Violence and Adolescents

Paper Summary:

The primary research question that investigated through the conduct of this research paper was: Are there specific characteristics of the lives of adolescents that are linked to violent behaviors in school environments, and, if so, what are these characteristics? Three hypotheses were formulated and tested in this study. Firstly, adolescents from dysfunctional and functional families are characterized by a higher frequency of violent offending in school than persons from stable families; secondly, adolescents who use illegal drugs are characterized by a higher frequency of violent offending in school than students who do not use such drugs; and, thirdly, adolescents who are affiliated with street gangs are characterized by a higher frequency of violent offending in school than students with no such affiliations.
The major conclusion drawn from the study findings was that violent behavior on the part of adolescents in school environments are linked directly to characteristics of the lives of adolescents. A second conclusion drawn was that the sociological theory of interaction is useful in explaining adolescent violent behavior. The paper includes tables.

From the Paper:

"Crime, especially violent criminal behavior, by teenagers is a major social and criminal justice problem in the contemporary United States (Brantly & DiRosa, 1994). In the face of numerous initiatives from all levels of government, however, criminal and violent behavior has continued to increase in frequency. A wide variety of explanations are offered for this phenomenon; however, few such explanations have proved valid over the long-term (Wilson, 1994). One explanation offered for the increase in juvenile criminal and violent behavior is desensitization."

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• Research Paper # 102554 : "TV Violence and Aggression"

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