Parents, Attitude Help Kids Cope With Violence

NEW YORK — Teenagers who witness violent acts are less likely to become violent themselves if they tend to view the world as non-hostile, and if they have their parents’ support, according to new study findings.

"Parents should cultivate a close relationship with their kids so that their kids respect parents’ monitoring of their behavior and feel comfortable going to their parents as a ‘safe haven’ in times of trouble," study author Dr. Christopher C. Henrich of Georgia State University in Atlanta told Reuters Health.

In the 1990s, a series of reports showed that teenagers living in urban areas witness a "disturbingly high" amount of violence. For instance, one study showed that 40 percent of urban teenagers had seen a shooting or stabbing within the previous year.

Researchers have also found that people who witness violence are more likely to perpetrate it themselves, perhaps because they learn to model what they see.

However, not all teens who witness violence go on to commit violent acts, Henrich and his colleagues reason in the journal Child Development.

To investigate which factors help shield kids from perpetuating the cycle of violence, the researchers asked 1,599 6th and 8th graders, predominantly non-white and poor, to complete a questionnaire designed to measure their attitudes toward school and their families, and their exposure to violence.

Henrich’s team also measured how supportive teens felt their parents were — asking, for instance, how often an adult was at home in the afternoons, and if teens had a parent or guardian they felt close to.

The researchers found that girls reported more parental support, and tended to have more positive views on social interactions. Boys, however, said they committed more violent acts, saw more violence and were more often victimized than girls.

Not surprisingly, Henrich and his team found that teens who had witnessed violence were more likely to become violent themselves. However, among teens exposed to violence, girls were less likely to commit violence if they had a non-hostile view of the world, and boys were less likely to commit violent acts if they felt like their parents were highly supportive.

However, having supportive parents did not appear to protect girls from engaging in violence, and having a non-hostile view of the world did not protect boys.

Henrich explained that it’s not clear why each factor worked better for one sex than the other, but that both are important in discouraging teenagers from violence.

"Through cultivating close and involved relationships with their children, parents can help protect (teens) — at least boys — from the effects of witnessing violence," he said.

Furthermore, by teaching teens to think positively, "schools have the ability to not only prevent violence in the first place, but to help give kids – at least girls – the skills to protect themselves from the adverse effects of witnessing violence," Henrich added.

SOURCE: Child Development, July/August 2005.