NCJ Number
177518
Journal
Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Volume: 38 Issue: 3 Dated: March 1999 Pages: 235-241
Date Published
1999
Length
7 pages
Annotation
A literature review focused on identifying biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors associated with violent behavior among children and youth in North America and to suggest roles for child and adolescent psychiatry in preventive intervention.
Abstract
Results revealed that children and youth are both victims and perpetrators of violence. Risk factors include socioeconomic status, difficult temperament, chronic illness, psychiatric comorbidity, and parental psychopathology. Access to firearms in a culture of violence present a particularly serious risk. Protective factors include intact family structures, prosocial peer groups, and supportive communities. Preventive interventions include universal interventions addressed to total population groups, selective interventions addressed to at-risk groups, and indicated interventions for children and youth who are developing violent behavior. Universal interventions, including gun control and improved perinatal care, are helpful. Selective interventions such as gun-free zones around schools may be useful, but only when embedded within well-funded, clinically based, and community-focused programs. Findings also indicated that single-emphasis programs such as shock incarceration programs have intuitive appeal, but their usefulness is doubtful. Findings indicated that violent behavior can be prevented and suggested that child and adolescent psychiatrists must be more active in community preventive interventions. Figure and 49 references (Author abstract modified)