Parenting Causes of Youth Violence

Antisocial Parents

• One of the major risk factors when it comes to youth violence is, aggressive or criminal parents, according to the report from the Surgeon General. Since children tend to imitate or model their own behavior on their parents', especially at a young age, an aggressive or violent mother or father can become a dangerous role model. Later in life, those children will tend to deal with situations the same way their parents did: by using violence instead of reasoning.

Inconsistent, Harsh, or Lax Discipline

• According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, inconsistent, harsh, or lax discipline are also minor risk factors in youth violence. Children need fair and fixed rules to follow. By failing to provide their children with adequate rules, such parents are at risk of seeing their offspring engage in destructive behavior later in life.

Abusive Parenting

• Child abuse, of course, also has an impact on the later development of violent behaviors, even though experts think that this impact is limited. Neglect, which means a parent is not taking care of his son or daughter, is also a minor risk factor when it comes to teen violence. While these extreme cases of bad parenting only seem to have a minor impact on youth violence, it is important to remember the extremely negative impact they can have on other aspects of the future lives of the children involved.

Lack of Child Supervision

• According to the CDC's health information about both risk factors and protective factors in youth violence, children who are not properly supervised by their parents are also at risk of later developing violent behaviors. If parents leave their offspring without supervision for extended periods of time, children will be more likely to engage in risky behavior, such as substance abuse or delinquency.