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Youth Violence: CDC Activities
The Public Health Approach in Action
CDC uses a systematic process called
the public health approach to solve health problems—including
injuries. This approach has four steps: define the problem, identify
risk and protective factors, develop and test prevention strategies,
and assure widespread adoption of prevention principles and
strategies. For more information on this approach, refer to
CDC Injury Fact Book 2001−2002.
Step 1: Define the Problem
National Academic Centers of Excellence on
Youth Violence
CDC set up ten National Academic Centers of Excellence on Youth
Violence to foster collaborative efforts between university
researchers and communities that address the problem of youth
violence. Five centers focus on developing and implementing community
response plans, training health care professionals, and conducting
small, pilot projects to evaluate effective strategies for preventing
youth violence. The other five centers conduct comprehensive
activities, including researching risk factors for youth violence and
evaluating prevention strategies. Funded centers include:
Healthy Passages
Healthy Passages is a longitudinal study to help families, schools,
communities, and health care providers understand how children grow to be
healthy, educated, and productive members of society. It will help explain
why young people choose healthy behaviors or risky behaviors. Data
collection will begin in fall 2004 and will provide information on a variety
of injury and violence issues (e.g., individual and family factors
associated with bullying, and how behaviors change over time).
Injury Surveillance in Latin America
CDC, in collaboration with the World Health Organization and the Pan
American Health Organization, is working to establish emergency room-based
surveillance systems in Colombia, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. These systems
will track both fatal and nonfatal unintentional injuries and
violence-related injuries. Data will be used to identify risk factors and to
develop injury prevention programs.
National Electronic Injury Surveillance System
The National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) is operated by
the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. It provides data about all
nonfatal injuries treated in U.S. hospital emergency departments. CDC uses
NEISS data to generate national estimates of nonfatal injuries, including
those related to youth violence.
National Violent Death Reporting
System
State and local agencies have detailed information from medical examiners,
coroners, police, crime labs, and death certificates that could answer
important questions about trends in violence. Often this information is
fragmented and difficult to access. CDC has initially funded 13
states—Alaska, Colorado, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, North Carolina,
New Jersey, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Virginia, and
Wisconsin—to establish the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS).
The purpose of NVDRS is to gather, share, and link state-level data about
violence. When fully implemented, NVDRS will enable CDC to pull together
vital state-level information to gain a more accurate understanding of the
problem of violence. This will help policy makers and community leaders make
informed decisions about violence prevention strategies and programs,
including those that address youth violence.
School-associated Violent Deaths Study
Since 1992, CDC and the Departments of Education and Justice have conducted
a national study of school-associated violent deaths. This study monitors
trends related to school-associated violent deaths, identifies risk factors,
and assesses the effects of prevention efforts.
WISQARS
WISQARSTM (Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System,
pronounced "whiskers") is an interactive database that provides national
injury-related morbidity and mortality data useful for research and for
making informed public health decisions.
Youth Risk
Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS)
CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) is designed to monitor
priority health risk behaviors that contribute to the leading causes of
death, disability, and social problems of people in the United States,
including behaviors that contribute to unintentional injuries and violence.
The YRBSS consists of national, state, and local school-based surveys of
representative samples of 9th through 12th grade students. The school-based
surveys are conducted biennially and provide information on a variety of
suicide and interpersonal violence-related behaviors both on school property
and in the community.
Step 2: Identify Risk and Protective Factors
Assessing Linkages Among Various Forms of Violence
CDC is conducting a study to identify the links between different forms of
interpersonal and self-directed violent behaviors in adolescents. The study
will help scientists gain an understanding of the prevalence and
consequences of different types of aggressive behaviors; the association
between dating violence and other forms of peer violence; and the manner in
which these types of violent behaviors vary by sex, developmental stage, and
other factors.
Children Exposed to Spousal Violence
The University of Washington’s
Harborview
Injury Prevention and Research Center (HIPRC) is being funded by CDC to
research health and educational outcomes among children exposed to spousal
violence.
Child Violence, Adult Victimization, Injury, and Health
CDC is funding the Medical University of South Carolina to examine the
effects of violent assault histories and adverse family environments on
leading health indicators such as violence-related injury, suicidal
behavior, tobacco use, substance abuse, mental health problems, and risky
sexual behavior.
