Coping With Adolescent School Violence: Implications For Counseling

College Student Journal, June, 1999 by Kan V. Chandras

Reports continue to reveal tragic accounts of violence in our schools. These incidents have a devastating impact on students, the school personnel and the community. Adolescent characteristics and the implications for counseling are presented.

The tragic and chilling incidences of recent school-related shootings and unrest in our public schools presented by the mass media (Gergen, 1998; Heim, 1998; Petzal, 1998; Rogers, Haederle, Leonard, & Dodd, 1998; "Teen Killer," 1998; Witkin, Tharp, Schrof, Toch, & Scattarella, 1998) highlight the growing tendency of American adolescents to engage in interpersonal violence. Violence is a problem not only in urban and suburban schools but also in rural schools, with more adolescents and children being both perpetrators and victims (Hall, 1994; Litke, 1996).

There are many theories and explanations about the adolescent violence in America (Kimweli & Anderman, 1997). Such factors as family violence, violence in the society, and violence in the mass media prompt adolescents to act violently (Wood, 1998). Easy access to guns greatly adds to the number of violent acts by the adolescents (Hammer, 1998). Generally, three types of violence which adolescents commit are: physical assaults, murders, and sexual assaults (Petzal, 1998). Other violent acts include date rapes (Maura, 1998; Sorenson & Bowie, 1994), gang activity (Anonymous, 1998; Carson, Butcher & Mineka, 1998, p. 542), assault on gay and lesbian adolescents (Reis, 1998), assault on Asian-American adolescents (Chandras, 1997; Chen, 1994; Pang, 1993), and Hispanic adolescents (Soriano, 1994).

Newsweek (King & Mutt, 1998) has listed a chronology of school-related shootings in recent months:

1. February 19, 1997: Evan Ramsey, 16, killed his school principal and a fellow student and wounded two in Bethel, Alaska.

2. October 1, 1997: In Pearl, Mississippi, Luke Woodham, 16, allegedly killed his mother, his ex-girlfriend and another student.

3. December 1, 1997: Police say Michael Carneal, 14, shot at a group of students, killing three, in West Paducah, Kentucky.

4. March 24, 1998: In Jonesboro, Arkansas, Mitchell Johnson, 13, and Andrew Golden, 11, allegedly killed five. On August 11, 1998, they were convicted of murder and sentenced to serve in a detention center till 18 years of age or possibly 21 (Rather, 1998).

5. April 24, 1998: Andrew Wurst, 14, allegedly opened fire at a school dance in Edinboro, Pennsylvania, killing a teacher.

6. May 19, 1998: In Fayetteville, Tennessee, Jacob Davis, 18, allegedly killed a classmate three days before graduation.

The Macon Telegraph (1998) described the predisposition of Luke Woodham, 16, from Pearl, Mississippi as follows:

   Teen killer ... Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, Mississippi, assistant District
   attorney, Tim Jones says Luke Woodham is "mean. He's hateful. He's
   bloodthirsty. He wanted to kill (his mother)." The teenager accused of
   killing two classmates and wounding seven others during a school shooting
   spree is sentenced to life in prison for stabbing his mother to death on
   the same day as the shooting. (p. 1A)

Yet, on May 21, 1998, in Springfield, Oregon, another shooting by an adolescent high school student opened a bloody chapter in the recent history of America's high schools. Kip Kinkel, 15-year-old, freshman, opened gunfire in the cafeteria wearing a cowboy hat and with a rifle propped against his shoulder. He killed two students and wounded 22 other students. The shooting ended only when another student tackled Kinkel as he attempted to reload (King & Mutt, 1998; Rogers, et. al., 1998).

The above tragedies are only the latest in an appalling spate of adolescent violence in recent months. Surprisingly, these adolescent boys come from middle-class and working-class families (Rogers, Haederle, Leonard & Dodd, 1998), shattering the myth that violent adolescents come from desperate, impoverished families. These tragedies prompt inescapable questions: What could be the cause of this disturbing trend? What is happening in the lives of these children? What is happening in American families and the larger society to cause adolescents to resort to violence? What had the people done or not done to add their schools to the growing list of communities in the United States where adolescent anger has turned public schools into battlegrounds? It is difficult to find definitive and conclusive answers to these questions.

Educators and other helping professionals have long been concerned with the physical, social, and psychological magnitude of violence in adolescence. Balk (1995) provides some factors that are associated with the alarmingly high rates of American family violence:

   ... (a) frequency of interaction between family members, (b) proximity to
   each other, c intensity of involvement, (d) dependence of some family
   members on others, and (e) greater cultural acceptance of domestic violence
   (p. 471).

These factors pose questions as to who is responsible for adolescent violence? Are families responsible for adolescent violence? It seems that there is a dearth of understanding of adolescents by those who are devoted to helping them--parents, teachers, counselors, and other helping professionals (Addis, 1997). Adults seem to lack awareness of adolescent physical, social, and psychological needs, as well as a general appreciation of the changes and adjustments that adolescents undergo. It was found that such personal characteristics as warmth, flexibility, and being socially oriented are related to less violent adolescent behavior (Elias, 1998; Hawkins, Catalano & Brewer, 1995).