America
Supportive parents help keep youth away from violence
New York, April 27
Youth with supportive
parents and other family members are significantly less likely to be
involved in or to witness violence, says a study.
"This is good
news. In neighbourhoods with high levels of community violence and few
safe spaces to spend time, having supportive adult connections is
protective against violence exposure," said lead researcher Alison
Culyba from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia in the US.
For the study, the researchers interviewed 283 males aged 10-24 years.
They
asked youths about their adult and peer connections, involvement in
violence and witnessing violence, school performance and substance use.
The
youths were also asked to characterise the nature of relationships with
family members whom they viewed as having an important role in their
lives. Relationships were divided into three categories: supportive,
unsupportive and mixed supportive/unsupportive.
One-third of
youths reported a high violence involvement, 30 percent reported high
violence witnessing and 17 percent reported both.
Participants
who reported having at least one supportive adult in their life were
significantly less likely to be involved in or to witness violence.
The findings were presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in San Diego.