Violence in Adolescence


There is a great concern about the incidence of violent behavior among adolescents. This complex and troubling issue needs to be carefully understood by parents, teachers, and other adults.
Children as young as preschoolers can show violent behavior. Parents and other adults who witness the behavior may be concerned. Violent behavior in a child at any age always needs to be taken seriously. It should not be quickly dismissed as "just a phase they're going through!"
Violent behavior in children and adolescents can include a wide range of behaviors: explosive temper tantrums, physical aggression,, fighting, threats or attempts to hurt others (including thoughts of wanting to kill others), use of weapons, cruelty toward animals, fire setting, intentional destruction of property and vandalism. Numerous research studies have concluded that a complex interaction or combination of factors leads to an increased risk of violent behavior in children and adolescents. These factors include:
  • Previous aggressive or violent behavior
  • Being the victim of physical abuse and/or sexual abuse
  • Exposure to violence in the home and/or community
  • Being the victim of bullying
  • Genetic (family heredity) factors
  • Exposure to violence in media (TV, movies, etc.)
  • Use of drugs and/or alcohol
  • Presence of firearms in home
  • Combination of stressful family socioeconomic factors (poverty, severe deprivation, marital breakup, single parenting, unemployment, loss of support from extended family)
Violent behavior can be decreased or even prevented if the above risk factors are significantly reduced or eliminated. Most importantly, efforts should be directed at dramatically decreasing the exposure of children and adolescents to violence in the home, community, and through the media. Clearly, violence leads to violence.

the following strategies can lessen or prevent violent behavior:
  • Prevention of child abuse (use of programs such as parent training, family support programs, etc.)
  • Sex education and parenting programs for adolescents
  • Early identification and intervention programs for violent youngsters
  • Monitoring child's viewing of violence during their screen time including the Internet, tablets, smartphones, TV, videos, and movies.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nutritional Needs Of Adolescents

Image
Adolescence is a significant period for physical growth and sexual maturation. Nutrition being an important determinant of physical growth of adolescents is an important area that needs attention. Growth retardation is one of the most important health concerns for adolescents and their parents as well as health care workers. Inadequate nutritional intake during adolescence can have serious consequences throughout the reproductive years and beyond. Poor nutrition during adolescence can impair the work capacity and productivity of adolescent boys and girls in their later years. Further, an undernourished girl is at the risk of developing complications during pregnancy and the chances of her giving birth to a low birth weight baby increases, thus perpetuating a vicious cycle of malnutrition and ill-health. Major components of food include protein, fats, carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins which perform different functions. Proteins are of greatest importance in nutrition. Pro...
Read more

Suicide Among Youth

Image
Suicide is the third leading cause of death among young adults worldwide. There is a growing recognition that prevention strategies need to be tailored to the region-specific demographics of a country and to be implemented in a culturally-sensitive manner. This review explores the historical, epidemiological and demographic factors of suicide in India and examines the strategies aimed at the prevention of suicide.  Suicide  is among the top three causes of death among youth worldwide. According to the WHO, every year, almost one million people die from suicide and 20 times more people attempt suicide; a global mortality rate of 16 per 100,000, or one death every 40 seconds and one attempt every 3 seconds, on average.  The suicide rate in India is comparable to that of Australia and the USA; and the increasing rates during recent decades is consistent with the global trend. Data on suicide in India are available from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB; Ministry of Ho...
Read more

Yoga in Adolescents

Image
Yoga is like music. The rhythm of the body, the melody of the mind, and the harmony of the soul creates the symphony of life.  Teenage yoga is an excellent way to help child deal with the overwhelming emotional and physical changes that she goes through during adolescence. Teenagers who practice yoga are less stressed and perform better than their counterparts in academics, If your teenager is looking for a way to stay fit and healthy, yoga is a great choice. It can help your teenager develop a healthy body and mind in a disciplined manner. Teenagers can find yoga practice a little daunting in the beginning, as they fear that they aren’t flexible enough to do yoga. They could be apprehensive about how they might look when they pose in different asanas (poses). Most of these fears are due to misconceptions about the practice. So let’s bust some of these myths to help your teenager understand yoga better and give it a fair chance. Yoga is fo...
Read more