Would it be worth asking separate questions about starting fights vs responding once challenged/provoked/attacked? Not responding once attacked could invite future violence, of course. But this may make the questions too subjective.
I think questions 8 and 9 could be modified to be more specific by asking people if they trust the police in the place they live right now.
Question 8 could ask "Where you currently live, can the police be trusted to punish criminals?" This forces the reader to think about their own relationship with the local police. Police forces have different reputations; the Dallas Police Department might be trusted, while the San Francisco Police Department might not be. The question of whether police in general can be trusted is too unspecific and invites fretting over wider perceptions of law and order in a country.
The same goes for question 9 "Would you report theft to your local police?" Forcing it to be specific about location stops people from thinking, "well I would trust the police in this state but not that one."
I find the rate of brawls among girls interesting. This confirms something I just noticed anecdotally, that is, that physical violence among young women is on the rise.
I really want to see the effect of machismo on fertility. I have this thought because Japanese and S Korean culture are similar in a lot of ways (but not exactly the same). But while both are patriarchal, in S Korea, guys throwing hands in public is/was seen as just part of every day life (at least a couple of decades ago) even if they were wearing suits, while the Japanese would be horrified and would see that behavior as being something done by barbarian subhuman savages.
I had made a comment about the correlation of ethnicity and school violence, which is relevant, but I don't think that's a major point. I had a few fights at middle school because I tended to be targeted by bullies (a blond boy in a Sardinian working class middle school is a natural target). I'm grateful I found the courage to fight back, after a lot of suffering. Being able to handle violence when needed is a virtue. And I found it useful recently, unfortunately.
The problem is that there are potentially dangerous people who aren't handled by the police. My daughter of 9 has been harassed by a grown man dressed as a child as she walked the 50 meters from the car of the mom who was bringing her back from school to our home. Thank God, she was wise enough to hurry towards the door and ring the bell. The guy didn't do anything illegal. No way to involve the police or the mental health services. But he was an obvious threat. So, I went downstairs and threatened him in a very direct fashion. He ran away and never returned. In an ideal world, this shouldn't happen, and I hate one has to do those kind of things. But I'm not going to sacrifice my daughters to ideals.
Aside from sibling fights, I really didn't. I'm realizing a bit that my schooling was relatively peaceful in this regard. Plausibly something to do with simple human density and my fairly small elementary-middle school? The more people, the more potential belligerents of course; but many animals seem to fight more in crowds regardless of individual qualities or material scarcity.
When my son was young, his nanny told him to immediately strike back if another kid hit or teased him, even though we had always told him the opposite. Even though she told him that once or twice, and we told him the opposite a hundred times, the amount of time it took to drill it out of his head told me a lot about human nature. When scolded for not controlling the impulse to hit, he would keep repeating what she said as if it had equal weight as our words even though she was not his parent and was only in his life for a couple of years.
Getting into fights growing up could be delineated more by breaking it into two questions. Like, how often did you get into physical fights before you turned 13? Second, how often did you get into physical fights as a teen?
The "Fight Club" in the title is interesting. I do believe Chuck Palahniuk was on to something, and being involved in just a few fights can reorder your priorities and change something deep and primal about your worldview (not for the better). Same for being victim of a crime, especially sexual violence.
I have an additional theory about the rise of school violence, which probably complements the immigrant/ethnic minority culture factor, and which probably also explains girls' violence.
I think there's a widespread perception of the erosion of social stabilizing factors. The traditional regulating and meaning-giving institutions, parents, church, nation, are fading. The general climate is of impending doom and fear: climate, war, AI, demographic shifts... there isn't literally anything that gives hope to the younger generation. When anomie is the general feeling, it's normal for violence to be on the rise.
Would it be worth asking separate questions about starting fights vs responding once challenged/provoked/attacked? Not responding once attacked could invite future violence, of course. But this may make the questions too subjective.
I think questions 8 and 9 could be modified to be more specific by asking people if they trust the police in the place they live right now.
