Helping Young Children Cope with Community Violence: A Proposal for the Reduction of Social Distress in the Inner Cities

Abstract

The authors discuss the crisis of violence in our society and its impact on young children. Research on early violence prevention is reviewed, and a rationale for building parent-teacher coalitions to attempt solutions to the problem of violence is presented. A curriculum for co-training ofparents and early childhood professionals in violence prevention is outlined. The need for longitudinal research on the implementation and impact of early violence prevention programs is noted.

Keywords::

• Violence prevention
• Social distress
• School-based prevention
• Early childhood professionals