Survey: most Boston teens have witnessed violent acts

Yawu Miller

Nearly 90 percent of teenagers who responded to a 2004 survey say they had witnessed at least one act of violence in the preceding year and more than half said they themselves had been victimized.

The study, released this week, was compiled by the Harvard School of Public Health for the city of Boston and was completed in August. With rates of violent crime on the rise, the report underscores a problem many say has been growing.

“The report is just confirming what we should already be aware of,” said City Councilor Felix Arroyo. “The question is, what are we going to do about it?”

A Menino administration press release said the mayor would use the report as a road map for assessing and evaluating the city’s delivery of youth services. Arroyo said the report points to a need for counseling in the city’s schools.

“I suggest that there should be a way in the schools for people to talk about what they’re feeling,” he said. “If you have this kind of weight in your heart, why are we pretending things are normal?”

The report — culled from a survey of Boston Public School students — found that 53 percent of boys and 43 percent of girls said they were victimized by violence in the preceding year. Fifty-eight percent either witnessed or were victimized by acts of violence while in school.

Over 80 percent of the high school students surveyed said they had seen someone hit, slapped, punched, kicked or beaten up in the past year, according to the survey. Over two-thirds reported seeing another person threatened or chased in the past year.

Children who witness incidents involving gun violence are likely to suffer psychological scars ranging from sleep problems to depression and anti-social behavior, according to the National Center for Children Exposed to Violence, a New Haven-based resource center.

Children who witness violence are also more likely to perpetrate acts of violence themselves, according to the center’s literature.

“There’s a whole menu of issues that this survey pointed out,” said Larry Mays, the city’s chief of Human Services. “We really need to take the mayor seriously on his proposal for a youth advisor. I want someone in his ear all the time advising him on issues of young people all the time. I want to keep these issues front and center.”

The report is likely to renew calls for more funding for youth programming, much of which has been cut over the last 10 years.

Horace Small, who heads the Union of Minority Neighborhoods, said the city should take a holistic approach toward meeting the needs of its youths.

“You have to involve all segments of the community,” he said. “It can’t just be the ministers. You need youth programs, not just sports. You have to design programs that motivate and inspire the kids.”

Other findings of the report:

• One-third reported participating in after-school activities or being employed after-school.

• One-quarter said they hung out with friends after school, while 20 percent said they went straight home after school.

• Forty-nine percent said they watched at least three hours of television a day.

• Thirty-two percent reported living in two-parent families. Twenty percent of the respondents’ parents had joint custody. Thirty-four percent lived with single mothers while six percent lived with single fathers.