November 2000

(Corresponds to the Epilogue in your text)

Violence is Learned

Much of the progress that has been made in understanding and helping people with mental disorders has come from basic research, which deals with the mechanisms of learning and habit formation and how social forces influence behavior. Basic research, like that recently conducted at Wake Forest University, is critically needed to help us understand the origins of violence. Researchers recently released the results of a study concerning the relationship between young people's exposure to violence and violent behavior. Their conclusion is that violence is a learned behavior.

The subjects were 700 11- and 12-year-old predominantly African American students living in or around public housing and attending four middle schools in Augusta, George. Each was asked a series of questions about their exposure to and participation in various types of violence, including participating in or being a victim of a physical fight that required medical attention, using a weapon to get money or property from someone, and attacking someone with a weapon.

Fifty-four percent of the students reported witnessing or being the victim of between one and 15 acts of violence. Slightly over one percent had not witnessed or been victims of any violence. While the majority (almost 59 percent) had never engaged in violence, 25 percent reported engaging in one or two violent acts in the prior three months, with an additional 12 percent admitting engaging in between three and six acts of violence. Thirty percent reported carrying a weapon other than a firearm one or more times.

Exposure to violence was correlated with higher acts of violence. Other variables that contributed to violent behavior included multiple substance use, interest in a gang, cigarette smoking, being male, and having symptoms of depression.

Researchers concluded:

• Children learn violent behaviors in primary social groups—the family, peer groups, neighborhoods, and communities.
• Learned violent behaviors are reinforced by violence on television and in music, video games and movies.
• Children disciplined with severe corporal punishment or physically and sexually abused behave aggressively and violently towards others.
• Exposure to other risk factors that have traditionally been linked to youth violence (such as substance abuse and socioeconomic status) was not correlated with violence in the research subjects if there had been no exposure to violence.

The study noted that while being male is a factor that cannot be changed, getting children involved in prosocial groups and behaviors, teaching them skills to deal with conflict in non-violent ways, and involving children in religious activities can help prevent violence in children who have been victims of and exposed to violence.

Violence is Learned Behavior, Say Researchers At Wake Forest University. Retrieved online November 6, 2000 at http://www.wfubmc.edu.

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