Spring 2009 Newsletter
| Finding the Voice of Violence |
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| The Rise of Tweens |
| Applied Research Review: Bullying in School and the Impact of Prevention Programs |
| Information You Can Use: American Community Survey |
Finding the Voice of Violence
Death is often tragic, especially when it strikes far too early. While money is directed at combating killers like cancer, car accidents, and heart disease, violence steals the lives of our young men and women at an alarming rate. While cures are researched and prevention efforts are brought to bear on disease and illness, violence is the leading cause of death for African American males ages 15-24, Hispanic males 15-24, and more recently for African American females ages 15-24.
Deanna Wilkinson, PhD, Associate Professor of Human Development and Family Science at Ohio State University, has devoted her academic career to studying violence. Her early research found that many studies were documenting acts of violence or examining the violent offender, but overlooking the actual voice of violence—the thought process during the escalation of those engaged in this behavior. Since then, Dr. Wilkinson has given a voice to the youth engaged in violent behavior. She has looked from the perspective of youth and tried to understand what happens in an act of violence.
No one is born violent. In her research, Dr. Wilkinson has found that violent situations are often the result of much simpler things than we may assume: issues such as identity, gender stereotypes, and communication. While these same issues occur in a variety of conflict situations, it is the combination of these escalating factors coupled with overexposure to violence that can make a big difference. Dr. Wilkinson has found that youth in violent neighborhoods are more exposed to death than soldiers in combat. A youth’s perception and expectation are shaped by previous experience. Youth who have been exposed to many violent events may move more quickly to violence than those raised in a less violent environment and have been armed with conflict and anger management social skills rather than a weapon.
One of the most interesting findings of Dr. Wilkinson’s research is the shift over time in the way adults and youth perceive and interact with each other. In one study, 37.8% of adults feared teenagers, and 14% said they had no relationship with teenagers. This fear of -and withdraw from- youth “fosters an environment in which violence can cycle.” When violence happens, fear and withdrawal are reinforced. However, adults who know those involved in a violent or near-violent event are more likely to intervene. Furthermore, when authority figures intervene, they can act as settlement agents by helping to break up the conflict. Pulling from these findings, there are several lessons and advice that can be given to parents, school administrators, teachers, and all those who work with youth (Wilkinson 2008).
For parents:
- We will all face conflict. It is inevitable in life. Young people must be taught strategies to handle conflict situations that do not involve violence.
- Adults and Parents should really LISTEN to youth. Wilkinson found that many of those who committed violent acts had gone to a parent or other adult previously with a concern or fear, but felt that the adult had not really heard their concern. If a youth comes to you with a problem, it is very important to let them tell you the whole story and to give full attention to their story and emotions.
- Throughout their life children are forming strategies for how to react and handle all situations. If all they encounter are violent ways to resolve conflict in their home and communities, they will fall back on these when faced with conflict. Parents should strive to teach children non-violent strategies for conflict, and help them redefine what the conflict means.
- To try to stop the groupthink, we must teach all youth that spreading gossip feeds violent status and can create more violence, regardless of the truth or fiction of the rumor.
- Peer influences are central to setting standards, gaining and maintaining control of problematic students, and enforcing non-violent practices.
For those working with youth:
- Rather than make assumptions, we must strive to come to situations with an open mind to hear the voice and perspective of those involved in violent situations if we wish to bring about real change and give the youth the skills they need.
- Those who work with youth should think about ways to teach and strengthen interpersonal skills, such as conflict resolution, in everyday situations, even in small conflicts.
- There are some issues and stigmas in today’s society that must be addressed by the whole communty. Often to avoid violence, to walk away from a conflict, is seen as weakness, and weakness is shameful. Many youth believe (and adults reinforce) the idea that some measure of violence is necessary because it is a dangerous world. Youth also believe that to report issues of harassment, threats, or violence is “snitching”. Not only do they believe that “snitching” is wrong, they believe that the authority they tell will not help. In these situations, the youth is left with no other option than violence.
- Communities have to believe that kids are worth it. Ultimately, it is the relationships in the community context that will prevent violence. Neighbors should get to know the youth of the community—really interact with them-- starting when they are young. These relationships can serve as a buffer against violence.
To learn more about Dr. Wilkinson’s research and findings, you can read her community reports found here and here, and you can visit her website and the google groups website for the OSU Youth Violence Prevention Advisory Board.
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The Rise of Tweens
Do you have a tween in your house? Do you know what a tween is?
The word tween actually comes from the marketing industry, describing the emerging market of 8-12 year olds. What once was a somewhat overlooked market is now one of the groups most marketed to. Between Disney’s Hannah Montana and Jonas Brothers to new stores like Justice girls, you have to work pretty hard to not notice all the new attention that is being placed on this age. But is it good that they are finally being noticed or is it all too much too soon?
