Breaking Bonds instead of Building Blocks – Youth & Aggression

There have been increasing incidents of violence among youth, both intentional and unintentional. Juvenile Delinquency, Murder, Campus Violence top intentional injury, while Road Rage and High Risk Behaviours top the list of unintentional injuries.

Several factors are responsible for this increasing trend of youth violence, the list is long but to state a few;

Socio – politico economic:

·        Poverty

·        Unemployment

·        Social inequality

Peer:

·        Peer Rejection

·        Deviant Peer affiliation

Academic:

·        Academic Overload

·        Extracurricular demands

Family:

·        Family Problems

While such factors contribute or aggravate the problem, at the bottom of it all is a significant low frustration threshold within the youth. The manifestations of these could be classified as early signs, defensive & offensive expressions.

Early Signs:

·        Nail or lip biting

·        Always tense with frown and flushed face

·        Grumble often or mutter on their own

·        Difficulty letting go of a dispute stuck and continue complaining about it.

Defensive Signs (Passive Aggressive):

·        Withdrawal both Physical & Emotional

·        Challenging Authority

·        Refusal to obey instructions / command

·        Blaming & Naming Others

Offensive Signs:

·        Issuing threats

·        Threatening posture, Language

·        Strike out at Peers / Authority.

Strategies that could be used on campuses to identify these students early and have a better recourse or healthy acceptable expression to their anger. Here are some strategies that can help;

·        Cool Down Zone: Create zones on campus where students can go settle to cool down.

·        Errand Trail: Help student run some errands when upset

·        Talk it Out: Help student talk out their emotional upset either to peers, teachers or adults

·        Humor: This always works help him laugh it out.

·        Consequences: These need to be very clear;

For those peers provoking teasing or issuing verbal challenges to other students

 For students expressing aggressive behaviours give them clear options and explain consequences. Stick to following consequences.

·Body Language & Verbal Command: Use para verbal and non-threatening body language and posture with soft voice and firm tone to talk to student when aggressive.

Don’ts:

o  Ask questions like Who is Right or Who is in Control

o  Never trivialize the matter, as its important to him at that moment

o  Issuing threatening consequences without giving options could be detrimental

It’s important to understand that anger is just and expression of the turmoil within the student, above strategies can be done on campuses ensuring these students go through long term therapy for anger management or other means for improving self-calming through mindfulness, yoga and meditation could be useful.

While working across campuses, we realise that student mental health is imperative for better academic outcomes, supporting campuses and students are integral parts of our program. We do conduct regular Social media engagement to ensure better outcomes.