
Adolescent Violence Prevention
Professional Resource Guide
Table of Contents
General Resources for Professionals
Resources on Specific Aspects of Adolescent Violence
Related MCH Digital Library Resources
- Bullying
- Child Maltreatment
- Children and Adolescents Exposed to Violence
- Community Services Locator
- Dating Violence Among Adolescents
- Emotional, Behavioral, and Mental Health Challenges
- Intimate Partner Violence
- Reaching Out to Children and Youth Following Disasters
- Social and Emotional Development
- Suicide Prevention
Introduction
This professional resource guide about adolescent violence prevention has been compiled by the MCH Digital Library at Georgetown University. The volume of materials on this topic is vast and covers many disciplines, including public health, medicine, criminal justice, education, and social services. This path offers a selection of current, high-quality resources from these disciplines that measure, document, and monitor the problem; identify risk and protective factors; and report on promising intervention strategies. Separate sections identify resources on specific aspects of adolescent violence: bullying, dating violence, family violence, firearms, gangs, media violence, school violence, suicide, and violent-crime victimization. This professional resource guide is aimed at health and social services professionals, educators, policymakers, community activists, and families, and it will be updated periodically.
Overview
- According to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC), youth violence is when young people aged 10-24 years intentionally use physical force or power to threaten or harm others. See CDC's Youth
Violence: Definitions for a full definition and reasons why a consistent definition is important.
- See CDC's Understanding
Youth Violence, rev. ed. (2012). This fact sheet describes the problem of
adolescent violence in the United States and outlines its occurrence and
consequences, the groups at risk, and prevention strategies.
- See CDC's Youth
Violence: Facts at a Glance, rev. ed. (2012) for data about youth
violence and violence-related behaviors, health disparities among victims
of violence,
non-fatal injuries due to violence, school violence, bullying, and juvenile
arrests.
General Resources for Professionals
Websites
- American
Academy of Pediatrics (AAP): Violence Prevention. Policy statements
and patient-education materials on topics such as bullying and firearms.
Resources and initiatives include
Connected Kids: Safe, Strong, Secure. Information about this program to integrate violence prevention efforts in pediatric practices and the community. Includes a clinical guide and brochures for parents, children, and adolescents on topics such as bullying, discipline, interpersonal skills, and television violence.
Also see the ASK Campaign (Asking Saves Kids).
- Center for the
Study and Prevention of Violence (CSPV). Program information,
publications, and databases to assist with the
development and evaluation of effective violence prevention programs.
Topics include school violence, bullying, gangs, and firearms. CSPV is
a research center at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Resources
and initiatives include
Blueprints for Violence Prevention. Information and materials about model programs that have been effective in reducing adolescent violent crime, aggression, delinquency, and substance use.
Also see Safe Communities~Safe Schools (SCSS).
- Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC). Information and resources about preventing
adolescent violence in schools, homes, and communities. Resources and
initiatives include
Guide to Community Preventive Services: Violence Prevention. Recommendations for population-based interventions to reduce or prevent violence. Addresses early childhood home visitation, firearm laws, reducing psychological harm from traumatic events, school-based violence prevention programs, therapeutic foster care, and youth transfer to adult criminal courts.
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC): Youth Violence. Program information, data, assessment tools, definitions, and resources that describe risk and protective factors, consequences, prevention strategies, and the translation of research into practice. Resources and initiatives include
- Preventing
Youth Violence: Opportunities
for Action. (2014) and its companion guide, Taking
Action to Prevent
Youth Violence. (2014).
- National
Centers of Excellence in Youth Violence
Prevention. Information about 6 university-based research
centers that are collaborating with local communities and
community-based organizations to implement and
evaluate comprehensive, evidence-based approaches
to reduce youth violence.
STRYVE: Striving to Reduce Youth Violence Everywhere. Tools to plan, implement, and evaluate sustainable adolescent-violence-prevention strategies that are based upon the best available evidence. Includes online training modules, data, research documents, educational materials, and success stories.
Also see CDC's Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS), school violence resources, and the Prevention Research Centers (PRC).
- Preventing
Youth Violence: Opportunities
for Action. (2014) and its companion guide, Taking
Action to Prevent
Youth Violence. (2014).
- Children's
Safety Network (CSN): Youth Violence Prevention. Publications,
presentations, and links to additional resources about adolescent violence
prevention, including bullying and school violence prevention. CSN provides
information, training, and assistance to the maternal and child health
(MCH) community to reduce child and adolescent injuries and violence.
