Children and young people are exposed to violent imagery and behavior through the media and, for too many children, through direct experience. A Profile of Children at Risk Violent behavior by children and adolescents is difficult to acknowledge. The idea that school violence is an inner city problem is being reconsidered in the 1990s. It is increasing and crossing the spectrum of American schools. Although the focus is on prevention of violence by children and adolescents, it is critical to recognize the number of children who themselves are victims of violence.
Violence is a complex problem that has no one identifiable cause.
Despite these discouraging findings, there is a strong impetus behind prevention efforts it is the idea that violence is a learned behavior and should be preventable. There is a difference between aggressive and violent behavior. Violence is usually understood as aggression that is focused toward another person, animal, or object. In much literature, however, these distinctions are blurry. It is important to understand that both violence and aggression are learned behaviors.