WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY

SW 3810
Phase 3

SCHOOL AGED YOUTH

VIOLENCE
Briana McNeal

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School aged Youth Violence

Abstract
This paper is about an intervention I research regarding problem of violence between school
aged adolescents. In this study participants who were considered at-risk students were a part of a
social-cognitive group intervention. This intervention explored the effects of violence avoidance
beliefs amongst the participants. This paper describes the intervention I researched. It discusses
the studys research design, sampling, data collection process, measurements used in the study,
Ethics and cultural considerations, and the results of the intervention.
Key words: social cognitive group intervention, violence avoidance beliefs, violence amongst
school aged youth, At-risk students

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Statement of the Problem:

There are many problems that continue to be swept under the rug. In most cases these
problems are caused by individuals and have been occurring for a long time without any
resolutions. As a student studying social work, I am not sure what my area of interest is yet. I am
leaning toward being a clinical social worker, working in a juvenile detention center or working
with our youth to make sure that they have all the resources they need to have a bright future. In
order to make sure our youth gets to help that they need we need to find solutions to the
problems that have been effecting them. Most of the problems seem to be occurring without any
solutions or it seems like we are not finding a solution to these problems fast enough.
One major problem that has been occurring year after year particularly in the U.S is the
violence amongst our youth and in our school environment. These acts of violence have turned
deadly in some cases. Even though according to Mason (2012), incidents of deadly violence on
school grounds have decreased since the 1990s and are much lower than off school grounds,
these incidents still continue to occur year after year. Incidents like the tragic shootings on
February 28, 2012 in a Cleveland suburb at Chardon High school and the killings of 26 children
and teachers at Sandy Hook elementary school, are just two examples of what violence among
our school aged youth can lead to. The focus of school aged violence seems to get more attention
from the media when it occurs in Suburban/ rural area schools. Statistics also show that students
in urban and inner-city neighborhoods are the most likely group to not feel safe at school
(Mason, 2013, p. 83). These students most likely live in poverty and live in dangerous
neighborhoods. They carry weapons to school to protect themselves against crimes that occur in
their environment (Mason, 2013 P. 83). These acts of violence have not only been occurring on
school grounds but they have also been occurring off school grounds as well.

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According to the National Center for Educational Statistics:

For the school year 20082009 there were 17 homicides among school-age youth (ages
518) that occurred in school and 1,579 of similar deaths occurred outside the school (as cited
in Mason, 2012, p. 83).
These acts of violence among our youth have been occurring for a long time. For an
example, according to Earls (1994) in 1990, 16.3 %( 1,749,343) of the total arrest in the U.S
were of our youth from ages 17 or under. 5.5% (95,677) of these arrests were for violent crimes.
In addition to these arrests, on a national survey 20% of adolescents have reported being
involved in at least one violent incident by the age of 18 (Earls, 1994). The violence among our
youth is becoming a serious and growing health issue (Cirillo, 1998).
According to Dupnack (2015), firearm violence is the leading cause of death between
youth ages 14-24 in the U.S. In a study done at the University of Michigan-Flint researchers
teamed up with Hurley Medical center to see what are the causes of violence among our youth.
The two year study monitor 350 high risk patients who were came to Hurley medical center
following an assault (Dupnack, 2015). The purpose was to find out if the same patients would be
involved in more violent behavior in the future. This study found that 60% of the violent group
would be involved in firearm violence within two years and of that group majority of them
suffered from substance abuse problems and half of them suffered from mental health problems
such as Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (Dupnack, 2015). The results of this study suggested that
a visit to the emergency room for violent assaults is a good predictor that this type of violent
behavior will happen again and again.

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With these violent acts continuing to occur I wonder what is being do to stop these
violent acts and prevent them from happening ? What factors may be leading or contributing to
the violent behavior between our youth? A lot of these acts are not receiving big attention from
the media, which makes it seem like they are being unnoticed. They seem to happen more
frequently in urban areas and poverty stricken communities. Do these acts of violence continue
to happen because of the environment our youths live in or is it because of something else? I will
discuss an article about an intervention done at a high school in a class room setting, that
explains what has been done to prevent school age youth violence, to test the participants
avoidance violence beliefs and to find out what factors may be causing our youth to act violently.
Research Design:
Two interventions have been previously created to address the issue of violence between
adolescents. The Violence Prevention Project of the Health Promotion Program for Urban Your ,
which is one of the nations leading violence prevention efforts (as cited in Cirillo et al, 1998)
and Positive Adolescents Choices Training (PACT) used teaching methods that focus on social
skills training, enhancing pro-social behaviors and decreasing aggressive behavior in their
participants. The intervention I studied focused on some of the same things using similar
teaching methods. The practice setting was conducted at a high school in a class room setting.
According to Onolemhemhen (2015) lecture 7, research design is the plan for a research study
(slide 2). The research design in this projected was not clearly stated, but the purpose of the
intervention was stated. The purpose of this intervention was to investigate the effects of socialcognitive group intervention on violence avoidance beliefs among at-risk adolescents (Cirillo,
p. 319, 1998). This was done by using qualitative research strategies, pre-test and pro-test
studies, exploratory and evaluation study approaches. According to Rubin and Babbie (2013), a

