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What You Need to Know About Youth Violence Prevention
Appendix
MODEL PROGRAMS: VIOLENCE PREVENTION
MODEL PROGRAMS: RISK PREVENTION
PROMISING PROGRAMS: VIOLENCE PREVENTION
PROMISING PROGRAMS: RISK PREVENTION
Social scientists have made great progress in understanding the causes and correlates of youth violence. Brief descriptions of the 27 programs* that meet the U.S. Surgeon General's rigorous scientific standards are presented below. School-based programs are denoted by s. Community-based programs are denoted by c.
MODEL PROGRAMS: VIOLENCE PREVENTION
Functional Family Therapy c
Target: Youth ages 11 to 18 at risk of or already demonstrating a broad range of acting-out behaviors.
Description: Multistep, phased intervention that provides customized direct services to youth and their families. Delivered in multiple settings by supervised paraprofessionals, trained probation officers, mental health technicians, and mental health professionals.
Benefits: Effective treatment of conduct disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, disruptive behavior disorder, and alcohol and other drug abuse disorders; reductions in need for more restrictive, costly services and other social services; reductions in incidence of original problem addressed; reductions in proportion of young people who eventually enter adult criminal justice system; fewer siblings with juvenile court records 2.5 to 3.5 years following the program.
Contact: James F. Alexander, Ph.D., University of Utah, 801-581-6538.
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Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care c
Target: Teenagers with histories of chronic and severe criminal behavior at risk of incarceration, group or residential treatment, or hospitalization.
Description: Multicontextual clinical intervention that involves community foster families plus treatment, intensive supervision, separation from delinquent peers, and biological parent training and other services.
Benefits: Reduced time of incarceration, overall arrest rates, drug use, and program dropout rates in treated young people during the first 12 months after participation; more speedy placement of youth in less restrictive, community settings. This community-based treatment is more successful than residential treatment.
Contact: Patricia Chamberlain, Ph.D., Oregon Social Learning Center, 541-485-2711.
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Multisystemic Therapy (MST) c
Target: Families with children in the juvenile justice system who are violent, or substance-abusing, or chronic offenders, ages 12 to 17, at high risk of out-of-home placement.
Description: Intensive family- and community-based treatment implemented within a network of interconnected systems that includes one or more contexts: individual, family, peer, school, and neighborhood. Home-based model delivers strategic family therapy, structural family therapy, behavioral parent training, and cognitive-behavioral therapy.
Benefits: Reductions in long-term rates of re-arrest, reductions in out-of-home placements, improvements in family functioning, reductions in mental health problems among treated youth compared to controls.
Contact: Scott W. Henggeler, Ph.D., Family Services Research Center, Medical University of South Carolina, 843-876-1800.
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Prenatal and Infancy Home Visitation by Nurses c
Target: At-risk, low-income pregnant young women bearing their first child.
Description: The sole home visitation program that meets the criteria for model youth violence prevention program. Intensive, comprehensive home visitation by nurses during pregnancy and first 2 years after birth of child; aims to improve pregnancy outcomes and child care, health, and development; build social support network around family; and enhance mothers’ personal development.
Benefits: Positive long-term effects on youth violence and related outcomes, including fewer arrests and less alcohol use by young people at age 15, and 79 percent lower rates of child abuse and neglect by youthful mothers.
Contact: David L. Olds, Ph.D., Prevention Research Center for Family and Child Health, Denver, CO, 303-864-5200.
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Seattle Social Development Project c s
Target: General populations and high-risk children in elementary and middle school, and their parents and teachers.
Description: Classroom behavior management, child skills training, and parent training program to enhance elementary school students’ bonds with school and families while decreasing several early risk factors for violence; promotes prosocial behavior, interpersonal problem solving, academic success, and avoidance of drugs.
Benefits: Reduces initiation of alcohol, marijuana, and tobacco use by grade 6, and improves attachment and commitment to school. At age 18, young people who participated in the full 5-year version had lower rates of violence, heavy drinking, and sexual activity (including multiple sexual partners and pregnancy), and better academic performance than controls.
