Causes of School Violence
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Abuse
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Although not realized until well after infancy, childhood abuse is often a driving factor in episodes of school violence. Whether a child has been physically, mentally or sexually abused, her potential for inflicting similar types of abuse on others within or outside of a school environment dramatically increases. Patterns of abuse in families may cycle from a parent who may have been abused himself down to his children; they would then suffer both directly and indirectly from the primary source of mistreatment.
Unfortunately, numerous children who have been abused are unable to speak against their abuser out of fear of retribution, rejection or even life-threatening consequences if the perpetrator is a close friend or family member. These children may release their anger, frustration and aggression out against themselves and their peers. This often occurs in a school setting. In short, violent aggression is a learned behavior and coping mechanism in many children and young adults who never learned the appropriate ways for handling conflict with words instead of violence.
Media Influence
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While the debate of whether video games cause or increase violent acts among school age children is ongoing, there is little doubt that early, repeated exposure to violent acts can and often do contribute to some instances of school violence.
According to psychotherapist and founder of The Zur Institute, Dr. Ofer Zur, the average 12-year-old child has been exposed to at least 100,000 acts of violence on television, with an additional 8,000 of those acts being murders. It is widely believed that this normalization of delinquency and specifically violence against others in the media (television programs, movies and music) has distorted youth's perception of the realities and consequences of violence. Likewise, this imagery contributes to the false belief that youth itself is a fool-proof guard against death and serious injury.
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Pathological Factors
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While self-absorption, selfishness and a self-centered view of the world is slightly normal among kids, these traits can be extremely dangerous when internalized to pathological extremes. These sociopathic traits commonly manifest as symptoms of undiagnosed mental disorders.
In terms of school violence, psychologist Shawn Johnson believes these children often become bullies due to an unnatural view of others as insignificant beings who are less than them and worthy of being treated poorly. In reality, school bullies are exerting the lack of power they have over their own lives by being cruel or even violent towards peers they can control. Despite efforts taken by school officials and teachers to curb bullying behavior, Dr. Zur's studies reveal that 75 percent of bullying goes unreported by students.
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