Where do they learn violence? The roles of three forms of violent socialization in childhood

an article by Jeongsuk Kim (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA), Bora Lee (State University of New York, USA) and Naomi B. Farber (University of South Carolina, USA) published in Children and Youth Services Review Volume 107 (December 2019)

Highlights

• Male students experienced more early violent socialisation and were more approving of interpersonal violence than female students.
• Advised violence, messages supporting fighting, was a stronger predictor of students’ acceptance of violence than other types of violent socialisation.
• Violence socialisation in a family context has a greater effect on students’ acceptance of violence than violence in a community context.
• The relationship between violent socialisation and acceptance of violence was not significantly different between male and female students.

Abstract

Early violent socialisation in family and community contexts has consistently been found to affect individuals' attitudes toward interpersonal violence in adulthood. The specific sources and processes underlying children’s acquisition of attitudes toward violence, however, are poorly specified and unelaborated.

The current study examined how three types of early violent socialisation differently influenced college students’ (N = 3841) acceptance of interpersonal violence and how these influences differed according to gender.

Findings from multiple linear regression analyses indicated that advised violence, witnessed violence, and victimised violence each contributed to college students’ acceptance of violence as a valid problem-solving strategy. However, each form of violence differently affected students’ acceptance of violence.

Receiving verbal advice to be violent from family and community members had stronger associations with students’ acceptance of interpersonal violence than did witnessing or experiencing violence during childhood. These relationships were not significantly different between male and female students. Whereas existing studies on violent socialisation have largely focused on the effects of witnessing and experiencing violence during childhood, our findings also highlight the significant impact of receiving pro-violence messages from family and community members has on young college students’ acceptance of interpersonal violence.

This connection suggests that educational programs targeting parents and community elders should focus on encouraging anti-violence attitudes and coaching children in nonviolent conflict-resolution skills. Our results might help inform college violence prevention practitioners in developing programs for college students to help change their pro-violence attitudes.

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