Pedagogy

Youth violence has been a matter of concern for Australian public for the past few years. Although Australia cannot be particularly declared as a violent society since, it is certainly less violent than the international standards of violence and homicide rate is just one-tenth of that of the USA.

Cause of the youth violence includes a number of factors, which include those relating to individual, their family, school, friends, community, neighborhood, culture, society, community etc. It can also be due to the attitude of the government because the kind of people the government is letting in the country is not the model citizens for Australia. It has made the Australian citizens more violent to match the level of violence brought by people coming from other countries. Young people are especially vulnerable due to major changes occurring in many areas of their life from early adolescence onwards. Alcohol affects the brain and behavior of adolescents greatly. Family background can also be a cause behind youth violence. Exposure of youth to attitudes endorsing the use of violence, poor parental management and poverty needs to be taken into account while considering the impact of family background on youth violence. Peer influences also play its role in youth violence. Peers can provide values that can endorse violence, behavioral models that support violence, amplify opportunities and situations for violence, and accentuate levels of machismo-bravado.

Anger, impulsivity, attitudes to violence and neutralizations also carries great importance in the increasing rate of youth violence.

Common sense approaches to complex social problem like youth violence in Australia should not be embraced. Programs need to be supported by evidence. These programs should be assessed to ensure the efficiency and effectiveness.