Parents Can Impact Their Children’s Attitudes Toward Violence

Parents' attitude toward fighting has greater impact on their children's aggressive behaviors than any other family factor, a new survey of 8,865 Texas middle school students finds.

What parents tell their children about fighting tells a lot about the degree to which their children get involved in fighting, injury and carrying weapons, according to researchers from the University of Georgia and the University of Texas at Houston.

"Parents have the opportunity to give clear and explicit messages to their children that fighting is not acceptable and show them some alternatives to solve conflicts," said Pamela Orpinas, PhD, who directed the study. "Parents can play an important role in preventing violence among adolescents."

The survey showed that three other family factors and practices also are indicative of how likely it is that kids will be involved in fighting and aggressive behaviors: how well children and parents get along together, how well parents monitor the children's away-from-home activities, and whether the youngsters live with two parents or in some other living arrangement. The results appear in the December issue of Health Education and Behavior.

Aggressive behavior scores were calculated individually for each student on the basis of self-reports of the number of fights, injuries, and carrying of weapons they said they had engaged in before the survey was taken. Each score was compared with the student's self-reports on family factors -- their relationship with their parents, how parents monitored their behavior, and family living arrangements, as well as parents' feelings about fighting.

"Our results show that parents have important roles to play in the development of violence prevention programs for young people," said Orpinas. "School violence prevention programs should have a strong parental component to take advantage of the influence parents can exert."

The study was partially supported by a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Health Education & Behavior, a bimonthly peer-reviewed journal of the Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE), publishes research on critical health issues for professionals in the implementation and administration of public health information programs. SOPHE is an international, non-profit professional organization that promotes the health of all people through education. For information about the journal, contact Elaine Auld at (202) 408-9804.

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