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Juvenile firestarting is an especially dangerous and costly problem affecting communities nationwide. The problem of children and fire has stimulated a small but growing research literature on interventions for reducing recidivism among juvenile firestarters. There is little known, however, about which elements of promising interventions are associated with reduced recidivism. The authors review the research literatures on the characteristics of juvenile firestarters and their families and the treatments used to prevent these children from setting fires again, and they describe an integrative theoretical approach to treatment. In addition, a novel, collaborative, family-centered intervention for juvenile firestarters is presented. The importance of using theoretically informed, fire-specific assessment procedures and linking data to treatment conceptualization, planning, and delivery is discussed.

This study examined self-reported psychopathology, trauma symptoms, and emotion coping in 7 to 12 year old children with suicidal ideation and attempts. This study compared 70 psychiatric inpatient children with current suicidal ideation to 59 psychiatric inpatient children with recent suicide attempts on measures of depression, anxiety, anger, emotional intelligence, and family/contextual factors. Results revealed greater self-reported anger as well as psychological distress associated with traumatic experiences (dissociation, anger, depression), among children who attempted suicide, in addition to increased reports of special education utilization, when compared to ideators only. These relationships were not affected by age or gender. Overall, the findings suggest self-reports of younger children who attempt suicide share similarities with older children and adolescent attempters, when compared with ideators who do not attempt. Implications for assessment and treatment are discussed.

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