- Fight Crime:
Invest in Kids. Program information, legislative news, and publications
about crime-prevention topics, including early education and care, child
abuse and neglect prevention, after-school programs, and programs that
help troubled adolescents get back on track. Fight Crime: Invest in Kids
is a national anti-crime organization of law-enforcement leaders and
violence survivors.
- youth.gov.
Program and funding information and resources to help youth-serving organizations
and community partnerships plan, implement, and participate in effective
programs for youth. youth.gov was created by the Interagency Working
Group on Youth Programs, which is composed of representatives from 12 federal
agencies that support programs and services focusing on youth. See the youth.gov directory of
evidence-based programs.
- Healthy People
2020. Information about this national health-promotion and disease-prevention
initiative of the Department of Health and Human Services. View the overview, objectives, and recommended interventions and resources for adolescent health, including adolescent violence prevention.
- Minnesota
Center Against Violence and Abuse (MINCAVA): Youth Violence.
Electronic clearinghouse of links to published research, curricula and
other educational material, and organizations. Bullying, school violence,
gangs, and media violence are some of the topics addressed. MINCAVA is
located at the University of Minnesota School of Social Work.
- National Adolescent and Young Adult Health Information Center (NAHIC). Fact sheets, policy briefs, reports, and other
materials about adolescent health on topics that include positive youth
development and violence. NAHIC is based at the University of California,
San Francisco.
- National Technical Assistance
Center for Children's Mental Health. Program and conference information
and other resources about reforming services and building systems of
care for children and adolescents who have, or are at risk for, mental
health challenges and their families. Offers a matrix of
over 50 programs across the country that focus on Asian American/Pacific
Islander adolescent development and violence prevention. Presents a set
of briefs that describe the work and successes of 29 coalitions for
adolescent violence prevention. Also offers a monthly webinar
series that covers important and emerging trends in mental health.
The center is part of the Georgetown
University Center for Child and Human Development (GUCCHD).
- Office of Juvenile
Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). Program, conference,
and funding information; statistics; state contact lists; and publications,
including electronic newsletters. Topics include girls'
delinquency and gang
violence prevention. OJJDP is part of the Department
of Justice (DOJ). Resources include
Socioeconomic Mapping and Resource Topography (SMART) System. A free, web-based geographic information system that communities can use to upload local maps of crime locations and connect them to maps of local intervention programs and community resources. See Get SMART—Mapping Resources for Crime and Delinquency Prevention (2010) for an overview of SMART.
Statistical Briefing Book (SBB). Statistics about juvenile crime and victimization and about youth involved in the juvenile justice system.
Also see the National Gang Center (NGC).
- Prevention Institute.
Program information, policy research and analysis, publications, presentations,
and other materials about violence
prevention. The Prevention Institute is a national, non-profit organization
that promotes policies, organizational practices, and collaborative efforts
to improve health and quality of life. Initiatives include
Urban Networks to Increase Thriving Youth (UNITY) Through Violence Prevention. Background information, program materials, assessment and planning tools, and a webinar training series about this program to strengthen and support cities' violence prevention efforts. UNITY is supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
- Youth Alive! Program information and program replication materials for initiatives to prevent adolescent violence and develop adolescent leadership in California communities. Youth ALIVE! provides training to adolescents to build their leadership skills and support them in advocating for solutions to violence for themselves and their communities.
Reports, Briefs, and Other Resources
- The MCH Digital Library has a collection of publications and other resources about adolescent violence.
To view them, search the
library's online catalog MCHLine® using the online
search form. Type adolescent violence in the keyword field and set publication date limits. Click on Search MCHLine to get your results.
Databases
See the following set of MCH Digital Library resource briefs to identify additional data and statistics, literature and research, and programs about adolescent violence prevention.
- Maternal and Child Health Data and Statistics, and in particular, Child
Trends DataBank, MCH
Data Connect, Uniform Crime
Reports, WISQARS
(Web-Based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System), and
Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance
System (YRBSS).
- Maternal and Child Health Literature and Research Databases, and in particular, Morbidity
and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) Series, National
Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) Abstracts Database, National
Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC) Library, PubMed, SafetyLit, and Striving
to Reduce Youth Violence Everywhere (STRYVE).
- Maternal and Child Health Programs Databases,
and in particular, youth.gov and SAMHSA's Evidence-Based Practices Resource Center.
News and Commentary
- National
Criminal Justice Reference Service: JUSTINFO. This biweekly
electronic newsletter announces new federally sponsored publications,
events, and funding and training opportunities about criminal justice,
juvenile justice, and substance abuse.
- Office
of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP).