Contact: J. David Hawkins, Ph.D., Social Development Research Group, University of Washington, 206-286-1805.
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MODEL PROGRAMS: RISK PREVENTION
Life Skills Training (LST) s
Target: Students in middle or junior high school, with initial implementation in grades 6 and 7 and booster sessions for the next 2 years.
Description: School-based skill- and competency-building program to prevent or reduce gateway drug use, promote self-management and social skills, and provide information related to drug use.
Benefits: Can cut tobacco, marijuana, and alcohol use. Long-term effects: include reducing risk of polydrug use, pack-a-day smoking, and use of inhalants, narcotics, and hallucinogens.
Contact: Gilbert Botvin, Ph.D., Institute for Prevention Research, Cornell University Medical College, 212-746-1270.
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Midwestern Prevention Project s
Target: Middle-school students (grades 6 or 7).
Description: School-based skill- and competency-building program to reduce risk of gateway drug use associated with transition from early adolescence to middle through late adolescence; trains young people to avoid drug use and situations in which drugs are likely to be used. Implements five major components in steps over 4 years: a mass media program, a school program, parent education and organization, community organization, and local health policy.
Benefits: Reduces daily smoking and marijuana use; lessens marijuana and hard drug use, and smoking through age 23; facilitates improvements in parent-child communication about drug use and in development of prevention programs, activities, and services within communities.
Contact: Mary Ann Pentz, Ph.D., and Sadina Rothspan, Ph.D., University of Southern California School of Medicine, 213-764-0325.
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PROMISING PROGRAMS: VIOLENCE PREVENTION
Intensive Protective Supervision Project c
Target: Delinquent youth under age 16 (status offenders).
Description: Removes delinquent youth from criminal justice institutions; provides them with proactive and extensive community supervision, home visitations, and individualized service plans based on external evaluations.
Benefits: Greater deterrent effects on referrals to juvenile court than standard protective supervision.
Contact: Kathy Dudley, Juvenile Services Division, Administrative Office of the Courts, Raleigh, NC, 919-662-4738.
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Montreal Longitudinal Study/Preventive Treatment Program s
Target: Boys ages 7 to 9 identified as disruptive, in families with low socioeconomic status, and their parents.
Description: Delinquency prevention program that provides school-based social skills training and parent training; parents are trained to read with their children, monitor and reinforce their children’s behavior, use effective discipline, and manage family crises.
Benefits: Long-term positive effects for Canadian boys in academic achievement and avoidance of gang involvement, drug and alcohol use, and delinquency up to age 15.
Contact: Richard E. Tremblay, Université de Montréal, Canada, 514-343-6963.
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Perry Preschool Program s
Target: Children ages 3 and 4 in families with low socioeconomic status.
Description: High-quality early childhood education that promotes young children’s intellectual, social, and physical development; weekly home visits by teachers, and referrals for social services, when needed.
Benefits: Long-term effects (up to age 19) on academic achievement and other school-related outcomes; significant reductions in antisocial behavior, serious fights, police contacts, and school dropout rates.
Contact: David Weikart, Ph.D., High Scope Educational Research Foundation, Ypsilanti, MI, 743-485-2000, http://www.highscope.org/Research/homepage.htm
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School Transitional Environmental Program (STEP) s
Target: Students at large, urban junior high and high schools with multiple feeders.
Description: A program to reduce the stress and disorganization often associated with changing schools by redefining the role of homeroom teachers; it uses behavior management to create an environment that promotes academic achievement and reduces school behavior problems and absenteeism.
Benefits: Reduces substance use and delinquency, and improves academic achievement and school dropout rates. Most successful with students entering junior and senior high schools in urban, predominantly nonwhite communities. Also effective with students at high risk of behavioral problems.
Contact: Robert D. Felner, Ph.D., University of Rhode Island, 401-277-5045.
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Striving Together to Achieve Rewarding Tomorrows, CASASTART, formerly Children At Risk (CAR) Program c
Target: At-risk young people ages 11 to 13 who live in severely distressed neighborhoods.