Intentional Injury Among Urban Youth
Harvard University’s Injury Control Research Center is being funded by
CDC to conduct a study to increase our understanding of the risk factors and
prevalence of intentional injury among urban youth. The project involves
6,000 youth residing in 80 Chicago neighborhoods.
National Academic Centers of Excellence on Youth Violence
See description under Step 1.
Suicide Risk During Transition to Early Adulthood
Researchers at the University of Washington’s School of Nursing are being
funded by CDC to assess suicidal risk during the transitional period from
late adolescence to early adulthood. They are also examining the long-term
effectiveness of a suicide prevention program.
Violence Towards
Peers, Dates, and Self: A Developmental Focus
CDC is funding researchers at the University of North Carolina to examine
the link between violence directed by peers toward dates (psychological,
physical, and sexual) and toward one’s self (suicide attempts). They are
also identifying unique and shared risk factors across those types of
violence from four levels of influence: individual, peer, family, and
neighborhood.
Youth Violence Prevention and Injury Reduction Initiative
The University of
Pittsburgh’s Center for Injury Research and Control is conducting a
study to determine if early identification of at-risk youth and timely
referral to community-based programs can reduce injury recidivism and the
number of violent events in the area. The study targets young people ages 14
to 25 who have been admitted to the hospital for treatment of a
violence-related injury.
Step 3: Develop and Test Prevention Strategies
Developmental Pathways of Rural African-American Youth
CDC is funding the University of North Carolina’s Center for Developmental
Science to study the development trajectories and longitudinal assessments
of rural, African Americans who participated in an early adolescent violence
prevention program. This multi-level intervention was conducted in two
cohorts of adolescents. It consisted of music and photography classes,
reading enhancement, parent support, and behavior management.
Family Intervention for Suicidal Youth: Emergency Care
Researchers at the University of California are rigorously evaluating a
family-focused suicide prevention intervention for adolescents who attempt
suicide and are treated in the hospital emergency department. CDC is funding
this project.
Middle School Violence Prevention Project
CDC is testing a violence prevention project in 37 middle schools in four
states. Each project teaches students conflict resolution and problem
solving skills, trains teachers about violence prevention, and engages
family members in program activities. This project represents one of the
largest efforts to date to assess the effectiveness of school-based violence
prevention among middle school students. The project is affiliated with
Virginia Commonwealth University, University of Illinois–Chicago, University
of Georgia, and Duke University.
National Academic Centers of Excellence on Youth Violence
See description under Step 1.
Piloting a Family-based Program for Preventing Adolescent Dating Violence
CDC is funding the University of North Carolina to develop and pilot test
Families for Safe Dates. This family-based program addresses multiple types
of youth violence, including dating violence (psychological, physical, and
sexual), victimization and perpetration, and violence directed at peers. The
content of Families for Safe Dates will draw heavily from Safe Dates, an
effective school-based, dating violence prevention program.
Promoting Biculturalism to Prevent Youth Violence
Researchers at the University of North Carolina are being funded by CDC to
develop and test an intervention that attempts to prevent aggressive
behavior and suicide in Latino youth by promoting bicultural coping skills
and family cohesion.
Reducing Violence/Victimization in Assaulted Urban Youth
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is examining the effectiveness of a
violence prevention program aimed at reducing aggressive behavior in
African-American adolescents who have experienced violent crime. This
project is funded by CDC.
School Health Policies and Programs Study
The School Health Policies and Programs Study (SHPPS) is a national survey
CDC conducts periodically to assess school health policies and programs at
the state, district, school, and classroom levels. SHPPS was first conducted
in 1994 and was repeated in 2000. SHPPS provides information on health
education, programs, environmental strategies, and policies that states,
districts, and schools use to address violence and suicide prevention.
Step 4: Assure Widespread Adoption
National Academic Centers of Excellence on Youth Violence
See description under Step 1.
National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center
The National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center serves as an online
source for information and materials gathered from institutions,
community-based organizations, and federal agencies working to prevent
violence among our nation’s youth. The Center’s website, toll-free hotline,
and fax-on-demand service offer access to information about prevention
programs, publications, research and statistics, and fact sheets. Additional
information is available from the
Center's website.
Next Steps
With extensive input from its academic research centers, national nonprofit
organizations, and other federal agencies with a stake in injury prevention,
CDC has identified the top research priorities for preventing youth
violence. To fulfill its public health responsibilities, CDC must address
these issues, published in the
CDC Injury Research Agenda.
The top research priorities receive CDC’s greatest attention and resources.
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