Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Dr. (Mrs.) Kuljeet Kaur Brar
Assistant
Professor in Education,
University School of Open Learning,
Panjab University, Chandigarh.
ABSTRACT
The present paper focus on Youth violence which is a complex public health
problem with many risk factors, including individual beliefs and behaviors
such as early aggression and use of alcohol or other drugs; family
characteristics such as spousal abuse and lack of parental supervision; peer
and school influences such as associating with delinquent friends; and
environmental factors such as access to firearms. Violence increases
dramatically in the second decade of life, peaking during late adolescence at 12
to 20 percent of all young people and dropping off again sharply by the early
twenties. Developmentally, puberty is accompanied by major physical and
emotional changes that alter a young person’s relationships and patterns of
interaction with others. Parents’ direct influence on behavior is largely eclipsed
by peer influence during adolescence. Besides general aspects that are needed
to address parents behavior there are practical tools that you can use to
implement re-direction and de-escalation efforts.
OBJECTIVES
● To familiarize with nature of bullying.
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● To explicate the concept of aggression and its theories.
● To represent the patterns of bullying.
● To reveal De-Escalation Efforts against bullying among aggressive
youth.
INTRODUCTION
Adolescence is a time of many transitions both for teens and their
families. To ensure that teens and adults navigate these transitions
successfully, it is important for both to understand what is happening to the
teen physically, cognitively, and socially. Adolescents, like all humans, are
social by nature and this sociability predisposition leads them to engage in
interaction with others human beings. These social interactions and their
resultant negotiations can lead to interpersonal tensions that can, under the
right conditions, manifest into interpersonal aggression. Thus, the acceptance
of the use of violence and aggressive behaviors do not themselves occur within
a vacuum. Rather, they manifest themselves in relation to differences in beliefs
and motivations, physical and sexual abuse, temperament, and victimization
that can arise from and within the many interpersonal and intrapersonal
relationship interactions that make up an adolescents quotes social world.
Alcohol, illegal substance abuse, gang membership, and accessibility to
firearms each play a role and place unique brand on adolescent violent
behaviors. Lifestyle, opportunity, chronic poverty and weapon-carrying are
other factors implicated in the escalation of aggression and victimization
occurring among adolescents in our nation’s schools, homes, and
communities. Violence committed by adolescents is neither a new, nor rare
phenomena. Although predominate stereotypes place the focus of most violence
within the poverty stricken, drug-dominated inner-city neighborhoods and
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schools, violence among adolescents spans all ethnic groups, socio-economic
levels, all lifestyles, and exists within both urban and rural communities.
AGGRESSIVE YOUTH
Youth violence is a complex public health problem with many risk
factors, including individual beliefs and behaviors such as early aggression and
use of alcohol or other drugs; family characteristics such as spousal abuse and
lack of parental supervision; peer and school influences such as associating
with delinquent friends; and environmental factors such as access to firearms.
This complexity presents many challenges for those who are working to prevent
youth violence.
The Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) defines violence
"as any act that causes psychological, emotional, or physical harm to
individuals and/or communities, or causes damage to property"
There are numbers of theories about violence. Such as
❖ Culture of violence theory
❖ Psychopathology theory
❖ Social cognition theory
❖ Drive theory
❖ Instinct theory
❖ Social learning theory
❖ Conflict theory
❖ and impression management theory
These theories have all attempted to explain the mechanisms that form
the foundational basis for violence. However, no single theory has yet been able
to explain the multi-faceted components of the social, psychological, and
biophysical facets that appear to be intertwined within violent behaviors.
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BULLYING
Aggressive behavior may be bullying depending on what happened,
how often it happens and who it happens to. Find out what bullying is and
what the different types are. You can also learn more about other topics related
to bullying. Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged
children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is
repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time. Bullying includes
actions such as making threats, spreading rumors, attacking someone
physically or verbally, and excluding someone from a group on purpose.
Aggression is behavior leading to self-assertion; it may arise from innate drives
and/or a response to frustration, and may be manifested by destructive and
attacking behavior, by hostility and obstructionism, or by self-expressive drive
to mastery.
Aggression is forceful behavior, action, or attitude that is expressed
physically, verbally, or symbolically. It may arise from innate drives or occur as
a defense mechanism, often resulting from a threatened ego. It is manifested by
either constructive or destructive acts directed toward oneself or against
others.
Kinds of aggression are constructive aggression, destructive aggression,
and inward aggression. Aggression [ah-gresh´un] is a form of physical or verbal
behavior leading to self-assertion; it is often angry and destructive and
intended to be injurious, physically or emotionally, and aimed at domination of
one person by another. It may arise from innate drives and/or be a response to
frustration, and may be manifested by overt attacking and destructive
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behavior, by covert attitudes of hostility and obstructionism, or by a healthy
self-expressive drive to mastery.
Violence increases dramatically in the second decade of life, peaking
during late adolescence at 12 to 20 percent of all young people and dropping off
again sharply by the early twenties. Some of these youths followed the
childhood-onset trajectory, becoming violent before puberty and escalating
their rate of offending during adolescence. These youths gave little indication of
problem behavior in childhood and did not have poor relations with their
parents.
Patterns of Adolescent Violence
Tolan and Guerra cite the 1986 work of Elliott and his
colleagues in stressing that "not all adolescent violence is of the same form or
cause or will be best addressed by the same response" (1994,). They go on to
cite other researchers as they delineate four patterns of adolescent violence:
Situational Violence
Situational violence is related to specific situations that
apparently function as catalysts that lead to the violent act and increase its
seriousness. Among these catalysts are extreme heat, weekends, times of social
stress, frustration in pursuing planned events, unavoidable accidents or
events, poverty, social discrimination and oppression, availability of handguns,
and alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use.
