Youth and School Violence When

Youth and School Violence

When studying violence by students in the school system, researchers recognize that the trait of aggression normally share other similar characteristics as well, such as low self-esteem and violence in their homes. In a study by Ellickson, Tucker and Klein in Pediatrics journal, the researchers looked at the correlation between early drinking and problematic behavior in school.

It is estimated that about 50% of adolescents have tried alcohol and about 25% have been completely drunk at least once by eighth grade. Unfortunately, teen alcohol abuse has a negative impact on the four leading causes of adolescent death -- car accidents, accidental injuries, homicides and suicides. As noted above, it is also a well-known fact that drinking goes hand-in-hand with other problems in and out of school.

Although the researchers recognized that drinkers are more likely than nondrinkers to display numerous other problems in their teenage and young adult years, they wanted to determine whether or not subgroups exist within the drinking population that have a different risk factor for these negative behaviors. They decided to look at length of substance abuse and the tendency of other problematic actions over time.

They thus compared adolescent and young adult nondrinkers (never had a drink), experimenters (drank less than three times in the past year and not in the past month) and drinkers (drank three or more times in the past year or drank in the past month) on the prevalence of other negative behaviors over a decade-long period of time, at grades 7,12 and 23. The authors hypothesized that both experimenters and more committed drinkers would demonstrate an increased incidence of problem behaviors compared with nondrinkers, with drinkers being at greatest risk.

They used data from a longitudinal study of 6,527 individuals from 30 California and Oregon schools that crossed a variety of communities, socio-economic strata, and racial/ethic composition. Twenty-three percent of the 7th grade participants were nondrinkers, 46% were experimenters and 31% were considered drinkers.

School problems in grade 7 included truancy or being sent out the classroom more than once in the last year; missing five or more days of school during the current academic year; earning grades of C. Or less and ever repeating a grade. At the older ages, more of an emphasis was placed on suspension, school drop outs and employment issues.

Substance abuse at age 7 included weekly smoking and/or marijuana use and any history of drugs. At grade 12, the researchers added daily smoking, weekly alcohol use, binge drinking and any history of hard drug use. At the age of 23, the alcohol abuse factor was replaced with a three-item lifetime alcohol disorder screen instrument that emphasized on binge drinking and five items from the Drug Abuse Screening Test. Other behavior problems consisted of stealing, selling drugs, gang violence, carrying a weapon, arson, burglary, trespassing, pregnancy and drunk driving.

The results showed that early drinkers were more apt than nondrinkers to use other substances, steal and have school problems. Compared to nondrinkers, early drinkers at 7 were 19 times more likely to engage in weekly smoking any hard drug use and 14 times more likely to be involved with weekly marijuana use; 4.5 times more apt to steal; 3 times more sure to be sent out of or skip class; 2 times more likely to often miss school and 1.5 times more prone toward having poor grades.

Early experimenters were also more likely to engage in problem behaviors compared with nondrinkers, but less apt to be involved with such actions than early drinkers. Compared to experimenters, drinkers at age 7 were 20.5 times more likely to engage in weekly marijuana use, 8 times more involved with hard drug use; 5 times more prone toward weekly smoking; 2 times more apt to steal; and 1.5 to 2 times more inclined to be frequently absent, have poor grades and exhibit behavioral problems in the classroom. Older adolescents continue this negative behavior with early drinkers more apt to have problems than nondrinkers. Early experimenters also remain more likely to exhibit problem behavior than older nondrinkers. Likewise, 23-year-old drinkers were more prone to miss work, engage in substance abuse and exhibit criminal and violent behavior.