Youth Violence

Marita Marshall
1/24/02

YOUTH VIOLENCE

Violence in America's society is a major problem. This problem can be traced

back as far as fetal development. Is not rocket science to realize that most angry violent acts

are due to a disturbed child or individual that lacked attention, love or care. Violence is not a

new problem and scientists are just finding out new facts about how it starts and how it can be

prevented. Violence is a social problem that increases over the years. Violence is Shown in

magazines and books, on television and in the media. Violence on television is a major source

for aggressive or violent behavior, but Children also pick up violence from a parent or guardian

at an early age. It has been psychologically proven that males are more aggressive than females.

Therefore, if a child's parents are being aggressive, their actions tend

to be imitated. Children are affected very much in different ways from their families. That is why

the families role in children's life is very important. Families are the key factor in youth violence.

The early developmental stages of babies is key to starting a good life long learning

experience. This is the certain time in which their brains and behavior patterns are significantly

developing. Babies need that love and sense of closeness to obtain a healthy start. Obviously

mothers who smoke, drink or do drugs while pregnant can cause serious health problems.

Also, when they are young most of the time these problems persist. This causes children to have

the chance to obtain the same lifestyles as of the parents.

Another instance that can hurt a child's well being is when they are real little around the

ages of two to about six. Kids at this age need to be taught and especially loved. When children are neglected or left they do not get the support that they truly need to keep the growing process healthy. This is one reason that kids are committing crimes at younger ages. If people feel that they are responsible enough to have babies, they should at least take the time to help them have good lifestyles. Children are not born understanding the difference between right and wrong, it is learned from what they hear, see or are taught. At an early age, children look to models such as parents, guardians and even babysitters to base their actions on. Some people fail to see that they are being imitated and looked upon as a role model from those younger than them. If a babysitter is listening to music that contains violent lyrics or profanity, they should not be shocked if the child copies it. Parents' arguments are also taken in by the child. Parents should try not to show violence towards each other when around a child. They should also disapprove of the violent episodes in front of the children, stressing the belief that such behavior is not the best way to resolve a problem. Parents and guardians play the main role in how their child develops. Poverty is an issue in which kids are less likely to receive the care and understanding that they need to grow into responsible adults. This is not the case in all instances, however for the most part because lots of individuals base everything on monetary gain. Money cannot provide love in this world. The main thing dealing with poverty is that parents have a tough time providing nourishment for their children. In the essay " The Scapegoat Generation" By Mick Males, he sums it up by saying "teenagers do not respond to poverty more or less violently than do grownups; teenagers just experience more poverty. Once the factor is removed, ‘Teen violence' disappears..." I think that this statement shows us the importance of poverty as a factor in youth violence. Poverty is also associated with drugs and alcohol problems. Some people feel that their bad habits are more important than providing for their needy, unwanted children. American children watch an average of three to four hours of television daily, which can be a powerful influence in developing value systems and shaping behavior. Hundreds of studies of the effects of media violence on children have found that children may gradually accept violence as a way to solve problems, imitate the violence they observe on television and identify with certain characters, victims or victimizers. In "Honey, I warped the kids: The argument for eliminating movie and TV Violence" it states "By the age of 18, the average American child has witnessed at lest 18,000 simulated murders on televison" but Parents can protect their children from excessive television violence by paying attention to the programs their children are watching and restricting them from shows known to be violent, pointing out what is wrong with the program. Another solution to this problem is to explain that the actor has not actually been hurt or killed and such violence in real life results in pain or death. Physical punishment from Parents may cause a child psychological problems. First, if the physical punishment starts at an early age the child will be used to being physically punished, therefore, his or hers self-esteem may severely negative as he or she grows up. Second, it is a life-affecting act to physically punish a child because they will be traumatized. Eventually parents should think twice before they can physically punish their children. What they should think of is what problems they are causing the child in its life. Domestic and sexual violence is one of the cruelest forms of violence. It involves the degradation of someone that one loves. Spousal abuse, first of all, is the bad foundation of a family. No family can survive when there is fear more predominant than love in the husband and wife relationship. Second of all, it emotionally scars children to see this sort of abuse, and the children always know. No one can live in a house and simply not see the violence. Defenseless children who can't stand up to someone six times their size, especially their father or mother. In the essay All too often children are being emotionally scarred from the get go. Our children are growing up with emotional scars that are dangerous to society. Everyday we are all caught in a losing battle, the challenge of our society to preserve safety for children and protect them from violence and guns. The facts are that violence is everywhere, it is impossible to ignore them. It even seems as though no one recognized this as their problem or responsibility. Our deteriorating sense of community is everyone's problem. It is been proven that more teenage boys die from gunfire than from car accidents. These gunshot wounds are now a leading cause of death for teenage boys. We as a society should realize that it's never too young to learn. We all picked up certain characteristics from someone. To offset peer pressure among friends and classmates, parents should contact other parents and agree to enforce similar rules about what their children should watch, play with or stay around. If parents have serious difficulties setting limits, or deep concerns about how their child is reacting to certain things, they should contact a child and adolescent psychiatrist or psychologist for help defining the problem. If children take up violent acts, they are most likely to carry it with them throughout their adult life and it may eventually become seriously dangerous, especially in today's society. Violence almost seems like a way of life. "Aggression" becomes a way to solve a problem, and the only way to make someone listen is to yell louder than them. In these times we must learn to live as part of society, and make meaningful contributions rather than just adding to the same heap of hate and aggression that animals are prone to and people should be above that stage in their life. People need to use reason to think out things before they say them and think even harder before they do some thing. Too many people do things in the heat of the moment. They hit their wives and children, shoot their classmates, give the finger to a car as it drives by, mindlessly watch murder and destruction on TV and in the theaters, and say things that they don't mean in the passion of the altercation. We really need to take a look at ourselves and the world and decide what we can do for are children.