The relationship between violent behaviors and communication skills among students of junior high schools in Taipei City

Objectives: The purposes of this study were: (1) to understand the distributions of violent behaviors and the frequency of using communication skills among junior high school students in Taipei City; (2) to find out the relationship between violent behaviors and communication skills. Methods: Secondary data drawn from a study entitled "The Health Risk Behavior Investigation of Junior High School Students in Taipei City" was analyzed. A total of 1477 students completed the questionnaires. Results: The results included: (1) the prevalence rates of violent behaviors ranking in order were swearing, verbally offending parents or teachers, breaking things when getting mad, fighting, destroying public equipment, sexually assaulting others, and threatening and extorting; (2) among all kinds of communication skills, the frequency of using hearing skills was usually between 46.7% and 73.9%, the frequency of using talking skills was usually between 21.5% and 77.2%, and the frequency of using content constructing skills was usually between 32.2% and 63. 7%; (3) grade, gender, locus of control, attitude toward violent behaviors, violent behaviors of families and friends, friendship, and the relationship with family were correlated with the frequency of violent behaviors; (4) after controlling for other factors, communication skills still had a significant negative relationship with the frequency of violent behavior; (5) among all predisposing factors, students who were female, had a higher academic achievement, higher degree of internal control, higher degree of self confidence, more disagreement with the use of violence, whose father had a higher degree of education, and whose family was more harmonious, had a higher frequency of using communication skills. Conclusion: The frequency of using communication skills was found to be a significant predictor of adolescents' violent behaviors. It was thus suggested that our government and educational department could provide communication skill training in preventing violent behaviors among adolescents.