The study looked at how violence in high density areas impacts on the students enrolled with private colleges. A total of 200 primary and high school students were recruited to participate in an exploratory qualitative 2-year study. Questionnaires were used with all the participants and SPSS was used to code, theme and analyze all the data. The Social Learning theory guided study has established that while violence exposure has been associated with diminishing attention, deteriorating intellectual performance and regressions in school achievement, it also heightens the level and forms of student violence subsequently hardening them in as far as violence and aggression are concerned.

Keywords: Violence, youth, students, aggression, violence exposure, interventions.