CU sponsors national satellite conference on youth anger and violence

During a rehearsal in the Media Services TV studio April 26 for the live broadcast of the panel discussion "Not in My School, Not in My Community," moderator Nancy Fey talks with Professor James Garbarino, while panelists, from left, Sally Crosiar, Honor Costello, Daniel Ball and Ellen Polimeni look on. Nicola Kountoupes/University Photography

By Susan Lang

When boys are sad, they can turn angry and aggressive, especially if they are spiritually empty, lack resilience and view adults as not being in charge, said James Garbarino, a Cornell expert on violent teens, during a national satellite videoconference Monday.

In contrast, he said, when girls become sad, they tend to get depressed.

In response to the recent tragic shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., Cornell Cooperative Extension presented the 1 hour and 45 minute interactive videoconference about the warning signals of potential violence, strategies for dealing with the perceived danger, and how to build on the strengths of young people and communities and identify strategies to prevent youth violence.

The session was aimed at school leaders, parents, youth, youth agency personnel, civic and religious leaders, extension educators, policy-makers and others interested in young people. The participants included Garbarino and a panel from Canandaigua, N.Y., which has instituted a teen violence prevention program, Community Character Coalition.

The satellite conference, moderated by Nancy Fey, producer with Cornell's Media and Technology Services and executive producer of the Cornell Cooperative Extension Satellite Network, was available to viewers across the country, via satellite dishes at extension offices, colleges, hospitals, schools and army bases and through local cable access channels. Panelists fielded numerous questions from around the nation that came in by fax and phone. Questions ranged from what parents can do when faced with child anger and how to overcome the stigma of receiving mental health services, to how to get teachers to teach character education and what to do about bomb scares and threats of violence.

"When boys -- who are more vulnerable and commit most of the acts of violence -- are rejected and humiliated, they might turn to the dark side of our culture if they do not have a strong sense of connectedness. Some engage in what you might call juvenile vigilantism -- a sense of being alone out there," said Garbarino. A nationally known psychologist with expertise on the impact of violence on children, he is the co-director of the Family Life Development Center at Cornell and the author of the new book Lost Boys: Why Our Sons Turn Violent and How We Can Save Them (The Free Press, 1999). (See related story.)

Garbarino has been interviewed by more than 75 television shows, newspapers and magazines during the past week, including "Nightline," "The Today Show," CNN, Time magazine, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report, PBS' "All Things Considered" and "Larry King Live."

One of the most powerful prevention strategies, he said during the broadcast, is character education that is promoted by entire communities, such as the model program in Canandaigua. That program was explained by Ellen Polimeni, mayor of Canandaigua and principal of one of its middle-school "houses"; Daniel Ball, a police officer involved with an after-school program for high-risk youth in Canandaigua; Sally Crosiar, a member of the Community Character Coalition; and Honor Costello, a senior at the area's high school, Canandaigua Academy.

"The program focuses on the character traits, respect, responsibility, caring, honesty and a healthful lifestyle. These traits are exemplified by the adults in the community who expect them from the kids in the community as well," Crosiar said.

Said Ball: "Our juvenile delinquency prevention program targets 7- to 15-year-olds who live in neighborhoods from which 40 percent of our calls about youth problems come. The year after the program was launched, those calls were reduced by 70 percent and then again the following year by 40 percent, so we know what we're doing is working."