MIDDLE CLASS YOUTH AND PROCLIVITIES FOR VIOLENCE

Abstract

Answers from questionnaires administered to middle-class freshman and junior students in 4 different rural and suburban high schools were used to assess predisposition to violence. The findings indicated a modest inverse relation between violence proclivity and age, with a sharp difference between boys and girls, reflecting our cultural norms. Though violence-proneness showed no variation by social class, it proved strongly inversely related to school success. There was a clear indication of an association between conservative Christian orthodoxy and violence-proneness; however, people with no formal religious identification also proved violence-prone. One's perception of peer group norms also shows a strong relation to violence proclivity. The presence of a gratification-deferral syndrome, which includes aggression deferral, reduces violent proclivities. The strong relation to sex and school success, as well as to reference group norms and middle-class value commitments like gratification deferral, is strongly reminiscent of what the literature shows to be the chief determinants of juvenile delinquency. The assertion that Americans are a violent people is discussed. (KS)