What are the reasons for the increase in violence among children and young people?
Are games, social media and news effective in increasing this rate?
Violence in general In other words, it is the use of the power possessed or believed to be possessed in a way that causes psychological and physical harm to people. Of course, this violent behavior can be an individual or community action.
Violent behavior includes not only physical violence; Behaviors that include verbal and psychological harassment, as well as deliberately causing discomfort or physical harm to someone, are also included.
In essence, there may be many reasons for violent behavior. These may be due to biological, social and interpersonal relations. However, violent behavior in children increases rapidly through learning. Children who are exposed to verbal, emotional and physical violence within the family use this behavior in their daily lives as a problem-solving method. We can consider peer bullying as one of the best examples of this. On the other hand, especially children and young people can adopt violence through the media. War, theft, etc. are normalized under the name of strategy that children constantly play. He perceives these behaviors as power and reflects them on his own lives through his games. At the same time, scenes of violence presented uncontrollably in movies, TV series and news make learning easier. In addition, children can adopt the violent behavior they see in the environment they live in as a means of communication.
Research conducted in the world and in Turkey regarding violence rates
Violence rates and There are actually no large epidemiological studies on this subject. Namely, what we call violence is divided into subheadings such as violence against women and violence against children. Therefore, it would be appropriate to look at more specific research rather than comprehensive research. Studies show that violence, which is mostly seen in adolescents and children, reaches its highest level between the ages of 15-16 and is a risk factor. After the age of 17, these rates begin to decrease. The rate of girls is lower than that of boys. Boys are physically stronger than girls It resorts to the use of violence more.
Although the results generally show that crime and violence are common in schools, there is a need for initiatives to solve the problem.
What should be done to reduce violence?
strong>
When we look at it, there are early recognition and warning signals in many crimes and violent incidents. These can mostly be social withdrawal, feelings of extreme isolation and loneliness, feelings of extreme rejection, low interest in school and academic success, describing violence through writings and pictures, and uncontrollable anger. When we observe children in their environment, we can notice these changes in their behavior. Some signals and observations may indicate serious problems, but similar observations do not mean that every child will harm himself or commit violence against his friends. It is necessary to see these as risk factors and use them to carry out preventive work without labeling the child.
What can families do?
They should reduce violence at home and make the house safe. One should consider the possibility of psychological distress and consider the risk of substance use. Accordingly, it should ensure the safety of the environment.
As a result, it would be appropriate for parents to control their own behavior, control media tools and choose games appropriate to the age of children.
Read: 0
