School-based Aggression Prevention Programs for Young Children: Current Status and Implications for Violence Prevention

Abstract

There is a growing consensus that school psychologists, researchers, and policy makers need to work together to define policies and promote procedures for keeping schools safe for young children. This article advocates for the need to design, evaluate, and implement school-based prevention programs that focus upon decreasing the daily aggression and victimization that occur in elementary schools across the nation. Not only do these daily occurrences of aggression affect young children's school and social adjustment in elementary school, but they also have the potential to result in more serious outbreaks of school violence in the future. Five model programs are reviewed in an effort to define best practices in aggression prevention programming and to outline future directions for the field. The importance of defining school aggression broadly, designing comprehensive prevention and intervention services, utilizing culturally sensitive outcome measures across informants and important school contexts, and providing empirical support to document program efficacy are discussed in detail. In addition, policy implications and the key role that school psychologists play in the challenge to reduce aggression is highlighted.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Stephen S. Leff

Stephen S. Leff, Ph.D., is a Clinical Associate at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and a Staff Psychologist at the Children's Seashore House of The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He also directs the PLAYS (Playground, Lunchroom, and Youth Success) Program, a comprehensive school-based aggression prevention program. His research interests include aggression prevention programming, social cognitive and gender differences in the expression of aggression, and ADHD.

Thomas J. Power

Thomas J. Power, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of School Psychology in Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and is Director of the Center for Management of ADHD and the Community Schools Program at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Dr. Power, an Associate Editor for School Psychology Review, conducts research related to school-based health promotion and family-school interventions for children with ADHD.

Patricia H. Manz

Patricia H. Manz, Ph.D., is a Community School Psychologist at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Her research interests are in developing school-based intervention programs to promote achievement among ethnically and economically diverse students in urban communities. Dr. Manz is committed to a partnership model of research that aims to develop and evaluate programs in collaboration with participants from families, communities, and schools.

Tracy E. Costigan

Tracy E. Costigan, Ph.D., is a Senior Trainer at SPSS, Inc. where she specializes in curriculum development for Health Care applications. Dr. Costigan received her doctorate in Clinical Psychology from MCP/Hahnemann University and completed her predoctoral internship at the Children's Seashore House of The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Clinical and research interests include quantititative methodology, program development and evaluation, and school-based interventions for social skills development.

Laura A. Nabors

Laura A. Nabors, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Cincinnati. She also works in a local private practice. Her research interests include program evaluation, prevention programming, children's perceptions of youth with special needs, and assessment of outcomes for youth with chronic illness and/or mental health problems.