~
~
|
Bad Seed -Antecedents of Teen Violence by Douglas Eby
"Do you now want to hide that failure and send a fifteen year old girl to the gas chamber ? Do you want to condemn her to die before you have ever given her a chance to live?" More than one million Americans under the age of 18 are processed through juvenile justice systems each year. There is a continuing tendency to lock up more and more troubled kids, even though the rate of juvenile arrests peaked in the late '70s and has fallen significantly since then. According to the American Foundation, we now lock up, on a per capita basis, more people than any other modern nation in the world, except for the Soviet Union and South Africa, and all too many of those people are juveniles. This sort of reaction on the part of society may be understandable - violent teens are highly threatening - but it is increasingly clear that spending over $20,000 per year to incarcerate/warehouse - and punish - just one kid in a place that amounts to an incubator of further violence and destruction - ironically often called a Training School - is simply not a viable solution. Research shows that rates of delinquent behavior decline over time in the general adolescent population, but criminal behavior among chronic offenders may increase with age; the small percentage who are repeat offenders account for a large percentage of a community's crimes (Henggeler & Bordun, 1990). Barry Krisberg, president of the National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD) in San Francisco, considers that "only a few states have gone hog wild on a punishment kick, but California is one", and has the distinction of locking up more kids per capita than any other state: some 9000 inmates between ages 13 and 25, in facilities designed for less than 6000. Many of these "criminals" are status offenders: they are runaways, truant, or have engaged in behavior that would not be illegal if they were adults. And some experts say that as many as 80% of these kids will turn to more serious crime, and be brought back into the system repeatedly. With all the anguish and destruction of teen violence, it is easy to forget that the majority of adolescents are doing a good job of growing up, are not in great turmoil and rebellion, at least not in overt antisocial ways. The Department of Education released a report in 1988 that showed youthful marijuana and alcohol use has been steadily declining since 1980 (although cocaine use is still increasing), SAT scores and participation in Boy Scouts are increasing, and more young adults have finished four years of college than failed to complete high school. But few people would argue that teens have an easy time of it. The Index of Social Health for Children and Youth, compiled at Fordham University and indicating level of overall well-being, has declined from 68 (out of 100) in 1970 to 37 for 1989. Since 1970, teen suicides have doubled and drug abuse problems have worsened, including a 3,000% increase in births to drug-abusing, often unmarried, teen mothers. Child abuse figures worsen every year, topping well over two million reported cases in 1986. Some studies indicate that normal teenagers may be as disturbed and unhappy as hospitalized, psychiatrically ill teenagers, and that some 15 to 20 per cent of adolescents have moderate to severe psychological disturbances (Offer,1986). A recent Institute of Medicine report said that up to 22% of the under age 18 population needs some psychiatric intervention, that little over 1% of mentally ill children were admitted into treatment, and that 20% of children with conduct disorder will be diagnosed as schizophrenic or bipolar (manic depressive) as adults (Carson,1989). As with many social problems, we need to look further into the roots for "bad" behavior in order to try to develop solutions. Conduct Disorder is a label often applied to troubled and acting-out children. According to the standard reference for evaluation of psychological disorders (the DSM-III-R : Diagnostic and Statistical Manual), it affects some 9% of boys and 2% of girls under age 18, and is "a persistent pattern of conduct in which the basic rights of others and societal norms or rules are violated...The child may have no concern for the feelings, wishes, and well-being of others, and may lack feelings of guilt or remorse...self-esteem is usually low, although the person may project an image of 'toughness'." According to many years' worth of research, among the likely factors that can lead into this type of behavior are hyperactivity (ADHD: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), parental rejection, inconsistent supervision with harsh discipline, early institutional living, frequent shifting of parent figures and various forms of child abuse. Dr. Linda Wise, a clinical psychologist who has worked for about 12 years with "hard to reach" youth, notes, " A lot of people would like to think that kids that act out are just bad - that's just the way they are, and they are untreatable. I have never worked with a kid who's been bad - legally - that hasn't had a chaotic, traumatic, dysfunctional family background. If you picture yourself being a child - the size of a child, the mentality of a child - and you look to parents to feed you, to guide you, to clothe you, to protect you from the world - that's your survival - if one of those people abuses you, you learn quickly you have no strength - you can't win against them". Another perspective is noted by psychiatrist Alice Miller: "The only legal way to act out rage openly and violently in peacetime is in disciplining one's children. Since this outlet is not available to young people who have no children, they