Responding to talking things up
When young people get to gather they love to talk. But if it is "deviant talk" then this can be a problem when it is not held in check. Talking up inappropriate behaviour which is then received positively by peers, can encourage the group to act out those behaviours.
Brown, Bakken, Ameringer, & Mahon (2008) cite a study done by Granic and Dishion (2003) looking at the conversations of youth at risk and how this was received by others in the group and what this meant for future behaviour. Our instinct would suggest that if they talked about things and got a positive response then this would lead to reinforcement of the things talked about. Sure enough the "… conversation style predicted future antisocial behaviour…" p38. So if you allow young people to talk about inappropriate behaviour as a positive, cool thing to do, you can expect this to reinforce that type of behaviour.
When I was working with youth at risk we always tried to monitor conversations. This was relatively easy in our residential setting and especially on the nine day hike because of the closeness of the context. If anyone started talking up stuff we would work to stop it. Here are some examples of how we use to respond:
"People are here to try and get away from that sort of stuff. Talking about that stuff and talking it up does not help them make change."
"That type of behaviour is not okay so I do not want people to talk about it in a way that makes it sound cool because it isn't."
"That type of behaviour is not okay so lets not even talk about it. How about changing the conversation to something more positive?"
Positive conversations lead to positive actions. Try and keep the talk positive at all times.
References:
Brown, B. Bradford., Bakken, Jeremy, P., Ameringer, Suzanne, W. & Mahon, Shelly, D. A (2008) Comprehensive Conceptualization of the Peer Influence Process in Adolescence in Prinstein, Mitchell, J. & Dodge, Kenneth, A. (Eds.), Understanding Peer Influence in Children and Adolescents (pp. 17-44) New York: Guildford Press
Granic,I. and Dishion, T.J. (2003) Deviant talk in adolescent friendships: A step toward measuring a pathogenic attractor process. Social Development, 12, 314-334 cited by Brown, B. Bradford., Bakken, Jeremy, P., Ameringer, Suzanne, W. & Mahon, Shelly, D. A (2008) Comprehensive Conceptualization of the Peer Influence Process in Adolescence in Prinstein, Mitchell, J. & Dodge, Kenneth, A. (Eds.), Understanding Peer Influence in Children and Adolescents (pp. 17-44) New York: Guildford Press
When I was working with youth at risk we always tried to monitor conversations. This was relatively easy in our residential setting and especially on the nine day hike because of the closeness of the context. If anyone started talking up stuff we would work to stop it. Here are some examples of how we use to respond:
"People are here to try and get away from that sort of stuff. Talking about that stuff and talking it up does not help them make change."
"That type of behaviour is not okay so I do not want people to talk about it in a way that makes it sound cool because it isn't."
"That type of behaviour is not okay so lets not even talk about it. How about changing the conversation to something more positive?"
Positive conversations lead to positive actions. Try and keep the talk positive at all times.
References:
Brown, B. Bradford., Bakken, Jeremy, P., Ameringer, Suzanne, W. & Mahon, Shelly, D. A (2008) Comprehensive Conceptualization of the Peer Influence Process in Adolescence in Prinstein, Mitchell, J. & Dodge, Kenneth, A. (Eds.), Understanding Peer Influence in Children and Adolescents (pp. 17-44) New York: Guildford Press
Granic,I. and Dishion, T.J. (2003) Deviant talk in adolescent friendships: A step toward measuring a pathogenic attractor process. Social Development, 12, 314-334 cited by Brown, B. Bradford., Bakken, Jeremy, P., Ameringer, Suzanne, W. & Mahon, Shelly, D. A (2008) Comprehensive Conceptualization of the Peer Influence Process in Adolescence in Prinstein, Mitchell, J. & Dodge, Kenneth, A. (Eds.), Understanding Peer Influence in Children and Adolescents (pp. 17-44) New York: Guildford Press
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