Teen Violence Research Paper
Teen violence is a major dilemma in the society today. The teenagers start exhibiting their violent behaviors with their family members and peers and later extend to their neighbors and communities.
What the youth see on the television the Internet, through video games and music videos reinforce their negative behaviors. They try to practice what they see in the videos and hear the music. At times, when the children experience corporal punishment, verbal, sexual or physical abuse, or witness such behaviors in the home, they are likely to end up in teen violence.
Teen violence has a lot of impact on the youths of today, leading to destructive behaviors. Many teenagers face depression and end up in alcohol and substance abuse, due to violence. When under the influence of these drugs, the youth gets violent and start engaging in dangerous acts of violence. Some carry guns and knives to school, hence posting significant dangers to their peers.
They join gangs and terror groups, which are a great concern to today's society. There are different causes and forms of teenage violence. Similarly, various programs help parents and guardians to prevent and reduce teen violence.
The violent patterns among the teenagers can augment brutality and frequency. There are different types of teen violence. The primary form of teen violence is physical violence. The teenagers practice physical violence, such as hitting or terrorizing, to other teens, themselves, pets, family members and adults. The primary aim of physical violence is to cause physical pain and harm.
Dating violence involves sexual, emotional, verbal and physical violence among teenagers who are in a romantic relationship, explains O'Keeffe, Brockopp, & Chew, (1986). Either the boy or the girl becomes violent to their partners. They start physical fighting, severe teasing, striking, bullying, and rape. One or both parties become violent to the other and at times ends up in the death of one of them.
Another form of teen violence is when the teenagers practice predatory violence. It happens if the teenager is in a group of peers. Predatory violence occurs when the teenagers form groups and gangs. They practice gang- oriented crimes such as muggings, robbery with violence, murder, and kidnapping. In most cases, these youths have problems of anti- social behaviors. They become withdrawn from family and friends and lose interest in the things they once liked.
They join these gangs so as to feel that they belong.
The teenagers can also engage in situational violence. It is the form of violence that only happens when they feel stressed. The violent youth only acts when they are in distress. Different issues cause the situational stress. Some of these issues include medical conditions, poverty, social problems at home and in school, drug use and poverty. They could also behave violently when they are in short of something they need such as money or drugs. Relational violence is another form of teen violence where the violent teenagers lash out due to issues stressing their relationships, as mentioned by Paludi, (2011).
The relationships could be with friends, family or classmates. For instance, if the parents at the home fight or abuse each other, the teenager will also practice violence. Again, whenever they argue or disagree with their friends, rebellion with the authority and feel uncomfortable with a particular relationship and get stressed, they become violent. Teenagers exhibit many other forms of violence towards the community where they live.
Sometimes the community does not regard some acts of violence as serious teen violence works. For this reason, it becomes difficult to pinpoint the causes of teen violence. Several theories explain why the teenagers become violent. According to Paludi, (2011), the teenagers tend to copy what they see or hear. They also get violent if they experienced or witnessed violence in their childhood. Abuse in the home is one of the factors that increase the chances of teen violence.
If they are exposed to violence, chances are that they will be violent in their teenage and young adult lives. They experience emotional and cognitive issues, which they carry on to teenage. Social media is another major cause of teen violence. Some television shows, video games, and music files are aggressive and affect the youth. These social media contents affect their learning. Since a teenager might not have the ability to differentiate between fantasy and reality, it may lead to their violent behaviors. The teens end up misled by the video games that they play for entertainment.
Instead of educating the youth, some of the contents teach aggression.
Youth oppositional defiant disorder leads to defiance, hostility and aggression. The disorder has some symptoms that persist if the teenager does not get the right diagnosis. If a teenager has underlying health issues, they are very likely to exercise violence. However, if health caregivers discover these conditions in time and maintain them, then they decrease the chances of the symptoms occurring among the youth through pro- social behavior skills building. Alcoholism and drug abuse also affects the social practices of the teenagers and is one of the causes of aggression and violence, (Paludi, 2011). The causes of teen violence vary depending on the type of violence that a particular teenager practices.
The community supports various ways through which parents and guardians help the youth reduce teen violence. One of the tips is talking about how they could reduce and eventually eliminate teen violence. Parents talk to their teenagers about the ways of solving arguments without fighting, weapons or violence. The parents could also team up and involve the entire community in preventing teen violence. The teenagers need to feel that they can trust their parents of an adult family member. McCarthy, &Hutz, (2006) adds that it helps them in taking over a stressful situation hence reducing any chances of violence.
The parents should talk to their teenagers in case they suspect a problem. They should create an environment of free and trusted dialog.
Even though most teenagers might not allow it, parents need to monitor the media, especially music and violent television programs. If violent scenes come on televisions, parents should explain to the teens what is wrong about it. Otherwise, the teenager will think it is fine. The adult family members, especially parents and guardians should be role models in solving issues in nonviolent ways. It is not advisable to hit the teen; instead they should have none- physically- violent solutions to solving problems. If they cannot control their anger, they should ask for some time from the teenager instead of hitting them.
It is useful to reason with the youth while helping them solve a problem because they learn the proper ways to an effective problem- solving. Do not threaten the teen using guns or violence, warns McCarthy, &Hutz, (2006). Since most youths act violently out of anger, it is good to help them manage it.
While at home or in school, the teenagers exhibit warning signs and typical changes that show that they could be disturbed. When they change their behavior, it could be a healthy sign of teenage behaviors, such as wearing attention- seeking clothes, dyeing their hair, or changing fashions, (Mink, Moore, Johnson, Probst, & Martin, A. (2005). However, if it turns to tattoos, self-harm and cutting of the skin, an adult should intervene and try to understand the teenager's problems. Another warning sign is increased rebellion and arguments. Such youths tend to skip school, escalate arguments and involve themselves in violence.
In diverse cases, the youths regularly have brushes with the law.
Mood swings could be a characteristic of teenage, mentions Aitken, (2001). However,
it gets as bad as a change in personality, failing in school grades, anxiety and sleeping problems, and it could lead to depression and later to aggression. At one point in time, every teenager tests alcohol, smokes a cigarette, and a few others try bhang. However, if these habits become frequent and habitual, coupled with problems at home and in school, then the parent has reasons to worry. Another warning sign occurs when the teenager seems to get more influence from friends than parents, especially in negative behaviors. Such a teenager finds it hard to comply with rules like they used to before.
They avoid the outcome of their dangerous actions and start lying a lot. They also prefer spending more time alone than enjoying the company of their parents while at home. The parents need to seek professional assistant early enough so as to help the teenagers stop their violent actions after noticing the negative behavior.