must look for another one. Suicide, addiction, criminal behavior, terrorism, and participation in organizations that sexually exploit children all can provide this kind of outlet" (Alice Miller. The Untouched Key). It is only fairly recently that significant attention has been focused on the results of various forms of abuse. Research studies in the past few years indicate a consistent picture of likely consequences : low self-esteem; high prevalence of substance abuse; greater incidence of suicidal thinking and attempts; anger against both others and oneself; depression and anxiety; chronic high levels of physical arousal and stress; higher incidence of acting-out behavior such as sexual promiscuity and violent aggression, or runaway and legal involvement (Cavaiola,1988 & Rimsza,1988). As Dr. Wise explains, "You learn to be helpless, to accomodate pain; looking at the parents, the child has to choose : 'either they are bad, or I am - I can't deal with them being bad, that would mean the whole world is bad, therefore I must be bad'. So they begin to treat themselves, think of themselves, as bad, harboring a lot of self-doubt...getting into self-destructive behavior : drugs, promiscuity, doing dangerous things." Many female delinquents are triply oppressed : as women, non-white and poor, and are dealt with very harshly by the justice system, which often fails to distinguish female sex offenders from sexual abuse victims, who may make up over half of the institutional population (Sarri,1983). Abuse can take more subtle forms also. Infants raised with inadequate physical care and touching have often suffered from a wide variety of problems in development, some apparently dying "simply" from neglect. A number of both animal and human research studies support the idea that somatosensory deprivation - the lack of touching, physical and sensual contact, and body movement - during the early years of life seems to be a major contributing factor in later violent behavior. It is estimated that about one-third of all children under 18 have experienced the divorce and separation of their parents, often resulting in long-lasting emotional problems. Fewer than one in five families are composed of the "old-fashioned" nuclear pattern of a bread-winning father, and home-maker mother. About 60 percent of all children are likely to spend a part of their early life in a single parent family, where research indicates behavior problems are significantly higher. Parents today are likely to spend no more than 30 seconds a day in meaningful conversation with their children. A recent study by a health care information firm showed that about 36% of the children of executives use outpatient treatment for psychiatric or drug abuse problems, versus 15% of children of non-executives, who make more time for their families. Thanks to 4 to 6 hours daily of TV, and many hours of movies and videos, kids have viewed by age 16 some twenty or thirty thousand murders and 200,000 other acts of violence, and much research indicates this exposure both models violence, and makes it less real or meaningful. In the innovative Violence Prevention Curriculum for Adolescents at the Barron Assessment and Counseling Center in Boston, teens learn through talking and drama, even video productions developed by the kids themselves, that violence has consequences on both sides, that it isn't the cool and heroic act shown on TV. The tortuous passages through the justice system is itself, as Dr. Wise points out, additional assault on people trying to grow up and become someone : "We don't have an appreciation in this state - in this country - for what happens to young people who get themselves in trouble, to go through the legal system, to be incarcerated, to be at the hands of police, probation officers, judges and a host of others along the way who are in the business of punishing you for what you've done. I'm not saying there should not be a consequence for what they do, but I don't think we appreciate the need to work with them or their parents. "We house kids with other kids having chaotic lives, with guards and others who have no appreciation for their psychological, sociological or emotional needs, which may just reinforce a lot of the negativity, and create even more resentment for authority figures. What you have is a snowball : a kid starting off with a petty theft, housed with other kids with their own struggles, and put back into their communities and homes where they came from with no plan to intercede or intervene. Then schools won't take them because they're 'bad' kids - they get into more and more trouble." And get locked up yet again. It isn't, of course, simply a matter of sparing the rod to save the child. Humans aren't that easy to construct or repair. And there are many adults who have survived incredible abuse to become leaders, achievers, performers and politicians. Another dimension of what makes people act "bad" is the area of biology and biochemistry. For several years, courts have recognized as a legal defense of violent criminal behavior the presence of premenstrual tension or even psychosis. Hormones can have a profound effect on states of mind and the resulting behavior, in both sexes. Some neuroscientists are speculating that violence is also directly related to brain malfunctions, or testosterone levels out of balance, and some therapists are reducing levels of aggressivity in people by using antidepressants and other medications (Brown,1990). Many children with behavior problems show signs of nervous system damage or head injury, such as brain wave abnormalities (Leventhal,1984 & Erskine,1984). In a study of two groups of delinquents, one arrested for repeated