Learning to blast a way into crime, or just good clean fun? Examining aggressive play with toy weapons and its relation with crime

Sven Smith, Christopher J. Ferguson, Kevin M. Beaver

Researchers, such as Bandura, have proposed that children's mere exposure to the use of play weapons encourages deviant displays of aggression, but there is very little research to support this hypothesis of 20 years. To examine the relationship between amount of weapon play and concurrent aggression as well as later violent juvenile crime, while controlling for other variables possibly influencing criminal pathways. Using longitudinal survey data collected from mothers and children (n = 2019) from age 5, with follow-up at age 15, correlations between children's play with toy weapons and juvenile criminality were examined. Multivariate regression analyses were employed to determine to what extent early childhood aggression, symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and symptoms of depression were antecedents of juvenile crime. For bivariate analysis between toy weapon play and juvenile criminality, the effect size was small and not significant. The relationship remained not significant once control variables were introduced into the model. The act of pretending to be aggressive in childhood thus plays little role in predicting later criminality after other factors, such as gender, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or depression, have been taken into account. Involvement in imaginative play with toy gun use in early childhood is unlikely to be useful as a risk marker for later criminal behaviour. Play fighting and war toy games may even be considered necessary components within the frame of normal development. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.