Violence recipe: Youth in groups with nothing to do but make trouble

 Carol Forsloff - Kids that
hang out with nothing to do in groups, even if the kids are generally
good kids, is still a recipe for violence according to researchers at
Ohio University.  The advice your parents gave you might be good news after all.



In fact researchers maintain it is a good idea to be careful about letting teens
gather with nothing to do and with no adult supervision.

“Even if you trust all your neighbors and all the teens are 'A' students, it is best to assume that groups of teens just hanging out can lead to problems, including violence,” said Christopher Browning, co-author of the study and associate professor of sociology at Ohio State University.

A long-term study of Chicago neighborhoods looked at informal teen gatherings and found these significantly increased the opportunities for violence by some of the adolescents.

Levels of violence did differ according to neighborhoods, but in general those communities with groups of unsupervised teens had higher levels of violence, even in "good" neighborhoods.

Other research has shown that this type of unsupervised interaction in groups
of teens can also lead to general delinquency patterns.  This study,
however, found that violence is part of that problem.

“The findings tap into the debate about how much structure is appropriate for kids today,” Browning said.

Browning conducted the study with David Maimon, a former Ohio State graduate student now at the University of Maryland.  The results appear in the current issue of the journal Criminology.

The study utilized information from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods Community Survey
and Longitudinal Cohort Study.  The research examined 80 different
Chicago neighborhoods to see how these neighborhoods impacted the
behavior of teenagers.  Interviews took place during an eight year
period, from 1994 - 2002 and involved 842 young people between the ages
of 8 and 13.

Researchers found that in neighborhoods where young people were trusted to be on their own and just hang out with groups of friends had more levels of violence.“Parents are better off assuming that more structure is better for their teens.”

The conclusions of this study imply that good neighborhood interactions and
monitoring of youth behavior will result in less trouble for
adolescents.

“Communities need both the shared willingness to control adolescent behavior in public space and the capacity to provide adolescents with options other
than unsupervised ‘hanging out,’” Browning said.  Those words shared five years ago are still a good answer five years later.  And almost anywhere you go, including the Internet, where bad things happen to good people in groups up to no good.

Hang out on a street corner in the evening, when the shopping stores have closed, and just a street light and a convenient store light up the sky with stars.  In Hawaii's Leeward Coast of Oahu by the 7-11 in the evening, one finds a cluster of young people hanging out around the convenient store or romping through the dark parking lot around the small shopping center.  Although the kids are not reported violent, most people would not stand around, even at the busstop for long.

Waianae's example of kids hanging out with nothing to do is shared in many places.  For example, in Natchitoches, Louisiana, unless one is enrolled in the college, there is little to do in the evening, except wander around at night.  So in clusters, in the shade, white, black and the light browns of Creole folk, find their adolescent kids can get into trouble like they can almost any place.

The parents warning to stay clear of a bunch of kids just hanging in or out, depending on whether you know the lingo these days, is something young folks should heed.  The word to the wise is more than idle conversation but a recommendation from science as well.