Teen Violence

Violent personality traits vary from person to person. Teens who are exhibiting early violent personality traits are likely to continue experiencing worsened stages of aggression and violence. This article includes signs of violent personality traits and treatment options for violent teens.

If you think your teen is showing violent personality traits, it is important to get them help right away through some level of treatment or counseling. Teens tend to express themselves through a variety of mediums as they discover their interests, so just because they tend to gravitate toward watching violent movies or playing extreme video games, does not mean they are prone to violent personality traits. However, it is important to monitor these interests and behaviors to make sure they don't get worse.

Signs of violent personality traits:

• Social isolation. Teens who feel rejected, angry, self conscious, or suffer from teen depression may act out on those feelings in aggressive behaviors.
• Victimization. Teens who may have experienced violent behaviors toward them before like bullying have a tendency to return those violent behaviors.
• Low school interest or poor academic performance. Teens who struggle in school may feel worthless and frustrated and may want to take those feelings out in an aggressive manner.
• Violent expressions through writing and drawings. This might be a major sign that your teen in looking to lash out in a violent manner due to major emotional distress.
• Preoccupation with violence. Frequent focus on morbid, violent or destructive movies, video games, books, etc, might be another sign of violent personality traits if the teen is allowed to obsess over these interests.
• Unmanageable anger. Frequent, intense bursts of anger over petty or minor disruptions can be another sign of teens with violent personality traits. 
• Bullying behaviors. Bullies other teens or children. Bullying is a serious sign that your teen may need counseling to resolve underlying emotional needs. 
• Drug and alcohol use. Substance abuse reduces inhibitions and potentially encourage teens to be act out on violent personality traits.
• Affiliation with gangs. These types of behaviors lead to extortion, intimidation and other types of violence toward others. 

Treatment options for teens with violent personality traits:

• Many violent behaviors in teens are the result of underlying emotional pain and issues that need to be resolved. This can be done with private counseling, treatment centers, or group counseling where teens can learn to control their violent tendencies by resolving the issues that make them want to act out aggressively in the first place. 

Sources: www.middleburgh.k12.ny.us