The potential problem is not that the marketing industry has suddenly awakened to the existence and influence of this market. The harm is that these youth-- developmentally caught between being a child and a teenage-- are being marketed to like adults, or at the least like adolescents. Whether we are talking about clothes, music or television programs, many of these items being marketed to this age group may be products or topics that they are too young for, that is, they are not developmentally ready for. Kids in this age bracket are starting to describe themselves as flirty, or sexy. Some of the television shows deal with dating relationships or other more mature situations.
One of the results of all this new attention has been a trend for pre-adolescents, or ‘weens to grow up faster. “Risk behaviors” once seen starting in adolescence has begun to trickle down into younger age groups. Youth 10-12 are admitting to engaging in oral sex, and do not see it as “sex”. These behaviors, such as smoking, drinking and sexual relationships have always been risky, but when seen in youth this young it is especially cause for caution.
Less risky, but still important is that by propelling into adolescence earlier, these children may be robbed of some of their childhood innocence too soon. When a child who is 8, 9, or 10 sees sexy ads or hears references in songs they may not know how to interpret it.
There is much variety in development from child to child that is influenced by many things including gender and temperament. It is not uncommon to see a room of pre-adolescence, and have a group texting or im-ing their friends, while others are dressing up and playing make-believe. Variation in development is natural and perhaps it is because of this that we may miss the signs when our youngsters turn into tweens, or teens too fast.
In the coming months, the area of Human Development and Family Science Extension will be putting out various fact sheets related to tweens or pre-adolescence. To view these or get more information, you can visit the tween section of our website. Additionally, there will be a conference on tween and teen girls held by the Ohio Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, in Columbus, April 18, 2009 from 9- 3:45. You can find more information at their website.
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Applied Research Review:
Bullying in School and the Impact of Prevention Programs
Applied Research Review will be a regular column in the Youth and Family Focus newsletter. The goal is to provide a review of several applied studies related to the highlighted research topic. We hope this will provide readers with new information that can inform outreach and extension programming. This issue the focus is on bullying in schools.
A recent World Health Organization study of 25 nations, including the United States, reports on the status of bullying in public schools and highlights bullying as an important public health problem facing our youth. Approximately 29% of all youth are involved in bullying as either a bully or a victim, and bullying is widespread across schools in the U.S. Bullying is the most under reported type of violence experienced by children and youth and typically occurs at school when adult supervision is low. Unfortunately, even when reported, little is often done to help.
It is not surprising then that prevention programs aimed at reducing bullying behavior are gaining popularity with research and policy makers concerned with the problem. To evaluate the effectiveness of these programs, researchers from Texas A&M University recently conducted a meta-analysis of 45 school based anti-bullying programs. Meta-analytic methods are used to evaluate the effectiveness of programs across a wide range of studies. Impacts are assessed by examining effect sizes of programs, which are typically reported as pooled correlation coefficients.
Findings reveal that, overall, anti-bullying programs have a statistically significant effect size of r=.12, and those specifically targeted at at-risk youth have a stronger effect size of r=.19. Thus, there is statistical evidence that participating in a bullying program is associated with positive bullying outcomes. The practical implications, however, are unfortunately small, and might not be worth the cost of program implementation. The authors suggest that bullying prevention programs target at-risk youth rather than all youth, and that those implementing programs pay careful attention to program fidelity, which can make a difference between a program that is effective, and one that is not.
Editorial. 2007. Bullying as a Public Health Issue. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 51, p. 491-494.
Ferguson, C., San Miguel, C., Kilburn, J., and P. Sanchez. 2007. The Effectiveness of School-Based Anti-Bullying Programs: A Meta-Analytic Review. Criminal Justice Review, 32, p. 401-414.
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Information You Can Use:
American Community Survey (ACS)
Information You Can Use will be a regular column in the Youth and Family Focus newsletter. Each issue I will highlight an on-line public use data source that you can use to inform your applied research and extension and outreach programming.
This month we’ll cover a data source that I use in both my research and extension work--the 2005-2007 American Community Survey (www.census.gov). Collected by the U.S. Census Bureau, the ACS is a nationwide survey designed to provide communities with information on demographic, social and economic characteristics of people and households. I recommend spending some time exploring this web site to fully understand the amount of useful information that is available, but please don’t get discouraged because it can be overwhelming! Follow the links below to get information at the state, county, municipality, or many other geographic levels.
In the column on the left side of the census web site follow the links to:
- American Fact Finder
- Data Sets
- American Community Survey
- American Community Survey 2005-2007
- Data Profiles
On this page you have access to data profiles for a variety of geographic levels (state, county, municipality, zip codes, and many more). If you want different information you can choose from several different types of tables. I most often use the following tables:
- Detailed Tables: You first choose a geographic area, then are able to choose from a variety of specific demographic, social and economic indicators (such as earnings, race/ethnicity of the population, employment status) for that specific geographic area.
- Geographic Comparison Tables: Allows you to compare indicators across a variety of similar geographic places (states, counties within a state).
- Subject Tables: Allows you to select from a list of subjects (education, children, health, etc...) and get information on a set of outcomes related to that subject for a specific geographic area.