Impact of a universal school-based violence prevention program on violent delinquency: distinctive benefits for youth with maltreatment histories

Objective

Child maltreatment constitutes a strong risk factor for violent delinquency in adolescence, with cumulative experiences of maltreatment creating increasingly greater risk. Our previous work demonstrated that a universal school-based violence prevention program could provide a protective impact for youth at risk for violent delinquency due to child maltreatment history. In this study we conducted a follow-up to determine if participation in a school-based violence prevention program in grade 9 continued to provide a buffering effect on engaging in acts of violent delinquency for maltreated youth, 2 years post-intervention.

Methods

Secondary analyses were conducted using data from a cluster randomized controlled trial of a comprehensive school-based violence prevention program. Students (N = 1,722; 52.8% female) from 20 schools participated in 21 75-min lessons in grade 9 health classes. Individual data (i.e., gender, child maltreatment experiences, and violent delinquency in grade 9) and school-level data (i.e., student perception of safety averaged across students in each school) were entered in a multilevel model to predict violent delinquency at the end of grade 11.

Results

Individual- and school-level factors predicting violent delinquency in grade 11 replicated previous findings from grade 9: being male, experiencing child maltreatment, being violent in grade 9, and attending a school with a lower perceived sense of safety among the entire student body increased violent delinquency. The cross-level interaction of individual maltreatment history and school-level intervention was also replicated: in non-intervention schools, youth with more maltreatment in their background were increasingly likely to engage in violent delinquency. The strength of this relationship was significantly attenuated in intervention schools.

Conclusions

Follow-up findings are consistent with the buffering effect of the prevention program previously found post-intervention for the subsample of youth with maltreatment histories.

Practice implications

A relative inexpensive school-based violence prevention program that has been shown to reduce dating violence among the whole student body also creates a protective effect for maltreated youth with respect to lowering their likelihood of engaging in violent delinquency.     

Physical violence and psychological aggression towards children: five-year trends in practices and attitudes from two population surveys

OBJECTIVE: To present prevalence rates of child psychological aggression and physical violence from a population survey conducted in 2004 and to compare the rates with the rates obtained in the 1999 edition of the survey. METHODS: The survey used a randomly generated telephone number methodology. Interviews were conducted using a computer-assisted telephone interview system with a representative sample of 3,148 mothers living in Quebec province, Canada. Responses relating to psychological aggression, minor and severe physical violence were collected using the Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scales. RESULTS: Eighty percent of the mothers reported the use of psychological aggression towards a child by an adult living in the household, 43% reported at least one episode of minor violence, and 6% reported at least one episode of severe physical violence. When compared to the 1999 surveys, mothers reported 5% less minor physical violence in 2004, a result that is counterbalanced by a similar significant increase in the report of repeated psychological violence towards children in a year. Results also reveal a significant decrease in attitudes favoring the use of violence for discipline purpose between 2004 and 1999. CONCLUSIONS: The trends observed in violence towards children over the 5-year period may partly be attributed to a change in mother's attitudes concerning methods of disciplining children. Findings support the need to promote alternative methods of firm discipline that do not involve violence.     

Education for All and the New Development Compact

Over the past decade, the achievement of universal primary education, under the somewhat misleading rubric of ‘Education for All’ (EFA), has steadily built momentum in international forums as a focus for discussion and action. The present study looks critically at the evolution of consensus about EFA within the international community. The first section of this contribution provides an overview of ‘education for development’ in the form in which it has been inherited from the 20th century. The second describes what has changed in the context, rhetoric and practice of such ‘education for development’. The final section reflects on two questions: ‘Why has EFA now moved beyond international rhetoric to action?’; and ‘What can our experience with EFA tell us about the prospects for multilateralism and global governance in the 21st century?’

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Zusammenfassung BILDUNG FüR ALLE UND DER NEUE VERTRAG ZUR ENTWICKLUNG – über die letzten zehn Jahre hat die Errungenschaft allgemeiner Prim?rbildung unter der ein wenig irreführenden überschrift ,Bildung für alle’ (Education for All/EFA) in internationalen Foren als ein Zentrum für Diskussionen und Aktionen stetig mehr Beachtung gefunden. Die vorliegende Untersuchung wirft einen kritischen Blick auf die Entwicklung von Einigkeit in Bezug auf EFA innerhalb der internationalen Gemeinschaft. Der erste Abschnitt dieses Beitrages bietet einen überblick über ,Bildung für Entwicklung’ in der Form, in der das Konzept aus dem 20. Jahrhundert ererbt ist. Der zweite Abschnitt beschreibt, was sich im Kontext der Rhetorik und der Praxis einer solchen ,Bildung für Entwicklung’ ver?ndert hat. Der letzte Abschnitt stellt Reflexionen über zwei Fragen an: Warum ist EFA nun über internationale Rhetorik hinaus zur Umsetzung fortgeschritten, und was kann uns unsere Erfahrung mit EFA über die Aussichten für multilaterale Verh?ltnisse und globale Lenkung im 21. Jahrhundert sagen?

