Youth Violence (From Promoting Teen Health: Linking Schools, Health Organizations, and Community, P 166-180, 1998, Alan Henderson and Sally Champlin, et, al., eds. -- See NCJ-175415)

• NCJ Number: 175417
• Author(s): M R Forouzesh; D Waetjen
• Date Published: 1998
• Length: 15 pages
• Sale Source: Sage Publications, Inc
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This paper discusses the scope of youth violence, applied models for preventing violence, and violence prevention in schools.

Abstract

Youth violence is escalating at an alarming rate; statistics on juvenile homicides, the number of youth carrying weapons, and youth gang membership are staggering. Drugs and alcohol are often involved in all forms of violence, and alcohol and drugs are readily available and accessible to youth in America. The problem of violence is exacerbated by the presence of handguns on school campuses. Weapon-carrying practices have changed dramatically in our society, and too often adult practices affect children. The applied models for preventing violence are the public health approach, the use of the ecological model in developing effective violence prevention programs, and community mobilization and coalition building. The public health approach brings a systematic strategy for addressing a health problem, including health event surveillance, epidemiologic analysis, intervention design, evaluation, and focus on a single clear outcome to prevent a particular illness or injury. The ecological model assumes that human behavior is determined by the interaction of individual and environmental characteristics. The ecological model gives rise to three major areas of intervention: changing the child, changing the environment, and changing attitudes and expectations. Mobilizing the community around the issue of violence is also a powerful strategy for addressing the problem. Further, school can play a significant role in the reduction of youth violence. The author discusses the school's role under the topics of policy development, strategies for school-based violence prevention programs, continuum of responses to violence, early intervention, family involvement, teaching strategies, course content, gang membership and affiliation at school, the warning signs of gang involvement, and gang and violence discussion topics. 5 tables, a resource guide, a guide to policy development, and 47 references