May 16 was declared the International Day of Living Together in Peace, as a means of regularly mobilizing the efforts of the international community to promote peace, tolerance, inclusion, understanding and solidarity. The Day aims to uphold the desire to live and act together, united in differences and diversity, in order to build a sustainable world of peace, solidarity and harmony.
On the occasion of this celebration, the psychologist Caruvi Capote González, specialist of Polyclinic No 1 José Hipólito Pazos y Caballero, tells us about the role of the family to avoid manifestations of violence in adolescents and young people.
The differences between adolescence and youth have to do with the levels of development, both in the psychosocial and socio-psychological aspect, what influences physical development. Everything is integrative. In the case of adolescence, there are insufficiencies, which due to the levels of development must be completed more integratively during youth.
For different reasons, they want to follow the group with which they establish the fundamental links. They are able to make any concessions regarding principles, values acquired and learning, as long as the group does not deny them a space. But, it is not necessary to absolutize, since the young person is able to expose his criteria and to take decisions, although the group does not agree. In the early ages of youth, sometimes the boundaries are very confusing. There are no static behaviors.
Life must be seen from the individual particularities of each person, from their personal, family and social history, as well as from the groups with which they have been linked. All these questions must be considered when analyzing a generation, in a specific historical moment.
The situation of violence is present in all societies. Violence has to do a bit with abuse, with aggression. Sometimes they are not exactly synonymous, there are different details, but in general, they are common terms that do not only refer to physical violence. Mockery, homophobic attitudes, indifference, overvaluation and exclusion to others, also imply violence. There are also gender and ethnic violence, and violence between couples. Some forms are more subtle than others.
This happens in all societies. In Cuban social policies there are regulations and legal norms against violence, but these behaviors are social learning that have passed from generation to generation for many centuries, and it is difficult to eliminate them. There are many forms of violence that people assume, but they do not have them identified as violence. Actually, it is not enough with the information, but with what is assumed, with the interpretation of the information.
The most vulnerable are children, adolescents and young people. I believe that personal example is important. It is everyone's responsibility to contribute to education and sensitize the human being, society and family. Families that face this situation and wish to find solutions to this problem can visit the Women and Family Guidance Centers, health institutions or judicial bodies such as the PNR and MININT.
This is a difficult, complex and profound issue, such as the life of human beings. I think the fundamental thing is to ensure the quality and well-being of human beings; That's why we all bet on our society.
