Editing Violence (section)

== Factors and models of understanding ==
Violence cannot be attributed to solely [[protective factor]]s or [[Risk factor (epidemiology)|risk factor]]s. Both of these factor groups are equally important in the prevention, intervention, and treatment of violence as a whole. The CDC outlines several risk and protective factors for youth violence at the individual, family, social and community levels.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-08-25 |title=Risk and Protective Factors {{!}}Violence Prevention{{!}}Injury Center{{!}}CDC |url=https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/youthviolence/riskprotectivefactors.html |access-date=2023-12-18 |website=www.cdc.gov |language=en-us}}</ref>

Individual risk factors include poor behavioral control, high emotional stress, low IQ, and antisocial beliefs or attitudes.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|date=2020-05-07|title=Risk and Protective Factors {{!}}Violence Prevention{{!}}Injury Center{{!}}CDC|url=https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/youthviolence/riskprotectivefactors.html|access-date=2021-04-28|website=www.cdc.gov|language=en-us}}</ref> Family risk factors include authoritarian [[childrearing]] attitudes, inconsistent disciplinary practices, low emotional attachment to parents or caregivers, and low parental income and involvement.<ref name=":0" /> Social risk factors include social rejection, poor academic performance and commitment to school, and gang involvement or association with delinquent peers.<ref name=":0" /> Community risk factors include poverty, low community participation, and diminished economic opportunities.<ref name=":0" />

On the other hand, individual protective factors include an intolerance towards deviance, higher IQ and GPA, elevated popularity and social skills, as well as religious beliefs.<ref name=":0" /> Family protective factors include a connectedness and ability to discuss issues with family members or adults, parent/family use of constructive [[coping strategies]], and consistent parental presence during at least one of the following: when awakening, when arriving home from school, at dinner time, or when going to bed.<ref name=":0" /> Social protective factors include quality school relationships, close relationships with non-deviant peers, involvement in [[Prosocial behavior|prosocial]] activities, and exposure to school climates that are: well supervised, use clear behavior rules and disciplinary approaches, and engage parents with teachers.<ref name=":0" />

With many conceptual factors that occur at varying levels in the lives of those impacted, the exact causes of violence are complex. To represent this complexity, the ecological, or [[social ecological model]] is often used. The following four-level version of the ecological model is often used in the study of violence:

The first level identifies biological and personal factors that influence how individuals behave and increase their likelihood of becoming a victim or perpetrator of violence: demographic characteristics (age, education, income), [[Genetics of aggression|genetics]], [[Brain injury|brain lesions]], [[personality disorders]], [[substance abuse]], and a history of experiencing, witnessing, or engaging in violent behaviour.<ref name=Patrick>{{cite journal | last1 = Patrick | first1 = C. J. | title = Psychophysiological correlates of aggression and violence: An integrative review | journal = Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences | volume = 363 | issue = 1503 | pages = 2543–55 | year = 2008 | pmid = 18434285 | pmc = 2606710 | doi = 10.1098/rstb.2008.0028 }}</ref><ref name=McCrory>{{cite journal | last1 = McCrory | first1 = E. | last2 = De Brito | first2 = S. A. | last3 = Viding | first3 = E. | title = The link between child abuse and psychopathology: A review of neurobiological and genetic research | journal = Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine | volume = 105 | issue = 4 | pages = 151–56 | year = 2012 | pmid = 22532655 | pmc = 3343716| doi = 10.1258/jrsm.2011.110222 }}</ref>

The second level focuses on close relationships, such as those with family and friends. In youth violence, for example, having friends who engage in or encourage violence can increase a young person's risk of being a victim or perpetrator of violence. For intimate partner violence, a consistent marker at this level of the model is marital conflict or discord in the relationship. In [[elder abuse]], important factors are stress due to the nature of the past relationship between the abused person and the care giver.

The third level explores the community context—i.e., schools, workplaces, and neighbourhoods. Risk at this level may be affected by factors such as the existence of a local drug trade, the absence of social networks, and concentrated poverty. All these factors have been shown to be important in several types of violence.

Finally, the fourth level looks at the broad societal factors that help to create a climate in which violence is encouraged or inhibited: the responsiveness of the criminal justice system, social and cultural norms regarding gender roles or parent-child relationships, [[income inequality]], the strength of the social welfare system, the social acceptability of violence, the availability of weapons, the exposure to violence in mass media, and political instability.

