NCJ Number
201277
Date Published
1996
Length
129 pages
Annotation
This guide is intended as a tool for developing a long-range comprehensive plan to prevent youth behavioral and health problems, using research-based promising approaches to guide programming decisions.
Abstract
The material in the guide is based on over 10 years of extensive research on the factors that place youth at risk for substance abuse, delinquency, teen pregnancy, school dropout, and violence, as well as research on the protective factors that buffer youth from exposure to risk. The guide provides the framework for communities to mobilize schools, families, community agencies and organizations, local media, and youth themselves in working toward the common goal of creating a safe, supportive environment for all youth. The guide is divided into sections that focus on the family, the school, community-based youth programs, and the community. The section on the family indicates how marital therapy, prenatal and infancy programs, early childhood education, parent training, and family therapy can help in providing a family environment in which children and youth can experience positive development. The section on the school provides guidance in how schools can become constructive environments for effective learning and behavioral development. Topics discussed include organizational change in schools; classroom organization, management, and instruction strategies; classroom curricula for promoting social competence, and school behavioral management strategies. The section on community-based youth programs focuses on afterschool recreation programs, mentoring with contingent reinforcement, and youth employment with education. Issues discussed in the section on the community include community mobilization for positive youth development, community/school policies, and community policing strategies. Each of the four sections list relevant resources and references. Appended risk factor/program strategies cross-references and 105 references