a ttention they grant this content, which, in turn, influences aggressive ten dencies. Hence, parental mediation seems to socialize children into an orie ntation toward TV that makes them less vulnerable to negative effects.