Causes of violence among the youths and young adults Essay

Our current society’s ever bringing up youths. In the most modern society, youths are viewed as tomorrow’s leaders. It’s the parents up-bringing formula that shall serve to make them or break them. As they grow up daily these young adults acquire behaviors that seemingly contribute much to their final being. These acts of behavior may either humble them or cause them to acquire a level of aggression that may be detrimental between them and their immediate environment within which they occupy. The concern at this point in time is to evaluate the major inducers of aggression in these youths. This paper shall establish the reasons why the youth and generally people engage in acts of aggression and acts of violence. Its along these lines that psychologist will seek to establish the reason(s) as to why some students in class behave differently as compared to others in the same class or study level. It shall investigate into the role played by social learning towards producing aggressive actions and behaviors among the youth people. It’s important that the immediate acquaintances of these youths get assisted in explaining the rationale for the said aggression. This shall help in understanding them incase they choose to behave in a way they sometimes do behave. A recent research, â€Å"(Godow KD & Sprafkin J. , Field experiments of television violence with children: evidence for an environmental hazard? Department of Psychiatry, State University of New York, Stony Brook 11794-8790. )†, establishes that youth violence and aggression arises from watching TV, but considering our society today, antagonism in youths goes beyond just watching TV. As a result, it’s the role of this paper to study the causes with the aim of filling this knowledge gap. Also, , this shall serve to empower the youths with the implications of indulging in cases of social maladjustments, and which they have to change as they grow up. Hypotheses: After study, this paper shall seek to prove three issues. That, one, does TV programs contribute towards arousing aggression in youths and young adults? Two, it shall investigate for a correlation the kind of friends young people make friends with along their social corridors that contribute towards building aggression in the society. Despite friends, are there some other factors contributing to the whole idea of aggression and acts of violence amongst the youths? Methodology: In carrying out this research, both qualitative and quantitative methods shall be used. Basic measurements and or instruments shall be employed, including surveys, interviews, use of focus groups and observations. In surveys and focus groups, standard numbers of respondents ought to be used with the aim of reducing discrepancies in the data collected. Interviews on the other side will be run through acquiring information from key informants about the cases that are currently prevailing around the cities. It shall involve moving from college to college and researching for the information from the school heads concerning â€Å"rogues† and other maladjusted students in the college. It shall also involve moving from door to door, and upon encountering a family with youths, the parents shall be subjected to a question session, with the aim of establishing the mode of family upbringing adopted in that particular family. After running interviews across different households, the records shall be compared for eventual decision making. The use of the survey questionnaire shall have to be both semi-structured and also unstructured in type. This shall be carried out across all major social places and preferably over the weekend, with the expectation to capture as much information as possible. Conversely, the respondents chosen in the focus groups will be made on a random base, whereas interviews shall be selected in a discriminating manner. Information shall be collected through interviews, observations and filling in of questionnaires. In observations, researschers ought to observe keenly all that they come across during the trips to colleges interviews shall be carried out in different town neighborhoods, from door to door and using the same questioning schedule. Researchers hall be expected to collect timely data and make systematic recording to avoid unnecessary errors and memory bias. A good and fair sample shall be used as the results ought to bring out a generalization theory about the population under study. They ought to make first hand recording using the available instruments on board. In interviews, researchers ought to move from door to door and using recording instruments such as tape recorders, researchers ought to carry out a one-on-one interview with different members of the public and through social places across major cities. Clarification shall be made, in situations where unclear information is given. Necessary preparations shall be made, and all the resources availed to the researcher with the aim of spear heading the research process. Questionnaires on the same subject shall be formulated to be send to different homes and neighborhoods to accompany questioning process. A questionnaire shall be filled in by the willing members of the given focus group of our choice. The only criterion towards such a focus group is that they ought to be able to read and also write. After executing all these, the results shall be critically analyzed and conclusions and or discussions drawn. Results: From the research findings, it’s established that teenagers with aggressive behaviors normally have psychiatric disorders. For some cases, the aggression levels were so