Relational Violence
Relational violence "arises from interpersonal disputes
between persons with ongoing relationships, in particular among friends and
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family members". Children who witness violence between their parents are at
increased risk to act violently toward and among other children.
Predatory Violence
Predatory violence has been studied more than any of the other
three types of violence. Researchers have found that it is often part of a pattern
of serious chronic antisocial behavior, is predictable, and generally starts in
early adolescence and develops slowly over time.
Psychopathological Violence
Psychopathological violence accounts for less than 1
percent of adolescent violence, but it is a particularly virulent form. It is
generally more repetitive and extreme than the other types of violence, and it is
the clearest example of individual psychopathology that is probably related to
neurological deficits and/or psychological trauma.
Re-Directional and De-Escalation Efforts
Besides general aspects that are needed to address parents
behavior there are practical tools that you can use to implement re-direction
and de-escalation efforts:
Effective Communication
Communication is a two-way street. The adolescent process
can be relatively easy and smooth if parents learn how to communicate
effectively with their children right from the beginning. After all, if parents are
sufficiently committed to their own moral beliefs if they have any, they can
encourage their children to learn about and discuss those beliefs as they grow
up, and there won’t be so much for the children to challenge in adolescence.
Don’t be authoritarian
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But if parents and teachers are authoritarian and impose
their beliefs on their children, that only gives the children that much more to
challenge later. Of course, when discipline becomes abuse, more disturbing
childhood behavior can occur, such as bullying. Psychologically, most bullies
are children who are being abused at home and who then turn on their peers.
In fact, this is the origin of the classic taunt to a bully.
Lack of “Normality”
Many persons think that if a someone looks ordinary then he
or she must be “normal.” Well, there are also a lot of people in this world who
know what a dysfunctional family is, and they know very well that above all
else dysfunctional families do their very best to always look ordinary.
Use positive re-directions
Instead of negative reprimands ("that was a mistake"),
use positive re-directions with concern statements ("that's possible; let's see
what someone else thinks." Also, if parents lack spiritual and moral beliefs,
their children will grow up without any sense of honest, compassionate
discipline.
Use Of Alcohol And Illicit Drugs
Substance use, which was a strong predictor of later violence for
children, poses a small risk of later violence for adolescents. The question as to
whether drug use causes young people to become violent is complex and has
been widely studied but there is little compelling pharmacological evidence
linking illicit drug use and violence. Illicit drug use tends to begin after the
onset of violence and to be associated with more frequent violent behavior and
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a longer criminal career, If any substance can be said to cause youth violence,
that substance is alcohol.
Teach appropriate behavior
Teach appropriate behavior during small infractions .Use
role-plays, modeling, and expectation statements with your children. Assist
your child in finding nonviolent strategies for anger management and conflict
resolution. Seek help from mental health/school counselors to help stop
bullying and aggressive behavior.
Aggressive and Violent movies and music
The real problem with violent movies and music is actually twofold.
First, such forms of entertainment are popular because they allow teenagers to
experience an outward expression of the very same anger and frustration they
are already feeling inwardly because of their dysfunctional lives. Second, such
forms of entertainment have a tendency to “infect” us with their destructive
values of hostility, revenge, and vulgarity.
Invite children to help
Invite children to help set up the rules for daily activities.
Encouraging rule development by youth fosters critical thinking and shares
responsibility for why things happen as they do.
Education everyone benefits
Take interest in your child’s education and development
Read to your child and encourage your child to read. Meet with your child’s
teachers often and learn about your child’s progress. Review homework and
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tests. Set short- and long-term educational goals together and help your
children reach their goals. The presence of guns can turn conflicts into violent
confrontations resulting in serious injury or death.
Avoid Guns
Guns are more likely to kill a friend or family member
(unintentionally or through suicide) than an enemy. Parents-don’t own a
gun; but if you do, store it unloaded and uncocked in a locked place.
Keeping weapons in the home may put you at a legal risk as well as expose
your family and neighborhood to physical danger. Recognize If you do
choose to keep firearms and ammunition at home ensure they are securely
locked and stored separately and that children know that weapons
(including cutlasses, knives, etc.) are never to be touched without your
express permission or supervision
Conclusion
Adolescents (ah-duh-less-unts) are older children aged 12 to 18 years
old. The adolescent or teenage years are often stressful because your teenager
is going through many changes. Youth violence is a complex public health
problem with many risk factors, including individual beliefs and behaviors
such as early aggression and use of alcohol or other drugs; Violence increases
dramatically in the second decade of life, peaking during late adolescence.
Adolescents exposed to violence at home may experience some of the same
emotions and difficulties as younger school-age children—for example, fear,
guilt, anxiety, depression, and trouble concentrating in school There are four
patterns of adolescent violence1) Situational Violence, 2) Relational violence ,
3) Predatory violence, and 4) Psychopathological violence. Parents’ direct
influence on behavior is largely eclipsed by peer influence during adolescence.
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There is an urgent need to address parents behavior.There are practical tools
that you can used like: Communication, parental discipline , positive
re-directions, Present a model of nonviolent behavior, keep check with violent
movies and music, Encourage rule development by critical thinking and
sharing responsibility, Take interest in your child’s education and
development, Guns are more likely to kill a friend or family member than an
enemy so avoid guns.
References
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brarkuljeet@gmail.com brarkuljeet@yahoo.com Mobile:9814864084
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