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INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC HEALTH CONFERENCE IN TIRANA, ALBANIAThe impact of television violence among youngpeopleAulona Zotaj 11Institute of Public Health.Nowadays, the power of media is growinggradually. Such a problem is accompanied byanother disturbing phenomenon: the explosion ofviolent crime. Modern society is exposed to amassive dose of violence that occurs daily in themedia. Meanwhile, a large number of studies onviolence in the media have been undertaken in thepast forty years using different research methods.This paper aims to show the factors affecting theappearance of aggressive behavior in young people,what effect (if any) creates violence exposure onyouth and what measures can be taken to reducethis phenomenon.Different studies, conducted mainly in the field ofcommunication and psychology are introduced.These studies have found out that television (TV)violence has multiple effects on childrens behaviorof all ages. These effects include: imitation ofviolence and crimes watched on TV, reduction ofsusceptibility to aggressive behavior, explosion ofimpulsive acts of aggression, replacing of socializationactivities with peers as well as the reductionof interaction with adults.Youth exposure to TV violence is associated withemotional effects on young people, who maybecome desensitized to violence in real life and seethe world as a scary place, where people use violentmethods to resolve conflicts. Scientific evidencesfrom a group of studies on media-relatedaggression are summarized in literature reviews andhave come to the conclusion that watching violentmovies increases aggression.Theories and data suggest that social factors maymoderate the effect of media violence on aggressionif they change the chances for a child to beidentified with aggressive characters, previously seenviolence.These factors may be cultural, social including family,or environmental. For example, cultural environments,with strong sanctions against violence in thegroup reduce the expression of aggressive behaviorlearned through media. Parents, as social key factorshave the potential to become moderators of theeffects of media violence on children. Children andteenagers form their attitudes, beliefs and act as aresult of exposure to media content, but they candiscuss what they can see with others - especiallywith parents and friends. When parents take an activerole in mediating - including regular and criticalcomments -children are less likely to be adverselyaffected by media content.Researchers of communication sciences suggest thatany interference made by parents can reduce theimportance given to the television violence bychildren and can also reduce children s aggressiveattitudes. Apparently, young people need thepresence of adults to create a more realistic idea ofthe world in which they live, and this cannot belimited within the events of the TV screen.Keywords: media, television, violence, youth.ALBANIAN MEDICAL JOURNAL SUPPLEMENT93