Question 8 could ask "Where you currently live, can the police be trusted to punish criminals?" This forces the reader to think about their own relationship with the local police. Police forces have different reputations; the Dallas Police Department might be trusted, while the San Francisco Police Department might not be. The question of whether police in general can be trusted is too unspecific and invites fretting over wider perceptions of law and order in a country.
The same goes for question 9 "Would you report theft to your local police?" Forcing it to be specific about location stops people from thinking, "well I would trust the police in this state but not that one."
You would probably like this classic essay about a de facto honor culture among young black men in inner city Philadelphia https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1994/05/the-code-of-the-streets/306601/
Growing up in Brazil (born in 1980), getting into fights was routine, from the age of 10. It happened all the time.
I was not a bully and never started fights, but had to defend myself frequently.
Some of those fights were quite serious and life threatening, got jumped by a gang and had to run for my life bloodied at the age of 17.
That was normal.
Thank you so much for sharing, that sounds extremely scary! I heard very similar stories in Sao Paulo.
I find the rate of brawls among girls interesting. This confirms something I just noticed anecdotally, that is, that physical violence among young women is on the rise.
I really want to see the effect of machismo on fertility. I have this thought because Japanese and S Korean culture are similar in a lot of ways (but not exactly the same). But while both are patriarchal, in S Korea, guys throwing hands in public is/was seen as just part of every day life (at least a couple of decades ago) even if they were wearing suits, while the Japanese would be horrified and would see that behavior as being something done by barbarian subhuman savages.
I had made a comment about the correlation of ethnicity and school violence, which is relevant, but I don't think that's a major point. I had a few fights at middle school because I tended to be targeted by bullies (a blond boy in a Sardinian working class middle school is a natural target). I'm grateful I found the courage to fight back, after a lot of suffering. Being able to handle violence when needed is a virtue. And I found it useful recently, unfortunately.
The problem is that there are potentially dangerous people who aren't handled by the police. My daughter of 9 has been harassed by a grown man dressed as a child as she walked the 50 meters from the car of the mom who was bringing her back from school to our home. Thank God, she was wise enough to hurry towards the door and ring the bell. The guy didn't do anything illegal. No way to involve the police or the mental health services. But he was an obvious threat. So, I went downstairs and threatened him in a very direct fashion. He ran away and never returned. In an ideal world, this shouldn't happen, and I hate one has to do those kind of things. But I'm not going to sacrifice my daughters to ideals.
Aside from sibling fights, I really didn't. I'm realizing a bit that my schooling was relatively peaceful in this regard. Plausibly something to do with simple human density and my fairly small elementary-middle school? The more people, the more potential belligerents of course; but many animals seem to fight more in crowds regardless of individual qualities or material scarcity.
When my son was young, his nanny told him to immediately strike back if another kid hit or teased him, even though we had always told him the opposite. Even though she told him that once or twice, and we told him the opposite a hundred times, the amount of time it took to drill it out of his head told me a lot about human nature. When scolded for not controlling the impulse to hit, he would keep repeating what she said as if it had equal weight as our words even though she was not his parent and was only in his life for a couple of years.
Getting into fights growing up could be delineated more by breaking it into two questions. Like, how often did you get into physical fights before you turned 13? Second, how often did you get into physical fights as a teen?
Isn't it a little odd how small the gender gap is in the French data? Seems like something was off there
Imagine a young man who is insulted in public and fights back. ...and responds violently. Fighting back might be self defense.
The "Fight Club" in the title is interesting. I do believe Chuck Palahniuk was on to something, and being involved in just a few fights can reorder your priorities and change something deep and primal about your worldview (not for the better). Same for being victim of a crime, especially sexual violence.
I have an additional theory about the rise of school violence, which probably complements the immigrant/ethnic minority culture factor, and which probably also explains girls' violence.
I think there's a widespread perception of the erosion of social stabilizing factors. The traditional regulating and meaning-giving institutions, parents, church, nation, are fading. The general climate is of impending doom and fear: climate, war, AI, demographic shifts... there isn't literally anything that gives hope to the younger generation. When anomie is the general feeling, it's normal for violence to be on the rise.
Jupp, its called football
Actually no I was better at running (away) but I have a younger brother. It was like in the Spare