Factors and Causes of Youth Violence
Other People Are Reading
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The Media
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In 1960, a couple of researchers in upstate New York studied the viewing habits of nearly 900 8-year olds. Leonard Eron, Ph.D., and Rowell Huesmann, Ph.D., kept tabs on many of these kids until they were 30 years old. Eron and Huesmann found that the children who had more violent TV viewing habits were more aggressive. Moreover, they found that those children who scored higher on aggression when they were 8 were more likely as adults to abuse their children, get arrested or violate traffic laws. There have now been hundreds of studies done about violence and the media that seem to point to the same conclusion.
Firearms
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The Surgeon General concludes in the Youth Violence report that firearms are the leading cause of youth violence. The basis for this conclusion comes from the fact that in the years 1983 to 1993, there was a crime epidemic that was in direct correlation with a rapid increase in available firearms throughout the country. The Surgeon General also has considered that the youth aren't always arrested for violent crimes, thus making them more difficult to include in their statistics. So the Surgeon General measures confidential reporting by youths themselves. In this report, 10 percent to 15 percent of high school seniors admit to committing violent acts. In the last 20 years, high school seniors' self-reported violence has increased 50 percent, and remains at the highest historic levels.
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Environment
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A person's environment can have an impact on many aspects of his life, and youth violence is no exception. Study after study has linked poor socioeconomic status together with restricted financial opportunities, and individual cases of unemployment create an ideal environment for spawning youth violence. In the book, "Predictors of Youth Violence" from the U.S. Department of Justice, researchers verify that impoverished conditions lead to youth violence. It also cites a low level of academic achievement, a low level of parent involvement, and delinquent siblings as environmental factors for causes of youth violence.
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