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In the past years, the cases of teenage violence and aggression take place more often: frequently they show over the TV that teenagers bring guns to school and shot classmates or teachers. Besides, there are even more cases that are not highlighted in mass media. Psychologists try to understand the reasons for this problem since the time the first cases appeared. This paper is aimed to outline three main works dedicated to the problem of teen violence and determine the main reasons for such teens’ behavior. The paper will be divided into two parts: the literature review and the hypothesis. The literature review will contain the review of three main works in the sphere of teens’ violence, and the hypothesis part will contain the outline of main reasons for such a cruel behavior. There are hundreds of books and shot tens of movies about teenage cruelty. Social scientists and teachers, law enforcement officers and psychologists, ministers and presidents are concerned with this problem. Those who work directly with "difficult" children and those who are just worried about their children fear about security. Perhaps, it is often noticed that children with some sadistic torturing of animals, beat classmates roll in offensive. On the Internet, there are a lot of videos, shot on a mobile phone when teens "imprint" bullying peers. Not only peers but also adults suffer from aggressive kids.
Literature Review
The problem of teen violence is very significant in modern society, because teenagers will create the future society. However, the problem is that there are too few works that are worth mentioning while studying the issue of teen violence. Most of all, those works are written by police officers or parents who worry about their children. One of the works that is worth reviewing is the report made by the specialists of U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, NLC’s Institute for Youth, Education, and Families (YEF Institute). The peculiarity of this report is that it has the information about the work that has been done by the police officers in every state of the country. This report helps parents, as well as psychologists and teachers, to look deeper into this problem and understand its origins.
The other work that deals with the issue of reasons of teen violence and how to avoid it, is the book of William Goodwin Teen Violence. In this book the author gives an overview on the most frequent causes of such a cruel behavior. Moreover, the author gives advice on how to avoid such behavior in young age. The third book that is worth mentioning is the book written by Hoffman and Summers Teen Violence: A Global View. The author states that nowadays the issue of adult violence is urgent, however, adults, including teachers and parents, do not pay attention to the violence among teenagers. However, such kind of violence might be even more dangerous, because teenagers do not realize all the harmfulness of their behavior. The peculiarity of the book is that it contains facts and researches not from the United States of America, but about teens from all over the world. This book is useful because it helps the reader to compare kinds and reasons of teen violence in different regions; perhaps, this helps to understand different cultures better. Moreover, the authors of the book propose different solutions to this problem, taking into account different cultures and regions of the world. The point is that this book helps to understand the whole world looking through the prism of violence, because children as well as teenagers are those who reflect everything they see and feel.
Hypothesis
Recently, the media actively illuminate the frightening incidents, actors who become teenagers. The frequency of occurrence of such materials in the media clearly shows the adult world that starts to drift adolescent development is quite dangerous. This turbulent age is extremely inconvenient for us, so the desires of adults to step aside, and give the young people a chance to "sow their wild oats" in order to then take them to our decent society mature and balanced personalities, is quite natural.
But it seems that without our maturation, a process can go on somewhat damaged. Perhaps, we should not be included in the life of teenagers, but be prepared to solve the problems of teenage parents, which can be done by teachers, social workers and psychologists specializing in adolescence.
Causes of juvenile violence may be numerous. We are all very different, so each case must be studied separately. Sometimes a man shows aggression to someone from relatives, friends or pets-time fee. This behavior may be part of his "research." The task of adolescence - to check the boundaries of this world, the framework of what is permitted, check the stability of society and specific adults, determination of cause-effect relationships between phenomena. For the same reason, due to his interest, a young child may, for example, begin to tear off a butterfly's wings. There is no purposeful "immoral" cruelty, there is curiosity, sympathy and compassion may temporarily fade. If an adult is faced with such a situation, it is important to remain stable, do not use child shame or fear of rejection as a major educational strategy. Our habitual reactions like "How could you do that?" or "If so - you're not my son," are unlikely to lead to the fact that the teenager will be more careful with other people. On the contrary, would give rise to a riot, protest or self-doubt. Understanding the needs of children, it is important to give a clear advice to a teenager, but not degrading feedback: tell them about your pain, anger, confusion.
The study boundaries of his "I", learning ability to fend for themselves, the desire for security may also be manifested in one-time, situational forms of cruelty. In this case it is necessary to offer other forms of treatment to a teenager with aggression: regular exercise, visit the sections of martial arts, participation in team sports and games. In such circumstances, the fighting spirit, excitement, competition takes the form which, on the one hand, is acceptable to the community, on the other - meets the challenges of the psyche.
The third aspect of teenage violence, which has a connection with the natural laws of psychology, is its brutality, manifested in the group. Even the adults in the crowd start to behave uncommon, sometimes contrary to their own moral principles. In certain circumstances a person, not prone to violence, may suddenly show cruelty. By law of the crowd there is a general decline in intelligence with the removed personal responsibility for their actions. At the same time, we know that the adolescent is extremely important to belong to a group of peers, and the fear of being outside the group to become a target of ridicule peers can push situational teenager to participate in group activities. In the subsequent proceedings alone in the office of a psychologist, members of such incidents often look very confused; some really can not understand how they could become members of the collective violent outbursts.
Another question is what could be the reason regular, recurring violence in the adolescent? If you see a teenager regardless of the situation brutality to all kinds of people, there is reason to assume that, first, he has accumulated a lot of anger inside, and the rebellion, resentment, spills over "to the wrong address," and secondly, he for some reason has "broken" the mechanism responsible for the recognition of the suffering of another person - the mechanism of sympathy, compassion. In this case it is necessary to understand who the real target of anger is and how that "unit" of compassion was not earned.