Description: Each core component targets a different context that affects risk of violence: community-enhanced policing and enhanced enforcement; case management for youth and families; criminal/juvenile justice intervention; family services; after-school and summer activities; educational services, mentoring, and incentives for participation.
Benefits: Positive effects on gateway drug use, violent crime, and drug sales, up to 1 year after participation.
Contact: Adele Harrell, The Urban Institute, Washington, DC, 202-261-5709.
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Syracuse Family Development Research Program c
Target: Parents and children in impoverished families.
Description: Weekly home visitation with parent training by paraprofessional child development trainers and 5-year individualized day care that includes child training on social and cognitive skills and behavior management.
Benefits: Reduced juvenile delinquency and improved school functioning.
Contact: J. Ronald Lally and Peter L. Mangione, Center for Child and Family Studies, Far West Laboratory for Educational Research and Development; Alice S. Honig, Syracuse University, 315-443-4296. (No technical assistance available for program implementation.) .
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PROMISING PROGRAMS: RISK PREVENTION
Bullying Prevention Program s
Target: Elementary, middle, and junior high school students.
Description: Using anonymous student questionnaires to assess bullying problems in school, parents and teachers implement school, classroom, and individual-level interventions to address bullying problems. The program includes individual work with students identified as bullies and victims, and establishes and reinforces a set of rules about behavior and bullying, creating a positive, antibullying climate.
Benefits: Both individual change and environmental change objectives were achieved in programs in Norway, England, Germany, and the United States.
Contact: Dan Olweus, Ph.D., University of Bergen, Norway, phone 47-55-58-23-27.
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Families and Schools Together (FAST Track) c s
Target: Children in grades 1 to 6 that were identified as disruptive in kindergarten.
Description: Long-term, comprehensive program to prevent chronic, severe conduct problems by increasing communication and strengthening bonds among school, home, and child, thereby enhancing social, cognitive, and problem-solving skills and improving peer relationships; combines effective strategies of social skills training, parent training, home visitation, academic tutoring, and classroom behavior management techniques.
Benefits: Positive effects on several risk factors associated with youth violence, including academic achievement and parent-child relationships. Initial evaluations showed no effects on children’s antisocial behaviors, but ongoing long-term follow-up studies may determine FAST Track’s effect on this violence-related outcome.
Contact: Karen Bierman and Mark Greenberg, Pennsylvania State University, 814-863-0112; Kenneth Dodge, Duke University; Ellen Pinderhughes, Vanderbilt University; Robert McMahon, University of Washington; John Lochman, University of Alabama-Birmingham.
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Good Behavior Game s
Target: Elementary school students.
Description: A program to improve psychological well-being and decrease early aggressive or shy behavior, mainly through classroom behavior management.
Benefits: Reduces antisocial, aggressive behavior, but effects on violence and delinquency not yet measured.
Contact: Sheppard G. Kellam, M.D., American Institutes for Research, 202-944-5418.
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I Can Problem Solve c s
Target: Students in preschool, kindergarten, and grades 5 and 6.
Description: School- and community-based program trains children to use problem-solving skills to find solutions to interpersonal problems.
Benefits: Improved classroom behavior and children’s problem-solving skills for up to 4 years after end of intervention; appropriate for all children, but most effective with children living in poor, urban areas.
Contact: Myrna B. Shure, Ph.D., M.C.P., Hahnemann University, 215-762-7205.
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The Incredible Years Series c s
Target: At-risk children ages 3 to 8.
Description: Series of curricula for parents, teachers, and children aimed at promoting social competence and preventing, reducing, and treating conduct problems. Parent-training component focuses mainly on parent competence and school involvement; teacher-training component targets classroom behavior management; child-training component includes sessions on social skills, empathy, anger management, and conflict resolution.
Benefits: Positive effects on child conduct at home and cognitive problem solving with peers.
Contact: Carolyn Webster-Stratton, Ph.D., University of Washington, 206-285-7565, www.incredibleyears.com.
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Iowa Strengthening Families Program s
Target: Students in grade 6 and their families.
Description: Skills training program for students and parents designed to improve parenting skills and family communication.
