Cause Of Violence In Adolescence Essay

Life is a cycle of birth and death, marked by several stages of development from infancy, childhood, teenage, adulthood and old age. These stages are marked by their own peculiar characters of physical, social, emotional, intellectual and behavioral development. Childhood is marked by rapid physical and mental growth and teenage stands out by emotional imbalance. Teenage is also marked by hormonal changes, which in turn are responsible for frequent mood swings and out bursts.

Teenage interchangeably referred to as adolescence, describes the teenage years falling between thirteen and nineteen years of age. This stage is often referred to as the transitional stage between childhood and adulthood (Dube SR, Felitti VJ, Dong M, Chapman

Drug abuse is often seen as one of the most common cause of violence, illness, and deaths among teenagers.

A report by United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNDOC, 2010) stated that alcohol abuse is the cause of 2.5 million teenage deaths per year. It is further reported that drugs like heroin and cocaine also cause about 0.1 to 0.2 million deaths per year. Apart from these, substance abuse also causes serious illnesses among youth. An alarming report by UNODC reveals that the approximate costs for treating drug abuses globally amounts to about two hundred to two hundred fifty billion dollars. This is approximately 0.3% to 0.4% of the international Gross Domestic Product. Further, it is also reported that this amount was used to treat only about 20% of the drug users (Bovin G, Griffin KW., 2003)

Technologically facilitated psychological abuse is fast gaining grounds and aggressions through cell phones and computers using social media and mail accounts for monitoring by partners and resulting in harassment. It also surfaces in the form of spreading rumours to damage relationships and harm reputation. Blackmailing also accounts for a significant numbers of violent outbreaks in schools and at