The Breakdown of The Family Structure
             And It's Affect On Adolescent Learned Aggression
             In the last few years, there has been a significant increase in the awareness of the causes of adolescent aggression. Recently, there have been many school shootings, gang violence, drug abuse, and date rapes that are associated with the younger population. The number of violent acts committed by children increase every day. Attribution to these growing statistics can be placed upon the break down of the family structure. Awareness of the affects of domestic violence, parental discipline, communication, and parent child interaction, on adolescent behavior has risen. The family has always had the biggest affect on childhood development, and this paper will attempt to show the significant relationship between the recent breakdown of the family structure and it's affect on adolescent learned aggression.
             Social learning is behaviors or attitudes that are learned through the observation and imitation of others. In the case of adolescents, most of their social learning is either derived from their family, or their friends. To be socially competent, an individual must possess the social-cognitive ability to select and act on socially acceptable behaviors in a way that is responsive to the situation and to the social cues of other individuals involved in the interaction. Most children learn these social lessons in their family, if the relationship is not filled with violence or abuse. If the family is not teaching the children the proper social values, most of them turn to their peers for the much-needed acceptance and advice. The problem with the children turning to their peers for advice is that groups are more likely to be accepting of aggression, and violence. In fact, "preadolescent children who form friendships with antisocial peers appear to be at heightened risk for later antisocial behaviors, including delinquency,...