YOUTH VIOLENCE

Violence by young people is one of the most visible forms of violence in society. Around the world, newspapers and the broadcast media report daily on violence by gangs, in schools or by young people on the streets. The main victims and perpetrators of such violence, almost everywhere, are themselves adolescents and young adults. Homicide and non-fatal assaults involving young people contribute greatly to the global burden of premature death, injury and disability. Youth violence deeply harms not only its victims, but also their families, friends and communities. Its effects are seen not only in death, illness and disability, but also in terms of the quality of life. Violence involving young people adds greatly to the costs of health and welfare services, reduces productivity, decreases the value of property, disrupts a range of essential services and generally undermines the fabric of society.

What are the risk factors for youth violence?

Individual factors

At the individual level, factors that affect the potential for violent behaviour include biological, psychological and behavioural characteristics. These factors may already appear in childhood or adolescence, and to varying degrees they may be influenced by the person’s family and peers and by other social and cultural factors.

Biological characteristics

Among possible biological factors, there have been studies on injuries and complications associated with pregnancy and delivery, because of the suggestion that these might produce neurological damage, which in turn could lead to violence.

Psychological and behavioural characteristics

Among the major personality and behavioural factors that may predict youth violence are hyperactivity, impulsiveness, poor behavioural control and attention problems. Nervousness and anxiety, though, are negatively related to violence.

Relationship factors

Factors associated with the interpersonal relations of young people –with their family, friends and peers – can strongly affect aggressive and violent behaviour and shape personality traits that, in turn, can contribute to violent behaviour. The influence of families is usually the greatest in this respect during childhood, while during adolescence friends and peers have an increasingly important effect.

Family influences

Parental behaviour and the family environment are central factors in the development of violent behaviour in young people. Poor monitoring and supervision of children by parents and the use of harsh, physical punishment to discipline children are strong predictors of violence during adolescence and adulthood.

Peer influences

Peer influences during adolescence are generally considered positive and important in shaping interpersonal relationships, but they can also have negative effects. Having delinquent friends, for instance, is associated with violence in young people.

Community factors

The communities in which young people live are an important influence on their families, the nature of their peer groups, and the way they may be exposed to situations that lead to violence. Generally speaking, boys in urban areas are more likely to be involved in violent behaviour than those living in rural areas. Within urban areas, those living in neighbourhoods with high levels of crime are more likely to be involved in violent behaviour than those living in other neighbourhoods.

Gangs, guns and drugs

The presence of gangs, guns and drugs in a locality is a potent mixture, increasing the likelihood of violence.

Social integration

The degree of social integration within a community also affects rates of youth violence. Social capital is a concept that attempts to measure such community integration. It refers, roughly speaking, to the rules, norms, obligations, reciprocity and trust that exist in social relations and institutions.

Societal factors

Several societal factors may create conditions conducive to violence among young people. Much of the evidence related to these factors, though, is based on cross-sectional or ecological studies and is mainly useful for identifying important associations, rather than direct causes.

Demographic and social changes

Rapid demographic changes in the youth population, modernization, emigration, urbanization and changing social policies have all been linked with an increase in youth violence.

Income inequality

Research has shown links between economic growth and violence, and between income inequality and violence. It is true that income inequality is strongly linked with homicide rates, and that such rates also decrease as the per capita GDP increase.

Political structures

The quality of governance in a country, both in terms of the legal framework and the policies offering social protection, is an important determinant of violence. 

Cultural influences

Culture, which is reflected in the inherited norms and values of society, helps determine how people respond to a changing environment. Cultural factors can affect the amount of violence in a society – for instance, by endorsing violence as a normal method to resolve conflicts and by teaching young people to adopt norms and values that support violent behaviour.

What can be done to prevent youth

violence?

Individual approaches

The most common interventions against youth violence seek to increase the level of protective factors associated with individual skills, attitudes and beliefs. Social development programmes to reduce antisocial and aggressive behaviour in children and violence among adolescents adopt a variety of strategies. These commonly include improving competency and social skills with peers and generally promoting behaviour that is positive, friendly and cooperative. Such programmes can be provided universally or just to high-risk groups and are most frequently carried out in school settings. Typically, they focus on one or more of the following:

• —managing anger;
• —modifying behaviour;
• —adopting a social perspective;
• —moral development;
• —building social skills;
• —solving social problems;
• —resolving conflicts.

Other interventions targeting individuals that may be effective include the following, though further evidence is needed to confirm their effect on violent and aggressive behaviour:

• programmes to prevent unintended pregnancies, so as to reduce child maltreatment and the risk it poses for later involvement in violent behaviour;
• —for similar reasons, programmes to increase access to prenatal and postnatal care;
• —academic enrichment programmes;
• —incentives for youths at high risk for violence to complete secondary schooling and to pursue courses of higher education;
• —vocational training for underprivileged youths and young adults.

Relationship approaches

Another common set of prevention strategies address youth violence by attempting to influence the type of relations that young people have with others with whom they regularly interact. These programmes address such problems as the lack of emotional relations between parents and children, powerful pressures brought to bear by peers to engage in violence and the absence of a strong relationship with a caring adult.

Home visitation

One type of family-based approach to preventing youth violence is home visitation. This is an intervention conducted in infancy (ages 0–3 years) involving regular visits by a nurse or other health care professional to the child’s home.

Training in parenting

Skill training programmes on parenting aim to improve family relations and child-rearing techniques and thereby to reduce youth violence. Their objectives include improving the emotional bonds between parents and their children, encouraging parents to use consistent child-rearing methods and helping them to develop self-control in bringing up children.

Therapeutic and other approaches

Therapeutic approaches have also been used with families to prevent youth violence. There are many forms of such therapy, but their common objectives are to improve communications and interactions between parents and children and to solve problems that arise.

Community-based efforts

Interventions addressing community factors are those that attempt to modify the environments in which young people interact with each other. A simple example is improving street lighting, where poorly-lit areas may increase the risk of violent assaults occurring.

Community policing

Community or problem-oriented policing has become an important law enforcement strategy for addressing youth violence and other criminal problems in many parts of the world. It can take many forms, but its core ingredients are building community partnerships and solving community problems.

Availability of alcohol

Another community strategy to address crime and violence is to reduce the availability of alcohol. As alcohol is an important situational factor that can precipitate violence.

Extracurricular activities

Extracurricular activities – such as sports and recreation, art, music, drama and producing newsletters – can provide adolescents with opportunities to participate in and gain recognition for constructive group activities.

Suppressing gang violence

Community programmes to prevent gang violence have taken on several forms. Preventive strategies have included attempts to suppress gangs or to organize communities affected by gang violence in such a way that youth gangs operate differently and with less criminal activities.

Societal approaches

Changing the social and cultural environment to reduce violence is the strategy that is least frequently employed to prevent youth violence.

Addressing poverty

Policies to reduce the concentration of poverty in urban areas may be effective in combating youth

violence.

Tackling gun violence among youths

Changing the social environment so as to keep guns and other lethal weapons out of the hands of children and unsupervised young people may be a viable strategy for reducing the number of deaths arising from youth violence.

          (THIS ARTICLE HAS WRITTEN WITH THE HELP OF WHO PUBLICATIONS)