Youth Violence Prevention - Risk Factors for Youth Violence

WHAT ROLE DO CULTURE, ETHNICITY, AND RACE PLAY IN YOUTH VIOLENCE?

Considered apart from other life circumstances, race and ethnicity have not been shown to be risk factors for youth violence.

• The evidence suggests that the link between race and violence is based largely on social and political differences rather than on biological differences. Ethnicity may account for limited opportunities due to prejudice, and ethnic minority families may face acculturation stresses. On the other hand, some features of ethnic cultures may serve as protective factors (Surgeon General, 2001; APA 1993).
• Prevention specialists generally presume that risk factors for youth violence identified in studies with primarily White participants are relevant also for such culturally diverse groups as African Americans, Hispanics, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and Native Americans. Research on the roles that race, ethnicity, and culture may play among young people of specific minority groups is needed to shed light on the risk and protective factors that affect those groups.

HOW DOES MEDIA VIOLENCE AFFECT YOUTH VIOLENCE?

In the context of the ongoing debate on the effect of media violence on children and youth, the U.S.

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Surgeon General's report summarizes major research findings from the small body of research on the topic:

• Exposure to media violence can increase children's aggressive behavior in the short term. Media violence increases aggressive attitudes and emotions, which theoretically are linked to aggressive and violent behavior. Evidence for long-term effects of media violence is inconsistent.
• Violent behaviors occur infrequently and are subject to multiple influences. Existing evidence is insufficient to describe accurately how much exposure to media violence—of what types, for how long, at what ages, for what types of children, or in what types of home settings—will predict violent behavior in adolescents and adults.

Families play a critical role in guiding their children's exposure to the media, including television programs, films and videos, and computer and video games. Community groups—such as schools, faith-based organizations, and parent-teacher-student organizations—can teach parents and children how to be more critical consumers of media. In addition, Federal agencies can encourage needed research, share research findings with the public, encourage increased interaction between violence prevention researchers and media researchers, and create networks for sharing solutions to social and public health problems. For a more detailed discussion of the risk factors for youth violence, see Youth Violence: A Report of the Surgeon General, chapter 4.

Promoting Healthy, Nonviolent Children: What Works and What Doesn't?

• Why take the public health and development approaches?
• What are best practices to prevent youth violence?
• How do large-scale prevention programs work best?
• Is prevention cost-effective?
• Violence prevention programs by best practices category

WHY TAKE THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENTAL APPROACHES?

• The most common reaction to youth violence has been to "get tough" on violent offenders and to focus on punishment. The public health approach focuses more on the prevention of violence than on punishment or rehabilitation.
• The public health model looks at factors that put young people "at risk" for violent behavior. Practical, goal-oriented, community-based strategies that address these risks can help reduce injuries and deaths caused by violence—just as the public health approach already has reduced traffic fatalities and deaths attributed to tobacco use.
• Patterns of behavior change over the course of a person's life. A developmental approach permits primary prevention researchers to design violence prevention programs that can be put in place at just the right time to be most effective in the life of a child or young person. Preventive interventions must be developmentally appropriate to be effective.

The U.S. Surgeon General's report suggests the following approaches to address youth violence:

• Prevention and intervention programs must reflect the different patterns of violence typical of early and later onset.
• Early childhood programs that target at-risk children and their families are important to prevent the onset of a chronic violent career.
• Programs must be developed to identify patterns, causes, and prevention strategies for late-onset violence.
• A comprehensive community prevention strategy must address both early- and late-onset patterns and determine their causes and risk factors.
• Serious violence is an element of a lifestyle that includes drugs, guns, early sex, and other risky behaviors. Successful interventions must focus on the risky lifestyle of the young person.

The most highly effective preventive intervention programs combine approaches that address both individual risks and environmental conditions. Building individual skills and competencies, providing parent effectiveness training, improving a school's social climate, and changing young people's type and level of involvement in peer groups, combined, are particularly effective.

WHAT ARE BEST PRACTICES TO PREVENT YOUTH VIOLENCE??

The Surgeon General describes three categories of preventive interventions: primary, secondary, and tertiary.

• Primary preventive interventions are designed for general populations of youth, such as all students in a school. Most of these young people have not yet become involved in violence or encountered specific risk factors for violence.
• Secondary preventive interventions are designed to reduce the risk of violence among young people who display one or more risk factors for violence (high-risk youth).
• Tertiary interventions are designed to prevent further violence or escalation of violence among young people already involved in violent behavior.