Lawrence Kutner and Cheryl Olsen, two researchers from Harvard, have written a book dispelling the myth that video games cause children to become violent. The book, Grand Theft Childhood: The Surprising Truth About Violent Video Games and What Parents Can Do, contradicts the notion that violent video games make for violent behavior in kids.

Kutner and Olsen studied more than 1,200 middle-school students over a 2-year period of time. Much of their data was collected by talking with the students. Turns out, the researchers did see a link between mature-rated titles and aggressive behavior in kids, but there was no evidence that the games caused the behaviors. It can be considered similar to the which came first-the chicken or the egg dilemma? It’s possible that the kids who liked the mature-rated titles had more aggressive tendencies and personalities in the first place.

Instead of placing the blame for bad behavior solely on video games, the book suggests that parents consider a number of factors that are affecting their kids. The researchers caution, though, that too much of anything-like gaming-is not a good thing.