Professor Brad Bushman’s recent study, “Trends of Violence in Movies During the Past Half Century,” was published in JAMA Pediatrics.  

Finding variations of the words “murder” or “kill” in more than 160,000 movies created from 1970 to 2020, the study found convincing evidence that supports the idea that media violence contributes to aggressive behavior and negative impact on mental health in both adults and children.

Bushman pointed out that “murderous verbs” used in movies over the past years have differed but have continued to increase among differing genres. 

Written by student Abby Amrine