What Do
Parents and Physicians Really Think
About the ESRB Ratings System?
National telephone survey by Penn, Schoen & Berland (a leading
Democratic polling firm) and American Viewpoint (a leading Republican polling firm)
"Only 18 percent of parents completely trust the current parental advisories and
rating systems for video games and computer games…70 percent of parents want an
independent body – not the government or the media industry – to be responsible
for creating and overseeing a media rating system."
(This national survey of 1,000 randomly selected parents was
conducted April 13 –22, 2003 for Common Sense Media)
National Gallup Poll
When asked whether the producers of video and computer games offer "enough
information about the violence content to make decisions about what is appropriate for
children,"
74 percent of 1,022 adults surveyed said producers "do not provide enough
information."
When asked whether it "is sufficient that the industry just provide information to
the public about the violence content of movies, music CDs and video games or do you think
that there should also be restrictions on the sale of such violent materials to children
under 18,"
73 percent of adults surveyed said they wanted "restrictions on sale of violent
materials."
(This information is from the last poll taken by Gallup on the ratings issues, June
11-13, 1999.)
Journal of the American Medical Association
"Our content analysis suggests that many E-rated video games contain a significant
amount of violence and that an ‘E’ rating does not automatically signify a level
of violence acceptable for very young game players. Physicians and parents should
understand that popular E-rated video games may be a source of exposure to violence for
children that rewards them for violent actions and that may contain other content that is
not expected of an E rating."
(Article by Kimberly M. Thompson and Kevin Haninger in the Journal
of the American Medical Association, August 1, 2001, Vol. 286 No. ) |
