An examination to identify the precursors and predictive factors of violence

Violence is any kind of physical, emotional/mental, non-consensual and involuntarly sexual and economic action and/or discourse that is directed by an individual towards another individual or a community, or by a community towards an individual, with the intention of harming and arises from and/or may cause power inequality. In this study, in order to understand the predictive factors of physical violence among adolescents in our country, press news, which meet the criteria determined by the researchers in terms of content, were subjected to quantitative content analysis through internet news sites, a valid and reliable measurement tool addressing familial and environmental factors predicting physical violence was prepared according to the findings of the content analysis, and the mediation- moderation relationships between the variables thought to predict physical violence such as self- regulation, emotion regulation, childhood abusive experiences and social connectedness and the scale sub-dimensions were examined. For this reason, the dissertation was designed as two separate studies and in Study 1, 290 news items for Generation Y and 390 news items for Generation Z were analyzed on the basis of quantitative variables in order to understand the intergenerational changes in acts of violence. In Study 2, the Violence Precursor Factors Scale was developed, and in order to understand this scale and its sub-dimensions and the variables predicting violence, the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), the Regulation of Emotions Questionnaire (REQ), the Self-Control Scale (SCS) and the Social Commitment Scale (SCS) were used. The data were collected from university student young adults. 362 participants were included in the study for Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), 322 participants for Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), and 793 participants in total to establish a predictive model of violence. The data were obtained digitally via Google Forms though in the same environment with the participants. According to the results of our study, statistically significant differences were found between variables such as gender, psychiatric history, resorting to physical violence and domestic violence in terms of familial and environmental factors that precursor violence (p<0.05). Standardized path coefficients of partial mediator and moderator variables were examined in the relationship between Childhood Abuse Experiences and Social Bonding and accordingly, partial mediation effect of Intrinsic Dysfunctional Emotion Regulation and moderating/directive mediation effect of Violence Precursor Environmental Factors were observed (p<0.001). At the end of the study, some suggestions were presented to prevent adolescents and young adults from committing acts that may lead to physical violence.