Violence Among Youth

Ah, welcome back mates! Hope everything has went well since last time. Everything has been pretty good since it’s cooled off a bit and I can actually enjoy the nice weather that we’re having. There have been so many things on my mind since I last left off, that I hardly know where to begin. I wish I could share everything, but unfortunately I can’t. Now that I think about it, there is one thing that has had me wondering for a few days now. Violence, one of the negative aspects of culture in my opinion, has been present for thousands of years. However, I found it quite disturbing to learn that violence has evolved to include and affect our youth, so much so that it is rapidly becoming a problem spinning out of control.

Did you know that one in every three teenagers who attend school in the states don’t feel safe at school? Moreover, were you aware that reportedly fourteen percent of high school students carry weapons to school? If you didn’t its okay, neither did I before reading an article titled Behavioral Strategies for Constructing Nonviolent Cultures With Youth: A Review. Now I’m not one to get bogged down in statistics, but you’ve got to agree that its insane that more than three-thousand youth die every year due to violence and crime towards one another, moreover each teenager by the time they are in young adulthood would have witnessed tens of thousands of simulated murders. In the past decade or so, there has been much debate about who’s to blame for violence amongst our youth. Many say that it is the violence portrayed by the media, however I beg to differ.

Violence as I mentioned earlier, has existed in our culture for thousands of years, therefore one has to acknowledge that it is a problem that is deeply embedded within culture and not just one isolated source is the cause of all the madness.
For those of you who understand what I’m telling you, there is hope. In fact, that is what the entire article focuses on, solutions to a problem that has caused much turmoil in the past thousands of years. In order to find a solution to a problem, the problem not only must be identified, but what’s not working to solve the problem must be identified as well. With that said, the article discusses ineffective approaches that were incorporated into programs aimed at solving violence among youth. Such methods included focusing in on the problem such as the child or the child’s family, viewing individuals as the source of where the violence came from, as well as not using contextual strategies wherever possible.

So, if those methods don’t work, what does work? Well according to the article, active teaching of appropriate social behavior, clear communication of rules, consistent provision of corrective consequences, as well as ongoing monitoring of data is crucial for behavior modification programs to work. One program in particular reported by the Surgeon General suggested designing programs that focus on the following; enhancing positive student behavior, attendance, and academic achievement through rewards, establishes clear rules and directions, as well as praise and approval.

Although all of the aforementioned could easily be translated into effective programs, the article readily recognizes that there is still work to be done. The article concludes by saying that there is a need for programs with realistic outcomes that could be used in everyday settings. Another good point that the article makes is the need for social validity in ecological based programs. By making such improvements, and implementing effective programs, not only the goal of eliminating violence among youth will be achieved, but something greater as well. If these programs are successful, it will prove that even a problem that is culturally embedded can still be eradicated.

Mattaini Mark, McGuire Melissa. “Behavorial Strategies for Constructing Nonviolent Cultures with Youth: A Review.” SAGE Publications. March 2006. 19 February 2007.
http://bmo.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/30/2/184