Citation

Tonkin RS. J. Adolesc. Health Care 1987; 8(2): 213-220.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1987, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

3546232

Abstract

There is general agreement that violence in adolescence is occurring at unprecedented and unacceptably high levels. Society has begun to grapple with this problem but lacks the information to help guide it toward a resolution. Are our young people purposely or unconsciously pursuing a self-destructive course? Has our technology created risk-filled situations that we need to protect adolescents from? Have we introduced adult-type behaviors into an age group that is developmentally unready or ill prepared to cope with them? Do we know and understand enough about contemporary adolescence to develop effective countermeasures to the problem of violence-related death and injury? Do we have the will to attempt a resolution of this continuing tragedy? There are no quick answers to the modern dilemma of violence in adolescence. However, this paper has attempted to draw together some of the different avenues of thought on the subject of risky behavior in adolescence. A simple model has been offered as a way of integrating these various lines of thought and suggesting possible avenues for the much-needed research. Without a significant expansion in our research base, clinicians and public health officials seem doomed to continue the present pattern of ineffective countermeasures.

Language: en