Violence has become one of the leading causes of death among American children.

The availability of guns makes youth violence even more lethal. Students carry an estimated 270,000 guns to school every day according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

One out of 5 deaths of U.S. teens is due to firearms. In 1990, more teenagers died from firearm-related injuries than from all natural diseases combined.

Pervasive violence is not only a threat to children’s health and safety, but also a profound threat to their mental and emotional development, especially when they are exposed to violence at a young age.

An average of 28 hours of television is viewed weekly by children between the ages of 2-11. Higher levels of viewing violence on television are correlated with increased acceptance of aggressive attitudes and increased aggressive behavior.

Because alcohol reduces impulse control, drinkers who get angry or frustrated are at increased risk for interpersonal violence.

Alcohol use plays a major role in interpersonal violence involving youth.

Teenage boys, regardless of race, are more likely to die from gunshot wounds than all natural causes combined.

In 1991, 3,777 people under age 19 were murdered, more than three times the numbers killed in 1965, when there were substantially more teenagers in the population.

During the 1980’s more than 48,000 people were murdered by youths ages 12 and 24.

Primary prevention programs, such as social perspective taking, alternative solution generation, and peer negotiating skills, have the greatest impact on violent behavior among children and youth.

References

“Just the Facts,” A Summary of Recent Information on American’s Children and their Families. National Commission on Children, 1993.

American Psychological Association Commission on Violence and Youth, 1993.

National Commission on Children, 1993

“Violence in America, A Public Health Approach,” by Mark L. Rosenberg, and Mary Ann Fenley. Oxford University Press, 1991.

American Psychological Association Commission on Youth and Violence, 1993.

“Preventing Violence through Primary Care Intervention,” by Carolyn Roberts, MSN, CFNP, and Janet Quillan, Dr pH, CPNP, FNP, in The Nurse Practitioner, Vol. 17, No. 8, August, 1992.

“Public Health Policy for Preventing Violence,” by James A. Mercy, Mark L. Rosenberg, Kenneth E. Powell, Claire V. Broome, and William L. Roper, in Health Affairs, Vol. 12, No. 4, Winter 1993.

National Commission on Children, 1993