Determinanten für Gewaltbereitschaft und Gewalt im Jugendalter

Abstract

The article focuses on the propensity of adolescents to engage in violent activities. Propensity towards violence is defined as an individual attitude which develops in a person’s life, formed by external life conditions and personal aspirations. The first section of the article deals with the concept of „propensity toward violence” and sketches a theoretical model according to which violence among adolescents depends on opportunity structures, situations, and contexts of action on the one hand, and attitudes toward the use of violence on the other. The article goes on to describe the design of the survey on which the study is based, and discuss the scope of violent activities in various contexts, in order to be able to compare the dispositions towards violence between various groups of adolescents. These groups include perpetrators and victims of violence. Section 5 finally discusses the social backgrounds of the propensity towards using violence and of actual violent behavior.