Youth Violence Prevention Comes of Age: Research, Training and Future Directions

Abstract

Youth violence is recognized as a major public health problem in the United States and the world. Over the past ten years, progress has been made in documenting the factors that contribute to violent behavior. Emerging research is deepening our understanding of the individual and societal influences that contribute to and protect against youth violence. However, much work still remains to be done in this field, both in examining potential causes and in designing effective intervention strategies. This chapter highlights specific dimensions of youth violence prevention selected by the authors because these dimensions are the focus of public attention, are emerging as critical issues in the study of youth violence, or have a unique place in the current political and social context. We focus on the developmental pathways to violence, factors that mediate and moderate youth violence, the role of culture and media in youth violence, school-based violence such as school shootings and bullying, and the training of health care professionals.

Moving Toward Comprehensiveness and Sustainability in a Social Ecological Approach to Youth Violence Prevention: Lessons from the Asian/Pacific Islander Youth Violence Prevention Center

“…School-poor academic performance; 5. Community-diminished economic opportunities, low levels of community participation and high level of transiency (Williams et al 2007). …”

Physical Fighting and Social Correlates among In-School Adolescents in the Caribbean

“…Factors associated with physical fighting among adolescents have been identified as follows: 1) Socioeconomic factors [male gender (Pickett et al, 2013;Rudatsikira, Siziya, Kazembe & Muula, 2007;Shetgiri, Kataoka, Ponce, Flores & Chung, 2010); older age (Pickett et al, 2013); low economic status (Bailey, 2011;Pickett et al, 2013;Shetgiri et al, 2010]; 2) Risk behaviours (Pickett et al, 2013), substance use (alcohol use, smoking, drug use) (Fraga, Ramos, Dias & Barros, 2011;Reid, Garcia-Reid, Klein & McDougall, 2008;Rudatsikira et al, , 2010Shetgiri et al, 2010), bullying victimization (Celedonia, Wilson, El Gammal & Hagras, 2013;Pickett et al, 2013;Rudatsikira et al, 2007;Rudatsikira, Mataya, Siziya & Muula, 2008), early sexual debut (Fraga et al, 2011 ;Ohene, Ireland & Blum, 2005), drank more than five cans of soft drinks per week (Solnick & Hemenway, 2012); 3) Psychological distress [depressive symptoms (Celedonia et al, 2013;Shetgiri et al, 2010); feeling irritable or bad tempered (Smith-Khuri et al, 2004)]; 4) Lack of protective factors [lack of parental supervision (Rudatsikira et al, 2007, lack of helpful peers (Celedonia et al, 2013); lack of understanding parents (Celedonia et al, 2013), lack of family support (Shetgiri et al, 2010;Williams, Rivera, Neighbours & Reznik, 2007); lack of school support (Shetgiri et al, 2010;Williams et al, 2007).…”

Violence and social capital among young men in Beirut

“…Finally, community factors comprise impoverished environments, high level of neighbourhood disruptions, and diminished economic opportunity 3–8. These factors have resulted in the acknowledgement that ‘violence is a joint product of the individual and situational context’ (Williams et al , p198) 4. More recently, social capital has emerged as an important contributor to violence and safety 9 10…”