The greatest single predictor of violence is a personal history of violence, claims the American Psychological Association's Commission on Youth and Violence. Additionally, parents who themselves have a history of violence raise children with a greater than normal chance of becoming violent. Violence is not a natural state. Nor is it the automatic response to anger and frustration or impulse. Physical punishment may produce obedience in the short term, but it really teaches children that problems are best solved through aggressive or violent means.
Societal influences help incite violent behavior.
Despite denials to the contrary, the images in mass media have a long-lasting impact on contributing to violence. Prolonged exposure to violent images increases the fear of becoming a victim, desensitizes violence, and increases the viewer's appetite for seeing other similar violent acts. However, family is a strong mediating variable. Children with strong family bonds are at lower risk for becoming violent than children from less cohesive families, even when they have demonstrated a violent nature. So, if violence begins at home, then so should prevention.