The Correlates of Youth Violence: Evidence From the Literature

Abstract

Abstract:This review provides a general presentation of the factors that are linked to youth violence. In general, these risk factors can include any of the following: pregnancy and delivery complications, emotion-related disorders, hyperactivity, concentration problems, restlessness, risk taking, aggressiveness, early initiation into violent behaviour and beliefs, and attitudes supportive to violent behaviour. What can increase our accuracy of prediction for youth violence is an appreciation of the systemic factors that interact with these individual risk factors. These can include factors within the family including: early family conditions related to poverty, abuse, a generally poor relationship between child and parent, and parental criminality. Peers also play a role in rewarding behaviour and attitudes supportive of youth violence. The implications for knowledge with respect to these correlates are highlighted in a review of promising programs that address youth violence.

Provoking evolution in child and youth mental health in Canada.

“…Through its creation of ’policy-ready’ papers, the Centre is engaging decision makers and informing emerging policy in areas of high relevance in the province of Ontario and beyond. Key topics covered to date include mental health and youth violence (Leschied, 2008), mental health and poverty (Lipman & Boyle, 2008), system integration in child and youth mental health (Boydell, Bullock, & Goering, 2009), aboriginal mental health (Blackstock, 2008), and school-based mental health (Santor, Short, & Ferguson, 2009). The Centre also contributed directly to Ontario’s child and youth mental health policy framework, A Shared Responsibility (Government of Ontario, 2006).…”

Perceptions of FASD by United States District Attorneys

“…Such impairments have been associated with serious adverse outcomes including criminality. Individuals living with the challenges of FASD are at an increased risk of becoming involved in the criminal justice system (Brown et al , 2010, 2015; Leschied, 2011), with some estimates reaching over 60 percent (Streissguth et al , 1996). Hence, professionals working in the justice sector need to cultivate an increased awareness of how to effectively approach, communicate with, and treat individuals with FASD.…”

Introduction to the Special Issue

“…A. Butler, Loney, & Kistner, 2007; Cunningham, Connor, Miller, & Melloni, 2003; DeLisi et al, 2010; cf. McReynolds & Wasserman, 2008), and types of aggression (Connor, 2002; Connor, Doerfler, Toscano, Volungis, & Steingard, 2004; Leschied, 2008; Lyons & Schaefer, 2000). These associations warrant the scrutiny of clinicians and researchers working to improve outcomes for troubled youth.…”

“…These associations warrant the scrutiny of clinicians and researchers working to improve outcomes for troubled youth. To this end, some authorities have advocated movement beyond the view of adolescent offenders’ mental health problems as needs that are necessarily distinct from risk for these adverse outcomes (Leschied, 2008; McReynolds et al, 2010). Accompanying this shift in perspective will need to be a more developmentally sensitive approach to risk-/needs-based interventions (Van Der Put et al, 2011).…”