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Environmental Influences on Fighting Versus Nonviolent Behavior in Peer Situations: A Qualitative Study with Urban African American Adolescents

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American Journal of Community Psychology

Abstract

This qualitative study explored environmental factors that influence adolescents’ responses to problem situations involving peers. Interviews were conducted with 106 middle school students (97% African American) from an urban school system. Participants were asked to describe factors that would make it easier and those that would make it more difficult for adolescents to make specific responses to problem situations. Two types of responses were presented: nonviolent responses identified as effective in a previous study, and fighting responses. Qualitative analysis identified 24 themes representing family, peer, school, and neighborhood and broader social factors that were related to both nonviolent behavior and fighting. The identification of environmental influences on fighting and nonviolent responses has important implications for efforts to reduce aggression and promote effective nonviolent responses to problem situations encountered by adolescents.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by grant #1 R21 HD40041 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). The research and interpretations reported are the sole responsibility of the authors and are not necessarily endorsed by NICHD or represent the views, opinions, or policies of the NICHD or their staff. We appreciate the many contributions of other members of our research group made during various phases of this research, particularly Anne Greene, Wendy Kliewer, Aleta Meyer, and Terri Sullivan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, P.O. Box 842018, Richmond, VA, 23284-2018, USA

    Albert D. Farrell, Sally Mays, Amie Bettencourt, Monique Vulin-Reynolds & Kevin W. Allison

  2. University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA

    Elizabeth H. Erwin

Authors
  1. Albert D. Farrell
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  2. Sally Mays
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  3. Amie Bettencourt
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  4. Elizabeth H. Erwin
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  5. Monique Vulin-Reynolds
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  6. Kevin W. Allison
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Albert D. Farrell.

Appendix: Problem and Response Pairs for Interviews

Appendix: Problem and Response Pairs for Interviews

Effective Non-Violent Responses

  • Situation: Someone started a rumor about you and other students are keeping it going and making the rumor worse. Now, it seems like all the kids are talking about you.

  • Response: I would tell my friends to stop spreading the rumor.

  • Situation: You told a good friend you were interested in going with a girl/boy. You see your friend flirting and trying to talk with this person like they want to go out with them.

  • Response: I would confront my friend in a positive way. For example, I’d say I want to be friends and tell my friend that I don’t want them to flirt with someone I want to go with.

  • Situation: You told a friend something private and they told it to other people. This friend had promised they would not tell anyone but went behind your back and told other people.

  • Response: I’d talk to my friend and ask why they broke their promise not to tell.

  • Situation: Somebody is spreading a rumor about a student and you got blamed for it. Now you have a big problem with this person who thinks you were talking about them behind their back.

  • Response: I’d talk it out with the person the rumor was started about and explain I didn’t start it.

  • Situation: Someone is fake with you, sometimes acting like a friend and sometimes saying mean things about you. You can’t trust them because they change how they act all the time.

  • Response: I would talk it over with an adult I trust like one of my parents, a teacher, or my counselor and tell the what’s going on.

  • Situation: You and a friend are joking and cracking on each other. You accidentally say something that you didn’t think would cross the line but your friend gets really mad at you. You didn’t mean it, you were just joking around but you crossed the line and now your friend wants to fight you for real.

  • Response: I would say I’m sorry for what I said, I didn’t mean it.

  • Situation: Two of your friends are fighting and they try to put you into the middle of it. You feel pressure from both sides because they can’t get along and they each want you to take their side.

  • Response: I would get them together so they could talk but not fight and try to help them solve the problem.

  • Situation: Someone started a rumor about you and other students are keeping it going and making the rumor worse. Now, it seems like all the kids are talking about you.

  • Response: I would go to peer mediation with the person.

  • Situation: A friend asks to cheat off a paper you work really hard on. Their friendship is really important to you but this was your work and it took you a lot of time to do.

  • Response: I’d help them with the paper but not let them copy mine.

  • Situation: You and a friend are joking and cracking on each other. You accidentally say something that you didn’t think would cross the line but your friend gets really mad at you. You didn’t mean it, you were just joking around but you crossed the line and now your friend wants to fight you for real.

  • Response: I’d try to calm my friend down.

  • Situation: You and another kid get into an argument at school. Other students are there boosting it up saying, “Fight, fight, fight.”

  • Response: I would say, “I’m not going to fight.”

  • Situation: Other students are disrupting class and making it hard for you to concentrate and get your work done.

  • Response: I’d ask the teacher to move me.

  • Situation: Other kids at school tease and pick on you. They call you names and make fun of you.

  • Response: I would tell an adult at school, like the teacher or a principal.

  • Situation: Another kid at school says something that is disrespectful about your family.

  • Response: I wouldn’t let it bother me, because I’d know they were wrong.

Violent Responses

  • Situation: You and another kid get into an argument at school. Other students are there boosting it up saying, “Fight, fight, fight.”

  • Response: I would fight the person.

  • Situation: Someone started a rumor about you and other students are keeping it going and making the rumor worse. Now, it seems like all the kids are talking about you.

  • Response: I would fight the person who started the rumor.

  • Situation: You told a good friend you were interested in going with a girl/boy. You see your friend flirting and trying to talk with this person like they want to go out with them.

  • Response: I would fight my friend.

  • Situation: Other kids at school tease and pick on you. They call you names and make fun of you.

  • Response: I would fight the other kids doing it or saying it to me.

Note: From “Individual factors influencing effective nonviolent behavior and fighting in peer situations: A qualitative study with urban African American adolescents,” by A. D. Farrell, E. H. Erwin, A. Bettencourt, S. Mays, M. Vulin-Reynolds, T. N. Sullivan, K. Allison, W. Kliewer, & A. L. Meyer, 2008, Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 37, pp. 410-411. Copyright 2008 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. Reprinted with permission.

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Farrell, A.D., Mays, S., Bettencourt, A. et al. Environmental Influences on Fighting Versus Nonviolent Behavior in Peer Situations: A Qualitative Study with Urban African American Adolescents. Am J Community Psychol 46, 19–35 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-010-9331-z

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