One can not be a perfect parent. All of us, adults, bear the consequences of the mistakes of our own parents, we bear the consequences of injuries suffered in childhood from their peers and teachers, are living the consequences of natural and socio-political upheavals. So, naturally, some of our words or actions are traumatic for our children. It is important not to "fall" in the guilt and despair, and learn to understand the mistakes that we made, and with the help of experts to find ways to correct them. If a teenager demonstrates multiple, intentionally cruel behavior, the adults around him should take action, first, parents, then, educators and professionals.
Parental cruelty can have many forms. Of course, physical punishment, domestic violence is a cause of this behavior of a person in adolescence. A child can not resist, stress accumulates and grows, there is a displacement of the object, and other people and creatures can suffer: students of junior classes, "nerds", old people, animals.
However, it should be borne in mind that violence can occur unconsciously and in quite affluent families in the form of ignoring the natural needs of the child. In infancy, injury may occur if the baby is crying, and his mother does not respond. In a later age it can be traumatic to ban or harsh condemnation of study of the world: mom can show excessive fear or indirectly accuse of betraying if a child shows interest in something or someone other than his mother. Time passes and the essential need of the child is the creation of some of his product: he needed something to paint, sculpt, perform. During this period, it will be cruel ridicule the child. It would seem that what's terrible - no child is physically punished? However, from the point of view of the laws of development of the mind, repetitive traumatic words and estimates may cause substantial damage. If such harmful educational strategies are systematically practiced in the family, the child gradually learns to be insensitive not only to their own pain, but also to the pain of another person.
Upon detection of violence in adolescent, they must turn to psychologists and figure out how to restructure the system of relationships in the family, so that it responds to the vital needs of each other. Seeking outside help is often associated with some embarrassment: here everyone will understand that people have a problem, and they will condemn. But a trained psychologist will not require perfection from anyone, not to look guilty. His task - to build a trusting, respectful, safe relationship with each member of the family and offer assistance in working together to correct mistakes and build a family dialogue. If the family is taken to discuss, not to ignore the problem, it is accepted to be sorry if someone is wrong, it is accepted to notice each other, and the reasons for the brutality will eventually become less and less.
Psychologists and sociologists studying the issue identify the following possible causes of aggressive behavior in adolescents.
· Family.
· Surroundings teenager outside the home.
· Modern theaters.
· Lack of authority (especially positive).
· Impunity.
· The desire to assert itself at the expense of a weaker man.
· The inability to put themselves in the place of the victim.
· The lack of tolerance (tolerance) in the community, including young people.
· The popularity of computer games - shooters.
According to sociologists, in the past 10 years, the level of communication between teenagers at school has changed dramatically. Not only boys became more cruel, but also girls. Rudeness was more than an order of magnitude. And this is the norm among most students now. Boys are rude because of poor vocabulary, or low self-esteem. If at home a teenager is accustomed to the fact that someone holds sway over him, then he will try to gain prestige and power of rudeness out of it.
Many school "authorities" do not like to be cruel, but they have to in order not to lose their positions. There will always be a few classmates that will support the "cruelty." Typically, these teenagers are either from dysfunctional families, or children of wealthy parents. And they both get used to getting whatever they want, using brute force. Most teenage cruelty manifested precisely when peers unite to form a "pack." We may reduce the level of violence by preventing the formation of potentially dangerous groups. And it is the task of adults, teachers and parents. Children's cruelty as a social phenomenon is rather offensive. In most cases it leads to more crime. It is noteworthy that in recent years there is a decline of child crime. However, relying on the statistics is not necessary. In many cases, parents prefer to resolve issues "amicably" and do not write statements to the police. Appeasement of the injured party, the threats - the course is everything. The percentage of latent (hidden) crimes is unknown.
Some time ago, scientists authoritatively stated that they identified the "gene of evil." Ostensibly, the pursuit of violence, murder, lies, and to the rest is inherited. Heredity is quite the real thing. But it would be naive to blame the genes only. Environment plays a significant role too. At a time when parents drink, fight and swear, it is very hard to be a good and kind child. Another important point - that way of life that is promoted on television, in newspapers and magazines, it is difficult to call it "perfect". We are taught to drink and smoke, kill and rape, and show it to the positive side. There are a lot of computer games in the "shooter" section. Such children may hit the envy of even the snipers pros.
Of great importance are the media, which abound in cruelty in all its forms. Given that the child's mind is extremely susceptible to external influences, the risk of violence on television and the Internet is obvious. Another very important reason for the teen violence: they have nothing to do. In the district there are a lot of teams and clubs, but teenagers "at risk" do not want it, they may be interested in the street. Dance, skating, boxing, swimming - all these cost a lot and is often too expensive for parents.
References
Feldnam, C., Vercammen P. (1998). Youth violence puts the spotlights on mass media. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/US/9803/26/media.violence/
Goodwin, W. (1998), Teen violence. Retrieved from http://www.dikseo.teimes.gr/spoudastirio/E-NOTES/T/Teen_Violence_Viewpoints.pdf
Hoffman, A. M., Summers, R.W., (2001). Teen violence: A global view.Greenwood Press
Lang, S.S. (1994) Vital Partners (2006). Retrieved from http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/files/ric/publications/e0207659_vital%20partners.pdf
Paludi, M. (2011). The psychology of teen violence and victimization. ABC-CLIO
Robinson, L. (2010). Interventions and restorative responses to address teen violence against parents. Retrieved from http://www.wcmt.org.uk/reports/828_1.pdf
Watts, F. (n.d.).Teen violence: Who is policing our youth? Retrieved from http://www.cambridge.k12.mn.us/TEEN%20VIOLENCE.pdf