May 17, 2008 8:05 pm US/Eastern
Parental Pressure May Trigger Violence In Kids
TOWSON, Md. (WJZ) ―
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Lewin Powell is accused of murdering his mother and attempting to kill his father.
CBS
One simple question inevitably follows killings like this week's involving a McDonogh School student--why?
Alex DeMetrick reports sometimes the question never gets answered, but the forces that trigger such violence among the young are almost always close to home.
High school can generate plenty of pressure, but very few students use violence as a release.
However, that appears to be what happened this week in Towson when 16-year-old Lewin Powell III allegedly murdered his mother and attacked his father with a baseball bat in an argument over his grades.
"I know that she cared about his grades quite a bit, and you know I may have heard an argument from now and then, but I argue with my mom about grades. It doesn't mean I grab a baseball bat," said neighbor Brett Kozlowski.
"Obviously this is beyond question, this adolescent had a lot of pent up emotions that has been built in over time," said Dr. Mahmood Jahromi with St. Joseph Hospital.
But could parental pressure to do well at McDonogh School be enough to trigger violence?
It's still under investigation in the case, although experts say a parent's expectations can create conflict.
"The stress that we place on our children to excel academically is often at the cost of compromising their emotional and moral development, and that is the part of development that really helps children constrain themselves and their behavior to stop and think," said psychiatrist Dr. Cynthia Turner-Graham.
Earlier this year, Nicholas Browning was charged with murdering his parents and two younger brothers, a mass murder in which the motive still remains unclear.
Among the warning signs are changes in diet or sleep patterns, withdrawal from family activities, reluctance to interact with other and seclusion. The cure is communication.
"Just spending family time discussing the situation, getting to know your children," said Jahromi.
For two families it's too late to know if talking may have made a difference.
In most cases where parents are murdered, the killings are committed by adolescent aged children. Most of those murders are done by males.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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