Game Guy has been feeling angry lately, and now he knows why.

It’s because he plays video games.

Sure, he thought the overcharges on his last utility bill had something to do with it, or the ding-and-run his car suffered Friday in the parking lot at work, or the letter he got saying the bank lost his last mortgage payment, or anything his parents ever did to him the past 30 years. But no, now he’s sure none of these are to blame.

How is Game Guy sure? Well, there’s a new study out of Iowa State University that suggests as much. Though it has more to do with kids and video games, the study appears to infer that adults could suffer the same way.

You see, here’s what it says, in brief, through a CNN report: About 200 Japanese students ages 12 to 15, about 1,000 Japanese students ages 13 to 18, and 360 or so U.S. students ages 9 to 12 were asked recently whether they thought they felt more aggressive after playing games in which violence was key.

The study’s researchers questioned these kids at one point, then returned to question them again three to six months later. The kids also listed their three favorite games and estimated how much time they spent playing the three together.

Additionally, the kids were queried on what they thought constituted an increase in violent behavior — such as whether they kicked or punched their peers or called them names — and almost all said that, yeah, maybe they did get a bit more animated or agitated following a game with violence in it, but nowhere was it stipulated whether they actually acted on it.

So, yes, maybe there’s some truth to possibility of violence in video games spurring violent behavior in children. We could have assumed as much, however, because assorted studies and assumptions have made connections between violent behavior and movies, TV, Anne Rice novels and overexposure to Neil Diamond songs.

But here’s the kicker, so to speak: The core of this latest research relied on asking the kids what they thought — teen perception about themselves being flawless and all — and not on psychoanalysis, third-party behavioral examination, brain-wave scans or anything that removes the teens’ opinions from the equation. On top of that, the term “violent video game” isn’t qualified, so it’s not clear whether it’s gunplay or Super Mario we’re talking about.

Surely, concerns abound that children will absorb too much violence either from entertainment or their surroundings and turn around to release it in ways that are counterproductive. Older teens and adults are susceptible to that, too, as research last year into driving skills among video game players showed.

But that’s not at the root of Game Guy’s concern. At issue is whether he should place much value on any study that depends on teens’ opinions, not hard data — particularly young teens who have yet to formulate learned opinions on anything, let alone their own behavior. He’s not too far removed from that demographic to remember that he probably would have said anything at that age to get his two-cents worth stated in a research paper.