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...after direct involvement the summer of 2001. There were number of students who were attending summer school as a result of consistent out-of-school suspensions for violent acts. The procedure to process through the system with these students was to suspend them, resulting in the student subsequently failing their present grade. The school was located in a community known for its high rate of violence and criminal activity. Various types of adolescent violence exist in our schools. Studies have reported that violent adolescents may come from familial environments that are full of social and interpersonal conflicts (Gray & Foshee, 1999). This paper discusses the development of a research plan to investigate the number and type of adolescent violent occurrences in a southern middle school setting.
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The most formidable transitions of life are those that occur from the end of childhood to adulthood. This period of time is called adolescence. Adolescence provides a foundation for self-identity and establishing some of life's meaning and goals. The challenges which adolescents face include the establishment of mutual peer relationships, gender identity, intimate guidelines, defining morality, declaiming independence and clarification of self. These issues if left unresolved can cause major intrapersonal conflicts within the adolescent in relation to role and identity (Elias, 1998). Adolescents challenge the rules of society on a daily basis; and assume roles that may not be acceptable to societal norms.
MAINTENANCE OF EQUILIBRIUM
Adolescence is a struggle to maintain balance through adaptation by formation of personal identity and attempting to clarify role. These struggles include pressures from parents, peers, and the environment. Environment may refer to home, school, church social outlets and formal memberships such as sororities and clubs. Developing acceptable coping mechanisms to assist in maintaining a balance by achieving developmental milestones is important to the adolescent population.
VIOLENCE AS A MEANS TO ADAPT
Adolescents adopt various behaviors that allow them to feel safe as they move through this developmental milestone. This feeling of safety gives one some sense of equilibrium; however, not feeling safe, provides a threat to the adolescent's emotional integrity. One of the mechanisms that adolescents may use to adapt is to resort to some form of violence; which may include bullying, verbal and/or physical violence. In order to understand the underlying dynamics of the various types of violence, the following literature review will provide an overview of adolescent violence.
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Violence has been defined as emotional or physical aggression that is directed toward others (Walker, Colvin, & Ramsey, 2002). Aggression is defined as any physical or verbal behavior that is intended to hurt or destroy (Edelbrock, Rende, Pluming, & Thompson, 1999). Some describe violent behavior as occurring on a continuum ranging from bullying and verbal abuse, through fighting, rape, and homicide. Violence perpetuated by adolescents is a major problem in our society (Worth, Matthews, & Coleman, 2000). The rate of adolescents in juvenile facilities throughout the nation has increased in the last decade. On a particular interest is the percentage of African American males between the ages of 15 -19, dying from firearm related injuries. This percentage is five times greater for African American males of the youth age, than for white males of the same age group. In the case of adolescent homicide, eleven black males die as compared to one white male. Adolescent African American females also share an alarming statistic related to homicide. Five African American females die for every white female in...
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