JUVJUST. This service sends announcements about juvenile justice and other youth service-related publications, funding opportunities, and events.
OJJDP News @ a Glance. This bimonthly electronic newsletter highlights OJJDP activities, publications, funding opportunities, and upcoming events.
- SafetyLit Update Bulletin. This weekly newsletter lists new additions to SafetyLit: Injury Prevention Literature Update and Archive Database, which contains abstracts of reports and journal articles about injury prevention and safety promotion.
- Also see GANGINFO.
Resources for Families
- See the MCH Digital Library family resource brief Teen
Violence Prevention.
Resources for Schools
- See the MCH Digital Library school resource brief, School Violence Prevention
Resources on Specific Aspects of Adolescent Violence
Firearms
- ASK
(Asking Saves Kids). Encourages parents to ask if
there are guns in the homes where their children play. ASK is
a collaboration between the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence and the American Academy of Pediatrics
(AAP).
- Harvard
Injury Control Research Center (HICRC). Information about research
programs, conferences, and seminars on adolescent violence, particularly
involving firearms. Resources and initiatives include
Firearms Research Digest. Citations for journal articles from the social science, criminology, legal, medical, and public health literature concerning firearms.
Gun Violence: A Public Health Crisis. (2013). [Webcast].
Means Matter: Suicide, Guns, and Public Health. Program information, education materials, and research about the relationship between firearms at home and increased risk of suicide.
- SPEAK UP. Hotline
and awareness campaign that makes it safe and easy for students
to anonymously report threats of violence, while working to turn
around negative social norms that prevent young people from "speaking
up." Telephone: (866) 773-2587 (SPEAK UP).
- Also see the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence
(CSPV).
Gangs
- National
Gang Center (NGC). Research and program information and tools
to assist in developing and implementing effective community-based gang
prevention, intervention, and suppression strategies. Includes training
information, gang-related state legislation and municipal codes, and
an updated list of newspaper articles on nationwide gang activity. NGC
is supported by the Department of Justice.
Resources include
GANGINFO. This electronic forum is for professionals working with adolescent gangs.
National Youth Gang Survey Analysis. Analysis and findings from the ongoing survey of law-enforcement agencies to assess the extent of adolescent gang problems by measuring the presence, characteristics, and behaviors of local gangs in jurisdictions throughout the United States.
- National League of Cities Institute for Youth, Education, and Families.
2010. Preventing
Gang Violence and Building Communities Where Young People Thrive. Washington,
DC: National League of Cities Institute
for Youth, Education, and Families. [Toolkit].
- See the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) fact
sheets, Trauma
in the Lives of Gang-Involved Youth: Tips for Volunteers and Community Organizations (2009)
and Your
Child and Gangs: What You Need to Know About Trauma. Tips for Parents (2009).
- Also see the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence
(CSPV), Minnesota Center Against Violence and Abuse
(MINCAVA), and the Office of Juvenile Justice and
Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP).
Media Violence
- Center
for Media Literacy (CML). Articles and educational
materials about media violence. CML is a nonprofit membership organization
supporting media-literacy education for families and schools nationwide.
- Center
on Media and Child Health (CMCH). Online
catalog of research articles examining the relationship between media
exposure and health-risk behaviors, including violence. CMCH is a joint
project of Children's Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School, and Harvard
School of Public Health.
- Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and Brookings
Institution. 2008. Children
and Electronic Media. Princeton, NJ: Woodrow Wilson School of Public
and International Affairs; Washington, DC: Brookings Institution. (The
Future of Children; v. 18, no. 1; Spring 2008). Media violence is addressed. An executive summary,
policy brief, and article summaries accompany the publication.
- Also see the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and
the Minnesota Center Against Violence and Abuse (MINCAVA).
Related MCH Digital Library Resources
- Bullying resource brief
- Child Maltreatment resource brief
- Children and Adolescents Exposed to Violence resource brief
- Community Services Locator: An Online Directory for Finding Community Services for Children and Families professional resource guide
- Dating Violence Among Adolescents resource brief
- Intimate Partner Violence professional resource guide, family resource brief
- Reaching Out to Children and Youth Following Disasters resource brief
- Suicide Prevention resource brief
Adolescent Violence Prevention: Professional Resource Guide, 6th ed. (September
2010). (Updated: November 2014).
Author: Susan Brune Lorenzo, M.L.S., MCH Digital Library.
Reviewers: Olivia K. Pickett, M.A., M.L.S., MCH Digital Library;
Lissa Pressfield, M.H.S., Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs.
Editor: Ruth Barzel, M.A., MCH Digital Library.