Violence among teen girls is a direct reflection of Bermuda's changing society, experts say.

However, the reasons why teens act with physical aggression are also numerous and complicated according to the counsellors who deal with the girls.

Their behaviour may stem from poverty, physical or sexual abuse, emotional distress, the glorification of violence in the media, drug abuse and even genetic and prenatal factors, The Royal Gazette was told.

“Girls may be mimicking the actions or speech of their parents when they are in arguments,” suggested psychologist Dr. Carol Shuman.

“If they see a parent arguing with another adult and threatening that person, it will have an effect on them.”

Wellness facilitator Velories Anne Figures agrees. “The way we speak to each other is changing. Violence has moved into our day to day parlance. It is a cultural phenomenon,” she said.

Ms Figures and Coalition for the Protection of Children chairman Sheelagh Cooper suggest the pervasive use of violent language and predominance of violent images in the media can also have a dramatic effect on what girls interpret as acceptable behaviour.

Add high stress levels associated with poverty and/or drug abuse and an explosive mix of emotions can be created which is too easily triggered.

Fighting and increased aggressiveness may also be tied to changing roles for women within the society, counsellors said.

“The messages young women are being taught are to be assertive, to be independent and to be strong,” said Michelle Johnston, Director of Teen Services.

Although the entire society may be in state of flux, the attitudes of young people are still striking many by surprise.

“What you seen in Bermuda is a lot of parents that are at war with their children,” Mrs. Cooper said.

Many adults find it particularly difficult to understand why girls are fighting among themselves over boys.

Adults may also tend to minimise the amount of physical change adolescents are experiencing and how confusing these times can be for the children, Eudora Brown-Zuill of Bermuda Youth Counselling Services told The Royal Gazette.

“A lot of kids are crying out for help and what we adults see as bad manners, surliness or rude and disruptive behaviours can be due to the changes they are going through,” she said.

Substance abuse and peer pressure too are pervasive stimulants to inappropriate behaviour, Ms Brown-Zuill said.

“Their friends might egg them on a bit,” she said. “There can also be issues of jealousy and rivalry which might lead teens to bully someone who seems reserved or less boisterous than themselves.”

But both drug abuse and violent behaviour can stem from deeper problems.

“Most young people we see involved with drugs are medicating themselves in order to cope with their own pain. Often this pain is associated with abuse,” said Mrs. Cooper.

The explanation of why girls are fighting more often that most sticks in the throats of many, however, is that the behaviour is adjunct of changing roles for women in the greater society.

“As women's roles in general more closely approximate the roles men play, the rate of criminality among women is moving toward that of men,” said Mrs. Cooper.

“There is still a significant gap between male and female criminality but it is shrinking.

“Once the Police are involved, it opens the incident up to attention from the media. Therefore the perception is that it is happening more often. It may be happening more often but not to the extent we're imagining.”

Alternatively, Dr. Shuman said, while there has always been a widespread perception that women are less violent than men, research has shown that 50 percent of violence within families is actually initiated women.

“The stereotype (that women were gentler) is not the reality. But, 95 percent of the time in a heterosexual argument it is the women who will be hurt,” she said.

While many of the problems that might cause girls to act out with violence are age-old, in the past girls with problems have been more likely to turn their turmoil on themselves - through self-mutilation or eating disorders, counsellors agreed.

The message girls are often receiving now however is “be like boys”, said Dr. Shuman and as such girls may find in more acceptable to display violent, aggressive behaviour towards others.

The rationalisation of the behaviour makes it no more acceptable, but Dr. Shuman feels education and encouraging girls to communicate is key to stopping a proliferation of violence.

One teen girl who was involved in fighting a number of years ago told The Royal Gazette, learning to express herself verbally rather than holding her thoughts and feelings inside helped her change her behaviour and avoid fights later on.

Encouraging dialogue between combatants is also the method promoted by the Coalition for Protection of Children's Centre for Community and Family Mediation, Mrs. Cooper said.

She would like to see the mediation process rather than the courts become the norm in dealing with girls who are physically violent.

Mrs. Cooper said the centre brings both parties in a fight or assault situation together with their parents and sometimes Police officers to discuss the circumstances of the fight and try to mend the relationships.

“The purpose of the meeting is to explore the feelings of the participants and to get them to talk about what happened so they can move forward in order to find some resolution.”

The centre is putting a proposal forward to Government to expand the mediation efforts it runs and hopefully avoid violent teen girls being put before the court or even incarcerated - “where they can learn to be better criminals”, said Mrs. Cooper. SThe centre will also been running a Masters level course to train mediators this September in association with Canada's Carleton University.