Risk Factors for Youth

Blog Post 9

When you look at how the world is today, there are many drastic changes in the way our society is. There are a few things I believe are great risk factors for today’s youth. The first is the amount of violence shown in movies, television shows, and video games. I was watching television with a couple friends one day. As we were flipping through the channels, we noticed that almost every show had some sort of violence incorporated. One key example of this is the crime show Law and Order SVU. While this show is entertaining, they also provide insight to way criminals think. Violence has not only become a problem in the streets of any city, but it is becoming a major problem in schools. There have always been fights in school, but it is becoming more serious. When kids are bullied, they think the acceptable way to get back at the kids picking on them is to bring a gun to shoot the bullies or themselves. In certain areas, gangs can be a problems and cause more violence. This just depends on where the school is located. Students who attend the schools are not the only problem to worry about. In the past couple of years, there have been outsiders come in and have shootings. A perfect example of this is the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December of 2012. In a perspective article called “After Newtown- Public Opinion on Gun Policy and Mental Illness,” the author states, “These four events share two common characteristics: all four shooters were apparently mentally ill, and all four used guns with large-capacity magazines, allowing them to fire multiple rounds of ammunition without reloading (Barry, 2013). 

Another great risk factor is bullying. This can be an issue in many ways including: gender, gender orientation, social status, and many more. We have talked a lot about gender orientation in class, and I think this is one of the most common ways bullying occurs. Bullying relates to violence. Especially as people get older, you hear cases of suicide. While the reasons are sometimes unknown, there are many cases of people feeling worthless and different. There are many risk factors, but violence and bullying are the two I think are the greatest. Both of these things effect my journey as an educator, because I will witness and have to deal with bullying and violence in one extreme or another. While of course I hope it is not the worst extreme, I have to be prepared to deal with anything thrown at hand. For instance, the six adults who were killed in the shooting at Sandy Hill Elementary saw it as their responsibility to protect those kids. 

Work Cited

Barry, Colleen L., Emma E. McGinty, Jon S. Vernick, and Daniel W. Webster. "Public Opinion on Gun Policy and Mental Illness." The New England Journal of Medicine. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2014.