Identifying Essential Skills for Violence Prevention

描述（由申请人提供）：本项目旨在提供 发展工作需要改善上下文相关性和生态 城市青少年暴力预防方案的有效性。需要 这一努力在建立一个普遍的以学校为基础的 以和平和积极的方式回应（RIPP）。这 干预的目的是教社会，认知和情感技能， 青少年需要有效地解决问题。虽然 RIPP的评估令人鼓舞，该计划的有效性 和类似的干预措施可以通过更好地了解 城市青少年面临的问题情况，最有可能采取的战略是 有效的，以及抑制或促进其 使用.因为之前的研究主要集中在患有严重抑郁症的男性青少年身上， 行为问题和机构环境中的问题，需要开展工作， 确定与更普遍的青少年生活有关的技能， 在高风险的环境中。 本项目涉及一系列定性和定量研究 在一个城市学校系统的青少年中进行， 来自低收入家庭的非裔美国学生的比例。具体目标 （1）确定这些人最常面临的问题情况 青少年有可能成为暴力行为的受害者或犯罪者， 暴力;（2）识别特定的认知，行为和情感技能 最有效地帮助他们使用适应性的，非暴力的方法来解决 （3）识别阻碍成功使用这些方法的障碍 促进其使用的技能和支持;（4）检查性别差异 提高干预对男孩和女孩的相关性;（5）测试 验证先前研究结果的模型;（6）修订 RIPP干预，以解决问题的情况，技能， 障碍，并通过前面的研究确定的支持。该项目将 使用一系列的焦点小组和采访青少年，家长，学校 工作人员和其他社区成员。这些数据将用于构建和 实证验证模型的中介和调节变量 与暴力和受害有关。这项工作的完成将使 为后续大规模评估研究奠定基础。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This project was designed to provide the developmental work needed to improve the contextual relevance and ecological validity of violence prevention programs for urban adolescents. The need for this effort became evident during the development of a universal school-based intervention called Responding in Peaceful and Positive Ways (RIPP). This intervention was designed to teach the social, cognitive, and emotional skills adolescents need to address problem situations effectively. Although evaluations of RIPP have been encouraging, the effectiveness of this program and similar interventions could be improved by a better understanding of the problem situations faced by urban adolescents, the strategies most likely to be effective in those situations, and factors that inhibit or facilitate their use. Because previous research has focused on male adolescents with severe behavior problems and those in institutional settings, work is needed to identify the skills relevant to more general populations of adolescents living in high risk environments. This project involves a series of qualitative and quantitative studies conducted with adolescents in an urban school system that serves a high percentage of African American students from low income families. Specific aims are to: (1) identify the problem situations most commonly faced by these adolescents that place them at risk for becoming victims or perpetrators of violence; (2) identify the specific cognitive, behavioral, and emotional skills most effective in helping them use adaptive, non-violent methods to address these situations; (3) identify barriers that prevent successful use of these skills and supports that facilitate their use; (4) examine gender differences to increase the relevance of the intervention for both boys and girls; (5) test a model to validate the findings of the preceding studies; and (6) revise the RIPP intervention so that it addresses the problem situations, skills, barriers, and supports identified by the preceding studies. This project will use a series of focus groups and interviews with adolescents, parents, school staff, and other community members. These data will be used to construct and empirically validate a model of the mediating and moderating variables associated with violence and victimization. Completion of this work will set the stage for subsequent large-scale evaluation studies.