Mothers with PTSD Drawn to Violent Entertainment; Children May Suffer

A study of 76 mothers with a history of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has found that these mothers watch more violent programming than other mothers, said researchers at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry in San Diego last week, in turn warning about the dangers to children who also watch these media.

Said lead investigator Dr. Daniel S. Schechter:

"Paradoxically, mothers with violence-related PTSD, who wish to shield themselves and their children from violence, inadvertently expose themselves and their children to violence through movies, television and video games perhaps as a way of feeling a sense of control in the present over very frightening memories of out-of-control experiences...While this phenomenon deserves further study, it may also be explained by an evolutionary impulse to warn their children of the dangers that they had faced in the world."

Scientific studies show that young children who watch violent movies, television shows or video games are more likely to develop anxiety and sleep disorders and to develop aggressive or self-endangering behaviors, researchers noted.