Introduction
Young people are expected to be the “future” of the modern world’s science, economics, politics, and often the society requires drastic changes in different fields of life. However, sometimes adolescents may not be as reliable as they should be in the eyes of society due to youth violence, which is the main reason for 43% of worldwide homicides (World Health Organization, 2015). The causes of youth violence vary from individual features regarding character and personality to social cases such as toxic relationships with families and peers. Moreover, youth violence results in the creation of street gangs and separate gang culture, which affects society in general. Although problems with youth violence and gang culture remain crucial for all the countries around the world, this paper concentrates on the causes of violence-related events in Georgia and analyzes them.
Individual Causes of Youth Violence in Georgia
Personal character traits such as natural impulsiveness, hyperactivity, or restlessness can be the cause of violence at an early age. Such behavioral patterns prove adolescents’ genetic predispositions to future violent behavior with peers or school authorities, which can result in crimes or being engaged in gang culture (World Health Organization, 2015). It is often believed that teenagers, who quickly lose their temper, have huge issues with self-control and restraining their emotions (World Health Organization, 2015). By joining gangs and accepting their culture, a youth tries to find like-minded people, who can understand the peculiarities of their character and emotional pattern.
The socioeconomic status of a young individual may also be the cause of youth violence because poverty and financial problems can provoke a lack of confidence among peers and lead to uncontrollable aggression (World Health Organization, 2015). It is a widely-known fact that young people tend to compare themselves with other individuals and make parallels between one’s own achievements, family wealth, or parents’ employment. Furthermore, economic inequality is often linked to homicide within families or friend circles, which happens due to jealousy and personal inability to change some aspects of their lives (David-Ferdon & Simon, 2014). Therefore, these individuals try to find support in gangs due to the community feeling and the lack of sense of belonging to a particular social group.
However, not only jealousy or low self-confidence compose individual cases of youth violence. Low intelligence is directly associated with juvenile delinquency since these individuals may have failed in understanding basic standards of adequate behavior (World Health Organization, 2015). Due to insufficient knowledge, young individuals consider abnormal actions acceptable and cannot change their views. In order to ignore their poor academic performance or low intelligence, youth join gangs who, in most cases, have a similar level of knowledge and skills, which makes them feel good about themselves (World Health Organization, 2015). As a result, many violent situations happen, which can sometimes lead to dreadful consequences such as death or serious mental or physical injuries.
Relationship Causes of Youth Violence in Georgia
It is often claimed that family is the most influential power which molds teenagers’ character and develops their outlooks. If a young person experiences maltreatment in their childhood, such as physical or mental abuse, or feels neglected, they are likely to lose faith in supportive relationships (World Health Organization, 2015). These individuals have higher risks of becoming antisocial and demonstrate aggression towards other people without a particular reason, guided by only their anger and fear (David-Ferdon & Simon, 2014). Some teenagers show their hostility because they endeavor to protect themselves against hazardous exterior factors such as threats or abuse from peers. However, their aggressive self-protection often results in violent events and joining dangerous communities like gangs where teenagers find support, understanding, and a fake guarantee of safety.
Although family relationships are one of the most significant relationships in adolescents’ lives, relationships with peers and their sense of belonging are more crucial in forming their personalities. Peer pressure is a natural widespread phenomenon that affects the lifestyles of the youth and sometimes dictates particular behavioral patterns (World Health Organization, 2015). The fundamental issue with peer circles is connected with drug and alcohol addiction, and how adolescents expose each other to these harmful substances. As a result, many young people get involved in drug-dealing in gangs and have to bear it individually because they cannot share this information even with their closest family members. For example, the police had to “charge 48 members of the Gangster Disciples gang in Georgia and Tennessee…for drug trafficking and extortion” (Saul, 2016, para. 8). Therefore, it becomes clear that gangs intentionally force young people to participate in the long chain of the drug business.