incidents of vicious assault, rape or murder, and the other one a group of boys whose violence was limited to fistfights, it was found that almost all of the first group had at least one neurological or brain abnormality, and had suffered head injuries or serious medical problems as children, and had been savagely beaten by parents, compared with much lower rates for the mildly aggressive boys (Wade,1987). Delinquents are more frequently coming from "good" backgrounds and neighborhoods: intelligent - even gifted - kids with seemingly all the advantages and power they need for healthy growth. Some research indicates that "delinquency may be better viewed as freely chosen...and may be the mechanism these adolescents employ to solve their adaptive problems/achieve their goals...delinquency may best be viewed as a creative enterprise for many adolescents" (Agnew,1989), and may function as a way to gain much-needed self-enhancement (Wells,1989). "Puberty causes all sorts of stresses and strains" a recent LA Times article commented about the family drama behind the book "Augusta, Gone." The story details the lives of author Martha Tod Dudman and her "acting-out" daughter. "Dudman tried everything to keep her daughter on track," the article said. "But Augusta's rebellion escalated. She started skipping school, lying, avoiding eye contact and changing friends. By 14, Augusta was sneaking out at night, doing and dealing drugs, stealing cars, hitchhiking to Boston, disappearing for days at a time, screaming, shouting, raising a knife to her mother and telling her exactly what she she'd like to do with it. "Dudman ended up roaming the streets at night, searching for her child, dragging her home. ... It was a swift and steep descent into parental hell. She tried to cope, going to the teachers' conferences, the therapists, increasing her daughter's activities. Dudman had been no angel herself when she was a teenager at the elite Madeira school in Virginia, where she was once expelled for smoking pot. "She'd had some wild times at Antioch College in Ohio in the early '70s. So she tried to cut her daughter some slack. Her daughter didn't need any. She was on her own binge, and nothing her mother said or did made any difference." Augusta was sent to therapists and expensive wilderness schools. "Much of the book deals with this different kind of terror, of sending your child someplace that you hope will be safe and helpful--but which you know may be neither," the article reported. "Augusta ran away from the second school, hitchhiked to San Francisco, lived on the streets and eventually contacted a teen runaway hotline, which provided her with a bus ticket home. "That was a turning point in their lives. Suddenly, Augusta's wild ways had disappeared. She appreciated her mother; she wanted to finish high school. Stunned and delighted, her mother found a small, live-in school for troubled teens in Maine, where Augusta worked hard and received a high school diploma in six months. Dudman's journal became a book... Augusta says she is proud of [it], and proud of her mother and of herself. [She's been] working as a waitress. She says she plans to go to college." A variety of alternatives to incarceration are being tried, often at much lower cost than the large institutions, and with potential benefits for both troubled kids and their society - and that means all of us. Options include community work service (which is often the sentencing given by teen-operated Youth Courts), fines, mandatory treatment/therapy, intensive probation, electronic confinement, halfway houses, mandatory employment/job training, or restitution, which can offer not only some financial aid to victims, but provide for some real change in the consciousness of the aggressor (Klein,1988). The Los Angeles County Board of Education and the County Probation Department are cooperating in a program that places juvenile offenders as teaching assistants in schools for disabled kids. The often criticized CYA ,California Youth Authority, has some volunteer classes in which inmates study property crimes, domestic violence, sexual assault and other problems, and at least some of the students gain new perspectives that may result in behavioral changes. The use of drama therapy with disturbed kids has been effective in developing social and communication skills, and significant improvements in self-concept (Warger,1986). Education may be one of the crucial factors in redirecting
aggressive teen behavior, and another program addressing this is Career
Beginnings, in the Santa Ana Unified School District. It involves
matching potential high school dropouts with adult mentors who help
them set and achieve educational and career goals, to really change
life directions. It operates at a cost of about $175,000 to assist 100 students, but program coordinator Cindy Sorenson asks, "What would the community prefer? Paying a few thousand for these students to get diplomas so they can contribute to the work force, or footing the bill for them to be on welfare, in jail or leading a life of crime? (Convey,1990). Another local group called Parents Against a Gang Environment is working to bring rival gang members into youth-run clubs to have dances and picnics, and events like Christmas parties for poor children. There are no easy and quick solutions. But the family, whether natural, or adoptive or blended, or institutional, is probably the most important place to concentrate - to make it safe, supporting and guiding. A creative family life can help restore the missing role of social ritual that helps direct children into adulthood, and provides approval for them as real people. Researcher Scott Henggeler considers "antisocial behavior, especially in its extreme forms, is highly stable over time and seems to be transmitted across family generations" (Henggeler, 1989). Delinquency occurs more often in families with poor parent-child communication; lack of attachment between parents and children; erratic, strict or lenient discipline/supervision; marital disharmony (Rankin,1990). There are a number of intergenerational programs that help promote kids and older adults working with each other, to help fill in where adequate parenting is missing for at-risk youth. This emphasis on the role of the family should not be taken as parent blaming and bashing, although some courts recently have taken such measures as suing parents for the costs of incarceration and treatment of their delinquent child. Dr. Wise notes "parents are hurting out there, parents are lost. I think we're in a time when people are mean, people do mean things to your children. "There are so many problems with parenting - where do they go when their kids get into trouble, who can they talk to? People get referred to aggressive, parental control kinds of programs, but I think these philosophies are not real appropriate for an acting-out adolescent : parents engage in more power struggles with their kids and nobody wins...what is needed is more building together, not pulling apart - a cooperative family structure, not 'You're going to do it my way or get out', but rather 'What's going on ? - I'm concerned - you don't talk to me any more.'" There are now available a number of parenting skills training classes, and support groups for parents of delinquent kids. Catholic priest Matthew Fox asserts that society is suffering so many disorders because of its "failure to honor our children and the child within." We need to start to truly, authentically respect and nurture our children, to respond to their hurtful aggression with help, not more violence. As researcher J.D. Jones points out, "Fearful insecurities that these adolescents are not treatable lead to self-fulfilling prophecies and continuation of their symptoms... "Intelligence, enthusiasm and coordinated commitment are necessary ingredients in the community's therapeutic alliance with this group of adolescents. Without such an alliance, we know that therapeutic change does not take place. It is less expensive and more humane in the long run to do it the right way" (Jones,1984). Involvement is needed at all levels, personal and institutional. As Einstein noted, "We can never solve problems at the same level of consciousness on which we created them." It is certainly no easy matter to honor or help kids who get into "drive-by" shootings from bikes, or "wolfpack" assaults on joggers and elderly people. But there is too much at stake not to try. To try very hard, and with much creativity. ~ ~ ReferencesAgnew, R. (1989). Delinquency as a creative enterprise. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 16(1), 98-113. Brown, G.L. (1990). CSF serotonin metabolite (5-HIAA) studies in depression, impulsivity, and violence. J Clin Psychiatry 51(4,Supp.), 31-38. Carson, D.I. (1989). Still too few psychiatric services for teens. American Medical News 32, 32-4. Cavaiola, A.A. (1988). Behavioral sequelae of physical and/or sexual abuse in adolescents. Child Abuse & Neglect,12, 181-88. Convey,S. (1990). New beginnings in Santa Ana. Orange Coast Magazine, May. Erskine, C. (1984). Female delinquency, feminism, and psychoanalysis : an overview. In Keith, C.R.,ed.,The Aggressive Adolescent. New York : The Free Press. Henggeler, S.W. (1989). Delinquency in Adolescence. Newbury Park, CA : Sage. Henggeler,S.W., & Bordun, C.M. (1990). Family Therapy and Beyond. Pacific Grove,CA : Brooks/Cole. Jones, J.D. (1984). Principles of hospital treatment of the aggressive adolescent. In Keith, C.R., op.cit. Klein, A.R. (1988). Alternative Sentencing - A Practitioner's Guide. Cincinnati: Anderson Publishing. Leventhal, B.L. (1984). The neuropharmacology of
violent and aggressive behavior Bettijane Levine. "Back From the Brink" Los Angeles Times, April 17, 2001 Offer, D. (1986). Self-image, delinquency, and help-seeking behavior among normal adolescents. Adolescent Psychiatry 13, 121-137. Rankin, J.H. (1990). The effect of parental attachments and direct controls on deliquency. J Research in Crime & Delinquency 27,140-65. Rimsza, M.E. (1988). Sexual abuse : somatic and emotional reactions. Child Abuse & Neglect,12, 201-8. Sarri, R.C. (1983). Gender issues in juvenile justice. Crime & Delinquency 29, 381-95. Wade, C. (1987). Psychology. New York: Harper & Row. Warger, C.L. (1986). Developing positive self-concepts in institutionalized children with severe behavior disorders. Child Welfare 65,165-74. Wells, L.E. (1989). Self-enhancement through delinquency : a conditional test of self-derogation theory. J Res Crime & Delinquency,26,226-52. ~ ~ ~ Daniel L. Davis, Phd The Aggressive Adolescent : Clinical and Forensic Issues (2000) Martha Tod Dudman Augusta, Gone : A True Story Craig F. Ferris Understanding Aggressive Behavior in Children (1998) William March The Bad Seed : A Novel Alice Miller The Untouched Key : Tracing Childhood Trauma in Creativity and Destructiveness James E. Shaw, Ph.D Jack
and Jill : Why They Kill Cynthia L. Warger Abuse and Neglect of Exceptional Children (Exceptional Children at Risk Series) (1991) ~ ~ ~ originally published in California Therapist, July/Aug 1990 ~ ~ ~  related
Talent Development Resources pages:achievement / success articles achievement, growth, prosperity resources change / personal growth change / coaching / self-help articles creativity enhancement
articles personal
development organizations ~ ~ ~ |
~ ~ ~
|
video:
books