Also in this Issue:
-
Violence
and Drug Prevention in Schools
-
Dangerously
Violent Adolescents
-
Predicting
Aggression in Adolescence
-
Child Maltreatment
Effects in Adolescence
-
Preschool
Children With ADHD
-
Suicidal
Thoughts and Behaviours Among Adolescents
-
Substance
Abuse in Adolescents Receiving Care
-
Behaviour
Problems and Marijuana Use
-
Children
With ADHD Almost Always Have Other Disorders
-
Predicting
Conduct Disorder in Girls
-
Early Teacher-Child
Relationships
-
Predicting
Disruptive Behaviour in Preschoolers
-
Psychiatric
Disorders in Children Involved in Bullying
-
Unskilled
Disciplining of Children and Abuse
-
Maltreatment,
Aggression, and Peer Rejection
-
Female
Adolescents With ADHD
-
Disrupted
Families and Delinquency
-
Youth Suicidal
Ideation, Attempts, and Risk Factors
Violence
and Drug Prevention in Schools 
Cunningham, P.B., &
Henggeler, S.W. (2001). Implementation of an empirically based drug and
violence prevention and intervention program in public school settings.
Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 30:2, 221-232.
This study describes prevention
and intervention programs being introduced into two middle schools (6,7,
and 8th grades) in a Southeastern city in the US with high
rates of violence, suspensions and expulsions. The programs were selected
because of their proven effectiveness and because they target factors
(family, school, neighbourhood and peers) associated with antisocial behaviour
in youth. The three programs being introduced to each school are described
below:
Bullying Prevention Program
- Establishment of school
wide rules against bullying and other aggressive behaviour.
- Teacher in-services to raise
the awareness of the issue.
- Developing classroom rules
against bullying.
- Consistent sanctions for
rule infractions.
- Regular class meetings for
teachers and students to discuss bullying and other aggressive behaviour.
Drug Prevention Program (ALERT)
The program has two goals:
- to prevent non-drug users
from experimenting with drugs.
- to prevent experimental
drug users from becoming regular drug users.
To achieve these goals classroom
activities are organized to include role playing, group discussions, and
observing videotapes to help youth to develop resistance skills and problem-solving
skills.
Multisystemic Therapy
(MST)
Although the above two programs
are proven to be effective, they are unlikely to reach those youth that
are at the highest risk of using drugs and perpetrating violence, as they
seldom attend school. Therefore, there is a need for a program aimed at
intensive family and community-based treatment. MST focuses on the strengths
of the family members and treats them as full collaborators in treatment.
It is hoped that taken together
the above three programs will address all known risk factors for antisocial
behaviour in youth.
Disrupted Families and
Delinquency
Juby, H., & Farrington,
D.P. (2001). Disentangling the link between disrupted families and delinquency.
British Journal of Criminology, 41:1, 22-40.
There has been speculation
about the connection between family breakdowns and delinquency, as the
increase in the rates of divorce and the rise in delinquency were taking
place during the same period of time. Previous research reported that
the risk of delinquency doubled for the children from broken homes compared
to those from intact homes.
The results of this longitudinal
study of boys living in South London showed that:
- Disruptions caused by disharmony
were associated with higher delinquency rates than disruptions caused
by death.
- Delinquency rates of boys
from intact high conflict families were similar to delinquency rates
of boys from disrupted families.
- Delinquency rates of boys
with lone mothers whose father had died were less than the delinquency
rates of boys in intact low conflict families.
- Delinquency rates of boys
who were not with their mother were very high, partly because the absence
of the mother often led to several parental transitions.
- Family disruptions in infancy
(under age 5) or adolescence (age 10-14) were more damaging than family
disruptions in childhood (age 5-9).
Comment
Although the results of this
study indicate that the loss of a mother is more important than the loss
of a father, the authors' point out that this may not be true at the present
time as fathers are more involved in the home and family now than when
this study was conducted forty years ago when these boys were young.
|
Institute
for the study of Antisocial behaviour in Youth (lAY) 
