Fun with Science Club®


			Teens: The Company They Keep National Institute of Mental Health 03.23.01 Preventing Destructive Behavior by Harnessing the Power of Peers Tragic events such as school shootings have presented us with images of adolescent aggressive and antisocial behavior. There is a national search for answers. Fortunately, a long-term commitment to basic behavioral research at NIMH is now paying off with the development and implementation of interventions to address these vexing problems. Data from the National Youth Survey (NYS), a long-term study of violent offenders, point compellingly to the influence of deviant peers on a young person's tendency to engage in aggressive and violent behavior. This means that interventions must pay attention to the peer group, a key factor influencing whether a young person will lead a young adulthood characterized by violent and aggressive behaviors. In 1976, the NYS began to follow a nationally representative sample of 1,725 boys and girls, ages 11 to 17. NYS investigators have monitored participants' self-reports of serious violent behaviors as well as official records of law violations. At the time of the most recent interview, the survey participants were between ages 27 and 33. More than half of all participants with records of violent behavior began to engage in such behavior between the ages of 14 and 17, although a substantial number began as young as age 12. After age 20, the risk of initiating a pattern of violent behavior was found to be close to zero. In addition, they found that association with delinquent peers precedes the initiation and progression to serious violent offenses in 90 percent of cases. This finding was true of young people of all races.

CLICK HERE for more information!


			Office of Communications and Public Liaison, NIMH Information Resources and Inquiries Branch 6001 Executive Blvd., Room 8184, MSC 9663 Bethesda, MD 20892-9663 www.nimh.nih.gov