Causes Analysis
Since there is a wide range of factors that affect the personalities of young individuals, it is challenging to claim what causes are the most influential explicitly. Despite the fact that the unique features of a personality can alter the character and behavior tremendously, social behavior depends on relationship causes. It is known that adolescents are inclined to contradictions and personal conflicts when they mentally fight with themselves trying to find an answer to the issues which bother them (David-Ferdon & Simon, 2014). Due to this fact, teenagers are liable to social influence such as that coming from local communities and family, which can easily lead them to make wrong choices in life. Since relationships remain crucial for young people, the attitude which adolescents get from their peers and family develops specific habits and behavioral patterns. Thus, the relationship causes are more severe due to the importance of connections for young people.
Interventions for Prevention
The problem of youth violence requires immediate counteractions and solutions before the situation becomes worse and leads to fatal consequences. However, interventions should cover multiple aspects of young people’s lives, a “multifaceted prevention approach is needed to reduce risk factors and to enhance protective factors at the individual, relationship, and community levels” (Matjasko, Massetti, & Bacon, 2016, p. 111). For example, due to the fact that lack of support from parents often leads to youth violence, there is a need to prevent violent actions among teenagers as early as possible. Specific resources should be used, which provide interactive information with practical situations review and suggest possible ways of actions in terms of the psychological state of adolescents and their individual features. Parents should always use these resources regardless of the stage of their child’s development and demonstrating personal concern indicates that adolescents are not alone, and they do not need gangs to support them.
The most meaningful interventions which prevent youth violence and guarantee long-term effects are evidence-based approaches. They imply peculiar knowledge about ethnicity, race, culture, discipline, psychology, or empirical evidence which needs to be considered in elaborating youth violence interventions (Massetti, Simon, & Smith, 2016). It is possible to note that these approaches should include school-based issues, family and parenting issues, or friends and romantic relationship problems and examine the origins of these points.
There is a wide range of evidence-based interventions, and it is impossible to mention all of them without considering specific aspects, but there are a few main ways to develop them. Firstly, building young people’s competencies to choose non-violent behavior regardless of the complexity of a conflict can teach them general self-control. By developing a habit of non-violence and safety, it would be possible to give children practical problem-solving skills and communication and teach them how to control their anger. Secondly, maintaining positive relationships with adults in the local community can persuade adolescents in their belonging to the society and ensure them not to be afraid of asking for help (David-Ferdon & Simon, 2014). Mutual faith between adults and youth bonds two different groups of people and helps to avoid disastrous conflicts without resorting to stranger’s help such as criminal gangs. Finally, the safety and spaces for further relationships are crucial features for a young individual in the community. If teenagers are aware of the protection and reliability of local authorities, they may rely on these people, and they have no need to protect themselves by aggressive behavior or violent actions.
Conclusion
To sum up, the problem of youth violence and the appearance of criminal gangs is significant not only for Georgia but also for other states and countries. Such cases as parental maltreatment, lack of support, peer pressure, school abuse, and bullying, or personal aggression towards people may result in violent behavior and the inability to live in a community. In order to provide solutions for the problem of youth violence, people need to elaborate a range of evidence-based interventions to prevent youth violence from an early age of teenagers. Moreover, adults should explain to adolescents the importance of non-violent behavior and give them a sense of confidence and protection in society.
References
David-Ferdon, C., & Simon T. R. (2014). Preventing youth violence: Opportunities for action. Atlanta, GA: National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Massetti, G. M., Simon, T. R., & Smith, D. G. (2016). Methodological and design considerations in evaluating the impact of prevention programs on violence and related health outcomes. Prevention Science, 17(7), 779-784.
Matjasko, J. L., Massetti, G. M., & Bacon, S. (2016). Implementing and evaluating comprehensive evidence-based approaches to prevent youth violence: Partnering to create communities where youth are safe from violence. The Journal of Primary Prevention, 37(2), 109-119.
Saul, J. (2016). Gang leader orders baby’s murder, highlighting Georgia gang problem; Georgia’s gangs banged by even more violent, national gangs. Newsweek, 166(24), Gale OneFile: Criminal Justice.
World Health Organization. (2015). Preventing youth violence: An overview of the evidence. Geneva, Switzerland: WHO Press.