Antisocial Behavior: Its Causes and Prevention within Our Schools

Abstract Antisocial behavior among youth is a major national concern; and about one out of every three students drop-out of school. Factors related to antisocial behavior are reviewed, with emphasis placed on their prevalence in the school Suggestions are provided as to what educators can do to prevent, rather than foster, antisocial behavior and dropouts. Antisocial behavior by our youth presents a major concern to everyone. Though rates of crime are dropping overall, reports show that young children are increasingly involved in deadlier crime, such as murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault (Snyder & Sickmund, 1995; Butts & Snyder, 1997). More juveniles are locked up in secure detention centers, training schools, jails, and prisons than ever before (partially because many states are now emphasizing longer and more punitive sanctions rather than treatment or prevention) (Puritz & Shang, 1998). Ingersoll and LeBoeuf (1997) also have noted that there have been increases in student suspensions and expulsions. Antisocial behavior is defined here as "recurrent violations of socially prescribed patterns of behavior" (Simcha-Fagen, Langner, Gersten, & Eisenberg, 1975, p. 7), usually involving aggression, vandalism, rule infractions, defiance of adult authority, and violation of the social norms and mores of society. Youngsters who exhibit chronic patterns of antisocial behaviors frequently are diagnosed by clinicians as having oppositional or conduct disorders (Home & Sayger, 1990; Kazdin, 1987). Most antisocial and incarcerated adults develop from youths whom engage in antisocial behavior and drop out of school (Henggeler, Melton, & Smith, 1992; Hodgkinson, 1991). About one-third of the youth in our country drop out rather than graduate from high school (National Dropout Prevention Center, 1992). More than 80% of the incarcerated individuals in the United States are high school dropouts, and the states with the highest dropout rates tend to have the highest rates of prisoners per 100,000 people (Hodgkinson, 1991). Along with our high dropout rates, our overcrowded prisons and other detention centers are a reflection of the degree to which our society and schools are failing with a large percentage of our human resource. A national study (Noun, Davies, & Chandler, 1995) found that 12% of secondary school students report that they have been the victim of bullying, physical assault, or robbery at school or on the way to school during the preceding school year. And, 20% of African American and Hispanic teens have indicated that crime, or the threat of crime, have caused them to remain home from school or cut class (Ingersoll & LeBoeuf, 1997). Antisocial behavior is reported to be most acute among urban, low SES minority youth (Elliott & Ageton, 1980), and it's adolescents, particularly boys, who commit higher rates of crime than any other age group (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1989). Yet, as the APA's Commission of Violence and Youth points out, "violence is most prevalent among the poor, regardless of race" (p. 23, 1993). Annual Gallup Polls of public opinion have frequently identified the lack of discipline as a common complaint about public schools, and the single most common assistance request from teachers is for help in managing problem behaviors (Homer, Diemer, & Brazeau, 1992; Reichle, 1990). The fact is, "without a safe learning environment, teachers cannot teach and students cannot learn" (Kaufman et al., 1998). What Appears to Contribute to Antisocial Behavior? Before we can devise effective strategies to prevent antisocial behavior, we must first understand what contributes to the occurrence of antisocial behaviors. There are a number of factors contained within the home, community, and school that are related to antisocial behavior (Mayer, 1995). However, a factor that cuts across all three of these areas is an aversive or punitive environment (DeBaryshe, Patterson, & Capaldi, 1993; Dishion, 1992; Elliott, 1992; Mayer, 1995). …