much pronounced that the victims had to be hospitalized, or search for medical consultation. For instance at a child’s center, it was established that above 60% had a psychiatric disorder, disregarding conduct disorder; and among many that were common included conduct disorders, substance use related disorders, behavior disorders and above all mood disorders. The latter was more prevalent. It was also established (from the research taken at the colleges) that 70% of the behaviors painted amongst the youths was purely learned. Crews and other hordes of boys from different estates and cities tended to have similar character traits, and so were the girls; and more to that, they seemed to have a back-up for each other, and in whatever the activity they involved in. These character traits differed so much from one group to the next. A group of youths from Texas was so much different from one whose home town was, for instance, Illinois. Similarly, out of the thirty families in the focus groups, 55% of them proved to have deserted their children completely. According to the parents, the kids were to establish their own lives, including choosing the kinds of friends to make friends with. They had no much influence on the choice of the type of friends to walk around with. Whether these children chose on the wrong counterparts, or not, was none of their business. 20% of the remainder of the group showed concern over the kind of friends that their children chose. Infact, it was the role of the children to inform the family on the â€Å"new† friend that the child is currently making friends with. Other factors that were seen to contribute towards aggressiveness and violence included hostile interactions between family members. Three families that were interviewed said that it was the parents’ role to develop and sustain filial love amongst the children. It was bitter to realize that, in one family, it lost a family member due to the hatred that existed among the children, and which they were not aware. It was also established that on any Monday, four out of forty students in a class at colleges and even universities in the US were great participants in abusing drugs. Some of the substances abused include mainly alcohol, cocaine and cigarettes. Friday nights carried most of these college going students and all through the weekend. And come Monday, students extended the weekend hangovers to class. Such students were quite rowdy, rough, aggressive and a nuisance to the learning atmosphere in classes. In the last family that was visited, parents admitted that it was their mode of life that impacted heavily on the aggression of the children. Ghetto life was proving unbearable to them and in particular, it contributed to the sidelining of the children by their fellow peers. The children could not take part in the normal peer social activities because of their little financial ability. Discussion: There’s significant evidence that explains that the acts of aggression and acts of violence amongst the youths is greatly as a result of an individual’s interaction between him/her and the immediate environment. As a result, parents have a key responsibility in terms of bringing up a young adult. Factors related to abuse and a child’s discipline is important when it comes to studying a child’s aggression. One needs to simply study the nature of the child’s upbringing. In particular, substance use related disorders may be handy to analyzing a maladjusted child, stemming from parental carelessness. The environment may impact positively or even negatively on a child’s nurturing state. Close association with peer group members, which are of deviant behavior also leads to aggression and acts of violence. Similarly, continued exposure to TV and other forms of media are greatest catalysts of violence. Listening to TV programs with harsh inflammatory statements while still at a tender age in a youth’s life may have a strong impact upon his or her life to come. For instance a youth who is used to watching movies with a horrific theme and TV action movies such as blackmail may tend to grow up taking after such program actors in character. Movies such as â€Å"Halloween† shouldn’t be shown to youngsters below the minimal adult qualifying age. . Poverty in the family contributes to aggression. Lack of the basic needs of the children and the inability to lead a â€Å"classy† or up-to-date life can impact heavily on the child’s ability to socialize. Negligence or lack of keeping a keen eye on the children as they grow is a major proponent to aggression amongst the youths. Parents have a key responsibility in terms of advising the child on the social network established and to be established. They can also help avoid the use of drugs in the youths. Lastly, as seen above, most of the behaviors related to violence and aggression are psychiatric in nature. As a result, parents with such cases in the families should seek the consultation of a doctor. Psychiatrists, psychologists and other clinical doctors can be handy in bringing a solution to such mental related complications. In adults, traditional mood stabilizers could be applied to curb violent behavior such as psychosis. References: Robert A. B, Donn E. B. (1984), Social psychology: Understanding Human interaction, University of California Leo J. Bastiaens, MD and Ida K. (2006) Bastiaens Youth Aggression: Economic Impact, Causes, Prevention, and Treatment Psychiatric Times. Vol. 23 No. 11 Godow KD & Sprafkin J. (1993), Field experiments of television violence with children: evidence for an environmental hazard? Department of Psychiatry, State University of New York, Stony Brook 11794-8790