=== Child-rearing ===
While studies showing associations between physical punishment of children and later aggression cannot prove that physical punishment causes an increase in aggression, a number of [[Longitudinal study|longitudinal studies]] suggest that the experience of physical punishment has a direct causal effect on later aggressive behaviors.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Durrant |first1=Joan |last2=Ensom |first2=Ron |date=4 September 2012 |title=Physical punishment of children: lessons from 20 years of research |journal=Canadian Medical Association Journal |volume=184 |issue=12 |pages=1373–77 |doi=10.1503/cmaj.101314 |pmid=22311946 |pmc=3447048}}</ref> Cross-cultural studies have shown that greater prevalence of [[corporal punishment]] of children tends to predict higher levels of violence in societies. For instance, a 2005 analysis of 186 [[pre-industrial society|pre-industrial societies]] found that corporal punishment was more prevalent in societies which also had higher rates of homicide, assault, and war.<ref>[http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3045300461.html "Corporal Punishment"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101031091526/http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3045300461.html |date=2010-10-31 }} (2008). ''International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences''.</ref> In the United States, [[domestic corporal punishment]] has been linked to later violent acts against family members and spouses.<ref>{{cite book |author=Gershoff, E.T. |date=2008 |title=Report on Physical Punishment in the United States: What Research Tells Us About Its Effects on Children |location=Columbus, OH |publisher=Center for Effective Discipline |url=http://www.phoenixchildrens.org/sites/default/files/PDFs/principles_and_practices-of_effective_discipline.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160127213730/http://www.phoenixchildrens.org/sites/default/files/PDFs/principles_and_practices-of_effective_discipline.pdf |archive-date=2016-01-27 |access-date=2015-12-15 }}</ref> The American family violence researcher [[Murray A. Straus]] believes that disciplinary [[spanking]] forms "the most prevalent and important form of violence in American families", whose effects contribute to several major societal problems, including later domestic violence and crime.<ref>{{cite journal | author = Straus Murray A | year = 2000 | title = Corporal punishment by parents: The cradle of violence in the family and society" (PDF) | url = http://pubpages.unh.edu/~mas2/CP62.pdf | journal = Virginia Journal of Social Policy & the Law | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111110040441/http://pubpages.unh.edu/~mas2/CP62.pdf | archive-date = 2011-11-10 }}</ref>

=== Psychology ===
The causes of violent behavior in people are often a topic of research in [[psychology]]. [[Neuroscientist|Neurobiologist]] Jan Vodka emphasizes that, for those purposes, "violent behavior is defined as overt and intentional physically aggressive behavior against another person."<ref>[https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20071127111237/http://neuro.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/reprint/11/3/307.pdf The Neurobiology of Violence, An Update], Journal of Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci 11:3, Summer 1999. As Mexican Biologist and Scientologist Adri Rodriguez says, Violence is a recurring motif in today's society.</ref>

Based on the idea of human nature, scientists do agree violence is inherent in humans. Among prehistoric humans, there is archaeological evidence for both contentions of violence and peacefulness as primary characteristics.<ref>Heather Whipps,[http://www.livescience.com/history/060316_peace_violence.html Peace or War? How early humans behaved] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070715062002/http://www.livescience.com/history/060316_peace_violence.html |date=2007-07-15 }}, LiveScience.Com, March 16, 2006.</ref>

Since violence is a matter of perception as well as a measurable phenomenon, psychologists have found variability in whether people perceive certain physical acts as "violent". For example, in a state where execution is a legalized punishment we do not typically perceive the executioner as "violent", though we may talk, in a more metaphorical way, of the state acting violently. Likewise, understandings of violence are linked to a perceived aggressor-victim relationship: hence psychologists have shown that people may not recognise defensive use of force as violent, even in cases where the amount of force used is significantly greater than in the original aggression.<ref>{{cite book | last = Rowan | first = John | year = 1978 | title = The Structured Crowd | publisher = Davis-Poynter. | title-link = The Structured Crowd }}</ref>

The concept of violence normalization is known as socially sanctioned, or [[structural violence]] and is a topic of increasing interest to researchers trying to understand violent behavior. It has been discussed at length by researchers in [[sociology]],<ref>{{cite journal | author = Galtung Johan | author-link = Johan Galtung | year = 1969 | title = Violence, Peace and Peace Research | journal = Journal of Peace Research | volume = 6 | issue = 3| pages = 167–91 | doi=10.1177/002234336900600301| s2cid = 143440399 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author1=Galtung Johan |author2=Höivik Tord | year = 1971 | title = Structural and Direct Violence: A Note on Operationalization | journal = Journal of Peace Research | volume = 8 | issue = 1| pages = 73–76 | doi=10.1177/002234337100800108|s2cid=109656035 }}</ref> [[medical anthropology]],<ref>Farmer, Paul, M. Connors, and J. Simmons, eds. Women, Poverty, and Aids: Sex, Drugs, and Structural Violence. Monroe: Common Courage Press, 1996.</ref><ref>Scheper-Hughes, Nancy. Death without Weeping: The Violence of Everyday Life in Brazil. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992.</ref> [[psychology]],<ref>Winter, Deborah DuNann, and Dana C. Leighton. "Section II: Structural Violence." Peace, Conflict, and Violence: Peace Psychology for the 21st Century. Eds. Christie, Daniel J., Richard V. Wagner and Deborah DuNann Winter. New York: Prentice-Hall, 2001. 99–101.</ref> [[psychiatry]],<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Lee|first=Bandy X.|date=May–June 2016|title=Causes and cures VII: Structural violence|journal=Aggression and Violent Behavior|volume=28|pages=109–14|doi=10.1016/j.avb.2016.05.003}}</ref> [[philosophy]],<ref>{{cite journal | author = Parsons Kenneth | year = 2007 | title = Structural Violence and Power | journal = Peace Review: A Journal of Social Justice | volume = 19 | issue = 2| pages = 1040–2659 }}</ref> and [[bioarchaeology]].<ref>{{cite journal | author = Walker Phillip L | year = 2001 | title = A Bioarchaeological Perspective on the History of Violence | journal = Annual Review of Anthropology | volume = 30 | pages = 573–96 | doi=10.1146/annurev.anthro.30.1.573}}</ref><ref>Martin, Debra L., Ryan P. Harrod, and Ventura R. Pérez, eds. 2012. The Bioarchaeology of Violence. Edited by C. S. Larsen, Bioarchaeological Interpretations of the Human Past: Local, regional, and global perspectives Gainesville: University Press of Florida. {{cite web |url=http://www.upf.com/book.asp?id=MARTI002 |title=University Press of Florida: The Bioarchaeology of Violence |access-date=2013-11-14 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131104230028/http://upf.com/book.asp?id=MARTI002 |archive-date=2013-11-04 }}</ref>