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Resumen EDUCACIóN PARA TODOS Y EL NUEVO PACTO PARA EL DESARROLLO – A lo largo de la última década, el objetivo de lograr una educación primaria universal bajo el título un poco equívoco de “Educación para Todos” (EPT) ha impulsado permanentemente los foros internacionales como foco de debates y de acción. El presente estudio echa una mirada crítica a la evolución de un consenso en cuanto a la EPT dentro de la comunidad internacional. La primera parte de esta contribución provee una visión sinóptica de la ‘educación para el desarrollo’ en la forma en la que este objetivo se ha heredado del siglo XX. La segunda, describe qué es lo que ha cambiado en el contexto, la retórica y la práctica de esa ‘educación para el desarrollo’. La parte final reflexiona sobre dos interrogantes: ?Por qué la EPT no ha pasado de la retórica internacional a la acción?; y ?Qué nos puede decir nuestra experiencia con la EPT sobre las perspectivas de multilateralidad y gobernabilidad global en el siglo XXI?

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Résumé L’éDUCATION POUR TOUS ET LE NOUVEL ACCORD DE DéVELOPPEMENT – Durant la dernière décennie, la réalisation d’une éducation primaire universelle, sous la rubrique quelque peu trompeuse de l’? éducation pour Tous ? (EPT) a continuellement donné une impulsion aux forums internationaux en étant au centre de la discussion et de l’action. La présente étude jette un regard critique sur l’évolution du consensus à propos de l’EPT au sein de la communauté internationale. La première section de cette contribution offre une vue d’ensemble de ? l’éducation pour le développement ? selon la forme qui nous a été léguée par le XXe siècle. La seconde décrit ce qui a changé dans le contexte, la rhétorique et la pratique d’une telle ‘éducation pour le développement’. La dernière section est une réflexion sur deux questions : ‘Pourquoi l’EPT a-t-elle maintenant dépassé la rhétorique internationale pour favoriser l’action’ ; et ’Que peut nous apprendre notre expérience de l’EPT à propos des perspectives du multilatéralisme et du gouvernement global au XXIe siècle ?’

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The author: Karen Mundy is Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Global Governance and Educational Change at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto, where she also directs the Comparative, International and Development Education Programme. Her research focuses on educational change in sub-Saharan Africa, the evolution of international governmental and non-governmental organizations in education, and the politics of foreign aid to education. Contact address: Canada Research Chair in Global Governance and Comparative Education, OISE-University of Toronto, 252 Bloor Street West, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. M5S 1V6, E-mail: kmundy@oise.utoronto.ca.     

Dylan's Birth: From His Mother's and Grandmother's Perspectives

In this column, an adolescent mother demonstrates how preparation, Lamaze education, supportive caregivers, and an inner wisdom about the normalcy of birth enabled her to have a safe and satisfying birth. The grandmother, an experienced Lamaze educator and doula, also tells of her transformational experience as she watched her daughter give birth with strength and wisdom.     

Connecting high school physics experiences,outcome expectations,physics identity,and physics career choice: A gender study

This study explores how students' physics identities are shaped by their experiences in high school physics classes and by their career outcome expectations. The theoretical framework focuses on physics identity and includes the dimensions of student performance, competence, recognition by others, and interest. Drawing data from the Persistence Research in Science and Engineering (PRiSE) project, which surveyed college English students nationally about their backgrounds, high school science experiences, and science attitudes, the study uses multiple regression to examine the responses of 3,829 students from 34 randomly selected US colleges/universities. Confirming the salience of the identity dimension for young persons' occupational plans, the measure for students' physics identity used in this study was found to strongly predict their intended choice of a physics career. Physics identity, in turn, was found to correlate positively with a desire for an intrinsically fulfilling career and negatively with a desire for personal/family time and opportunities to work with others. Physics identity was also positively predicted by several high school physics characteristics/experiences such as a focus on conceptual understanding, real‐world/contextual connections, students answering questions or making comments, students teaching classmates, and having an encouraging teacher. Even though equally beneficial for both genders, females reported experiencing a conceptual focus and real‐world/contextual connections less frequently. The explicit discussion of under‐representation of women in science was positively related to physics identity for female students but had no impact for male students. Surprisingly, several experiences that were hypothesized to be important for females' physics identity were found to be non‐significant including having female scientist guest speakers, discussion of women scientists' work, and the frequency of group work. This study exemplifies a useful theoretical framework based on identity, which can be employed to further examine persistence in science, and illustrates possible avenues for change in high school physics teaching. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 47: 978–1003, 2010     

Child and Parent Relationships with Teachers in Schools Responsible for the Education of Children with Serious Medical Conditions

Claire Norris, former research associate at Moray House Institute of Education, and Alison Closs, a lecturer in special education at the Institute, describe a small research project which examined the interpersonal relationships between children with chronic and/or deteriorating conditions and their parents and teachers. The research was one aspect of a wider study (Closs & Norris, 1997) which sought ways of enabling the mainstream education of such children in Scotland.