Word: often
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...sure, teenagers have never been angels. Adolescence is often a troubled time of rebellion and rage. From West Side Story to Rebel Without a Cause, the violence of youth has been chronicled on stage and screen. But juvenile crime appears to be more widespread and vicious than ever before. "Burglars used to rob a house and then run away. Now they urinate or defecate in the home or burn it up before leaving," says Shawn Johnston, a forensic psychologist in Sacramento. "Thieves mugged a person and ran off. Now they beat their victims." Or rape or murder them...
...many children are growing up in families headed by one overburdened parent, usually the mother. Even when two parents are present, both often have demanding jobs and are absorbed in their own concerns. Sometimes the parents are strung out on alcohol or drugs. The result is that children do not get the nurturing, guidance or supervision necessary to instill a set of values and a proper code of behavior...
...difference between right and wrong and that hurtful actions have consequences. Many youngsters, though, fail to acquire those early curbs on conduct. Later on, when children misbehave, indulgent parents make excuses and forgo punishments. Young boys who grow up with absent or uninvolved fathers suffer doubly in that they often fail to develop a healthy sense of masculinity...
...York University: "Kids are being raised by more and more disturbed parents. And what this lack of parenting breeds is misshapen personalities." Parents punch each other verbally and physically -- and frequently do the same with their children. In fact, the large majority of violent kids have been physically, and often sexually, abused by parents, relatives or others. One mother, reports Lewis, broke her son's legs with a broom; a father threw his child down a set of stairs...
...group's influence is often treacherous. Explains young Edwards: "It's peer pressure and wanting to be accepted by your friends and trying to prove yourself in the best way you know how, which is being violent." Gangs allow even the most cowardly and impotent to feel brave and powerful. And they override inhibitions and diminish any feelings of guilt. Violence becomes contagious. Some youngsters revel in the mayhem; others, too weak to break away, become trapped and are swept along...