Benefits: Reduced alcohol initiation 2 years after intervention; lower rates of tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use and drunkenness after 4 years; short-term gains demonstrated in parenting practices, parent-child communication, and family bonding. Evaluated in rural, Midwestern schools with primarily white, middle-class students.
Contact: Richard Spoth, Iowa State University, 515-294-4518, www.exnet.iastate.edu.
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Linking the Interests of Families and Teachers (LIFT) s
Target: Students in grades 1 and 5 and their parents.
Description: School-based skills training and parent training on reducing children’s antisocial behaviors, involvement with delinquent peers, and drug and alcohol use.
Benefits: Less physical aggression on the playground, better social skills, and over the long term, less likelihood of associating with delinquent peers, using alcohol, or being arrested.
Contact: John B. Reid, Oregon Social Learning Center, 541-485-2711.
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Parent Child Development Center Programs c
Target: Low-income families with children ages 2 months to 3 years.
Description: Broad range of family services; parent training component targets mothers as primary caregivers and focuses on infant and child development, home management, and family communication and interaction skills.
Benefits: Positive effects on a variety of risk factors for youth violence, including child antisocial behavior and fighting, and mother-child relationships.
Contact: Dale Johnson-Stone, University of Houston-University Park, 713-743-8612.
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Parent-Child Interaction Training c
Target: Low-income parents with preschool children who have at least one behavioral or emotional problem.
Description: Training on a variety of parenting skills, such as child behavior management.
Benefits: Improved family management practices and reduced children’s antisocial behaviors, including aggression and anxiety.
Contact: Dr. Joseph Strayhorn, Early Childhood Behavior Disorders Clinic, Allegheny Square, Suite 414, Pittsburgh, PA 15212.
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Preparing for the Drug-free Years c
Target: Middle school students and their families.
Description: Family competency training program that promotes healthy, protective parent-child interactions. Includes skills training about peer pressure for young people; parent component focuses on risk factors and family protective factors for adolescent substance use, effective parenting skills, managing anger and family conflict, and facilitating positive child involvement in family activities.
Benefits: Positive effects on child-family relationships and avoidance of alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use for up to 4 years after participation. Implemented successfully in the rural Midwest.
Contact: J. David Hawkins, Ph.D., Social Development Research Group, University of Washington, 206-685-1997.
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Preventive Intervention s
Target: Students in grade 7 with low academic motivation, family problems, or disciplinary problems.
Description: Behavior monitoring and reinforcement in the classroom, plus enhanced communication (with regular classroom meetings and reports to parents) among teachers, students, and parents about school behavior and attendance.
Benefits: Positive effects on several aspects of academic achievement; reduced drug use and risk of having a county court record 5 years after participation.
Contact: Brenna H. Bry, Ph.D., Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology, Box 819, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854.
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Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS) c s
Target: Students entering school through grade 5.
Description: School- and community-based program targets emotional competence (expression, understanding, and regulation), self-control, social competence, positive peer relations, and interpersonal problem-solving skills.
Benefits: Positive effects on several risk factors associated with violence, including aggressive behavior, anxiety and depression, conduct problems, and lack of self-control; effective for both regular and special education students.
Contact: Mark T. Greenberg, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, 814-863-0112.
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Quantum Opportunities Program s
Target: Students, assigned to a peer group and a caring adult, receive educational services, activities to enhance personal development, life skills, career planning, and service opportunities in the community.
Description: Positive effects on several aspects of academic achievement.
Benefits: Positive effects on several risk factors associated with violence, including aggressive behavior, anxiety and depression, conduct problems, and lack of self-control; effective for both regular and special education students.
Contact: C. Benjamin Lattimore, Opportunities Industrialization Centers of America, Philadelphia, 215-236-4500 x251; Andrew Hahn, Brandeis University, 617-736-3851.
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Yale Child Welfare Project c
Target: Healthy, first-born infants of mothers with incomes below poverty level who live in inner cities.
Description: In-home visitation and day care program that delivers parent training and other family and child services, including medical care, psychological services, and early education.
Benefits: Positive effects on parent involvement in children’s education, academic achievement, and antisocial behavior.
Contact: No technical assistance available for program implementation.
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