THE CYCLE OF VIOLENCE AND VICTIMIZATION - A STUDY OF THE SCHOOL-BASEDINTERVENTION OF A MULTIDISCIPLINARY YOUTH VIOLENCE-PREVENTION PROGRAM

This article reports on the school-based intervention component of a m ultidisciplinary program intended to reduce and prevent youth violence in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn. This intervention is b ased on three theories. The first theory posits that modifying beliefs , attitudes, and norms will help youths develop behaviors that support nonviolence. The second theoretical construct asserts that enhancing relationships with peers and family will buffer youths from the effect s of exposure to violence. Finally, the third theory suggests that cha nging aspects of the setting and climate that contribute to violent be havior will prevent violence. The school-based intervention, the Safe Harbor, is a victim-assistance and violence-prevention program. The Sa fe Harbor offers activities including a 20-lesson violence-prevention and victim-assistance curriculum, counseling, parent involvement, teac her training, and school-change campaigns. The evaluation design is a panel study, with cohorts surveyed longitudinally at nonequivalent int ervals. One hundred and fifteen seventh- and eighth-grade students who receive the curriculum and other services are the experimental group; the other 879 students in the seventh and eighth grades serve as the comparison group. Baseline data were collected through a survey of the entire school before the program's implementation in January 1995. Su bsequent data collection will include interviews and focus groups; fut ure analysis will address how participation in other parts of the Safe Harbor program or other programs in the school affects outcomes. The participation rate for the baseline survey in the experimental group w as 86%, in the comparison group 76%. Responses to the survey questions were virtually identical between the two groups. Preliminary analyses reflect a climate of pervasive violence in the school, family, and co mmunity. More than half of the sample reported witnessing a severe bea ting in the school or their community within the past four months. For ty-four percent witnessed someone being attacked with a weapon in thei r neighborhood. The psychological consequences of exposure to violence were severe-51% of the sample reported post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. A number of lessons have been learned from implement ing and evaluating this project, including the importance of fostering community partnership and strong relationships with the school, and a ddressing both reactions to victimization and norms and beliefs about aggression. Medical Subject Headings (MeSH): violence, intervention st udies, program evaluation, primary prevention, adolescent behavior, ri sk factors, conflict.