The stories and videos are all over the news and YouTube: teenage girls beating each other up over issues including boyfriends and “dirty looks.” The increase in violent behavior among teen girls is concerning to many, but not surprising to some.
“Girls, like boys, are citizens of our violent world… The resulting message to young girls is that they are vulnerable and that they must learn to be violent to survive. That misguided belief is often reinforced in the smaller world of highly dysfunctional home lives where kindness is confused with weakness.” [Source: Gloucester (MA) Times]
Teens are also strongly influenced by their peers. Dr. Thomas Berndt of Purdue University refers to a “contagion effect,” similar to a mob effect, that causes teenagers to do things in groups that they would never do alone.
Posted By: Stefanie Hamilton
