NCJ Number
171244
Date Published
1998
Length
51 pages
Annotation
This chapter reviews prevention programs that target proximal individual, family, and peer risk factors for violent offending.
Abstract
The chapter briefly reviews the different early developmental precursors of violent offending; provides an overview of different approaches to prevention; reviews the basic components of well-studied intervention programs and the limitations of single-focused intervention approaches for preventing antisocial behavior; and provides examples of well-designed multisystemic preventive interventions that target proximal risk factors for early developmental precursors of later antisocial behavior as well as those that target proximal risk factors for violent offending. Program examples are presented by developmental periods: ages 0-5, ages 6-13, and ages 14-18. The chapter also discusses some of the key features of effective programs, issues regarding developmental periods to be targeted, and uncharted or understudied areas in the field. Child antisocial behavior emerges from the convergence of multiple risk factors; designating any single factor as a target for change is unlikely to be a successful intervention strategy. Programs that ignore the family in strict reliance on school-based interventions, or those that fail to consider and refer for treatment children with other psychopathology, are unlikely to show powerful effects. Interventions must be theory-driven and well described, taking into account both developmental and contextual factors, regardless of the specific age or risk group targeted. Tables