May 15, 2008 Researchers in Israel have found that teenagers'
values helped determine whether or not they engaged in violent
behavior at school, especially in schools where violence was
common. The researchers are from the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem. The researchers gave questionnaires to 907 Jewish and
Arab teenagers in grades 10 to 12 who attended 33 schools in
Israel, where Jewish and Arab children attend two separate
public schools systems. The teens answered questions about the
importance of 10 different values and about their own violent
behavior. Values were defined as goals and ideas the students
saw as important and guiding principles in their lives. Violent
behavior was defined as actions like hitting and threatening.
The prevalence of violence in the schools was estimated by
averaging, in each school, adolescents' reports of their own
violent behavior, violent behavior by their two best friends,
and the violence they had encountered at school. In both Arab
and Jewish schools, adolescents who va