Guns, Gangs, and Gossip: An Analysis of Student Essays on Youth Violence

Author: Zimmerman MA / Morrel-Samuels S / Wong N / Tarver D / Rabiah D / White S
Publication: Journal of Early Adolescence
Topics: Age Group Gender Legislation and Policy Local Public Health Students
Keywords: Michigan Student Violence essay
Bibliographic information +

The authors examined youth’s perspectives on violence, qualitatively and quantitatively analyzing essays from a national essay contest titled “Do the Write Thing” that were written by seventh- and eighth-grade students from Flint, Michigan, an industrial city that suffered significant economic and population decline over the past 20 years and experienced among the highest violent crime rates in the state. Peer factors were identified most often and family factors least often as causes of violence. Females were more likely than males to report peer factors as a cause of violence. Qualitatively, lack of anger management, need for acceptance, harassment/lack of respect, violence in the media, and parenting practices were mentioned most often in the students’ essays.