A Comparison of Violence Exposure and Perpetration in Recruits and High School Students

Abstract

This study compared the rates of violence perpetration from two groups of young adults. Samples of 782 recruits at U.S. Army basic combat training were surveyed by the author, and 3,700 adolescents from inner-city and suburban schools were surveyed by another researcher to assess levels of premilitary exposure to violence and levels of violence perpetration. Results showed that there is a significant positive correlation between levels of violence exposure and levels of violence perpetration in both populations (r = 0.71, p < 0.001 for recruits; r = 0.68, p < 0.001 for civilian high school males). Comparison of the two samples showed that levels of exposure and perpetration were nearly identical at lower levels of violence. However, for more severe forms of violence, the civilian high school sample showed much greater exposure and perpetration levels than the sample of Army recruits. Perpetration of the most lethal forms of violence (attack with a knife or firearm) was 2.6 times greater for the civilian high school sample than for basic training recruits. Selection criteria used by the military to screen out individuals who have felony convictions may be the most likely explanation for this difference.