This study examined two areas of child maltreatment: 1) whether child maltreatment was a factor in adolescents' risk for violent delinquency in high school, and 2) the long-term benefits to adolescents of participation in school-based violence prevention programs.
Study findings indicate that participation in school-based violence prevention programs continued to have a buffering effect on adolescents' risk for violent delinquency. The study found that for students in 11th grade in schools without school-level violence prevention programs, being male, experiencing child maltreatment, being violent in grade 9th grade, and attending a school with a lower perceived level of safety, resulted in students having an increased for violent delinquency. Data for this study were obtained from secondary analyses of a randomized controlled trial of a comprehensive school-based violence prevention program. The sample consisted of 1,722 students (52.8 percent female) from 20 schools who participated in a school-based violence prevention program in the 9th grade. Individual- and school-level data were collected and analyzed to determine a student's risk for participation in violent delinquency by the end of 11th grade. The analysis confirmed both aims of the study: that experiences of child maltreatment played a significant factor in a student's risk for violent delinquency, and that participation in a school-based violence prevention program provided a long-term buffering effect towards a student's later risk for violent delinquency. Implications for future research are discussed. Table, figure, and references