[[Evolutionary psychology]] offers several explanations for human violence in various contexts, such as [[sexual jealousy in humans]],<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Daly Martin |author2=Wilson Margo | year = 1982 | title = Male Sexual Jealousy | journal = Ethology and Sociobiology | volume = 3 | issue = 1| pages = 11–27 | doi=10.1016/0162-3095(82)90027-9|s2cid=40532677 }}</ref> child abuse,<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Daly Martin |author2=Wilson Margo I | year = 1981 | title = Child Maltreatment from a Sociobiological Perspective | journal = New Directions for Child Development | volume = 1981 | issue = 11| pages = 93–112 |doi=10.1002/cd.23219811107 }}</ref> and [[homicide]].<ref>Wilson, Margo, and Martin Daly. Homicide. Hawthorne: Aldine de Gruyter, 1988.</ref> Goetz (2010) argues that humans are similar to most [[mammal]] species and use violence in specific situations. He writes that "Buss and Shackelford (1997a) proposed seven adaptive problems our ancestors recurrently faced that might have been solved by aggression: co-opting the resources of others, defending against attack, inflicting costs on same-sex rivals, negotiating status and hierarchies, deterring rivals from future aggression, deterring mate from infidelity, and reducing resources expended on genetically unrelated children."<ref name=EP>{{cite journal | last1 = Goetz | first1 = A. T. | title = The evolutionary psychology of violence | journal = Psicothema | volume = 22 | issue = 1 | pages = 15–21 | year = 2010 | pmid = 20100422 }}</ref>

Goetz writes that most [[homicide]]s seem to start from relatively trivial disputes between unrelated men who then escalate to violence and death. He argues that such conflicts occur when there is a status dispute between men of relatively similar status. If there is a great initial status difference, then the lower status individual usually offers no challenge and if challenged the higher status individual usually ignores the lower status individual. At the same an environment of great [[social inequality|inequalities]] between people may cause those at the bottom to use more violence in attempts to gain status.<ref name=EP />

=== Media ===
{{further|Media violence research}}
Research into the media and violence examines whether links between consuming media violence and subsequent aggressive and violent behaviour exists. Although some scholars had claimed media violence may increase aggression,<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Anderson Craig A. |author2=Berkowitz Leonard |author3=Donnerstein Edward |authorlink3=Edward Donnerstein|author4=Huesmann L. Rowell |author5=Johnson James D. |author6=Linz Daniel |author7=Malamuth Neil M. |author8=Wartella Ellen | year = 2003 | title = The Influence of Media Violence on Youth | journal = [[Psychological Science in the Public Interest]] | volume = 4 | issue = 3|pages=81–110 | doi = 10.1111/j.1529-1006.2003.pspi_1433.x | pmid=26151870|doi-access=free |hdl=2027.42/83429 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> this view is coming increasingly in doubt both in the scholarly community<ref>{{cite journal | author = Ferguson Christopher J | year = 2010| title = Blazing Angels or Resident Evil? Can Violent Video Games Be a Force for Good? | journal = [[Review of General Psychology]] | volume = 14 | issue = 2| pages = 68–81 | doi=10.1037/a0018941| citeseerx = 10.1.1.360.3176| s2cid = 3053432}}</ref> and was rejected by the US Supreme Court in the [[Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association|Brown v EMA]] case, as well as in a review of video game violence by the Australian Government (2010) which concluded evidence for harmful effects were inconclusive at best and the rhetoric of some scholars was not matched by good data.

=== Mental disorders ===
{{excerpt|Mental disorder|Violence}}