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qualitative research methods are open to subjective observations and interpretations. This
intervention also used a paradigm that is associated with qualitative research. This paradigm is
called interpretivism, which values subjectivity and tries to gain insight on peoples lives,
experiences, meaning and feelings and reasons for their behavior (Rubin & Babbie, p.55, 2013).
This interventions seemed to use exploratory and evaluation study approaches. The researcher
seemed to be focused on learning more about what factors contribute to the problem of violent
behavior among the at-risk students and to evaluate the progress of the participants and what
they learned about violence avoidance beliefs from the start of the program to the end of the
intervention.
Sampling:
The sample frame for this study was fifty students in grades 9th through 12th from an east-central
high school in Texas. The population of the participants recruited for this intervention was the atrisk population of students. The participants recruited for this study were 21 females and 22
males. Twenty two of the fifty students participated in the actual intervention (experimental
group) and twenty-one were assigned to the control group (Cirillo et al. 1998). Participants were
randomly assigned to these groups. Three students from the experimental group dropped out of
the study and four from the control group. The type sampling used in this study is called criterion
sampling. According to the sampling lecture (2015), this is when researchers choose subjects
based on eligibility criterion. These participants were students chosen from a list generated from
teachers who believed they met the at risk criteria. The at risk criteria consisted of any subject
who is at-risk based on low socioeconomic status, educational failure, evidence of drug or
alcohol use, poor attendance, parent drug use, and disciplinary actions at school (Cirillo et al.
1998). Criterion sampling is what is called non-probability sampling. This means that

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participants of this population had an unknown chance of being selected to be a part of the
sample. The students in the high school who were considered at-risked were approached by
counselors from the school, who then explained the program to them. The students determined if
they wanted to volunteer to be a part of the study. The at-risk students who used drugs and those
who didnt use drugs, the fighters and non-fighters, and students who were threatened and those
who were not threatened, responses to the intervention were all compared at the end to see what
factors may have a big impact on how these participants believe they should handle violence.
Data Collection:
One of the procedures during this study required that the experimental and control groups
complete a questionnaire. According to Onolemhemhen (2015) lecture 8, a questionnaire is a
method used to gather information about the participants using self- administered questions in a
paper and pen format. The format can also be electronic and administered over the internet
(slide 13). Participants in this study completed a questionnaire before, following and three
months after the intervention (Cirillo, 1998). The questionnaire took approximately 45 minutes
to complete and confidentiality was insured. The students who were not present during data
collection were mailed questionnaires, instruction sheets, and self-addressed stamped envelopes
(Cirillo, p.323, 1998).
Measurement:
Questionnaires were used to gather demographic, and drug/alcohol use information (Cirillo,
1998) .Questions from the Student Health Survey were included as well (as cited in (Cirillo,
1998). The validity of the content of this study were gathered by a panel of experts and reliability
was established for the questionnaire using 10th to 12th grade students who were also considered

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at risk from a high school in a nearby city (Cirillo, 1998). One instrument of measurement is the
t-test which was used to compare the differences between drug/alcohol users and non-users, the
fighters and non-fighters, students who have been threatened and those who have not been
threatened. Another instrument of measurements used to analyze data was the SPSS, which is a
two way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures used to test for significant
differences between the groups on violence avoidance beliefs (Cirillo, p.324, 1998). The
variables were not clearly defined but it seems like the independent variable would be the
program or intervention being administered to the participants and the dependent variables would
be the at-risk students and according to the t-test the violence avoidance beliefs.
Ethics and Cultural Considerations:
As I stated earlier these participants volunteered to be apart or this study. The school counselors
described the program to the students and the students decided if they were interested. Student
and parent consent was obtained prior to participation (Cirillo, p. 322). This study didnt really
talk about the cultural differences or if they took any of the cultural differences into
consideration when they created this intervention. The intervention participants ethnic
composition was 44% White (19), 30% Black (13), 23% (10) Hispanic, 2% (1) other. The study
didnt say anything about the interventions activities or processes being sensitive to the unique
characteristics of the participants. I think that the intervention did a good job of using different
teaching methods to teach the participants because there are gender differences in learning.
Males may have a different way of learning than females. The intervention used a variety of
teaching methods in this intervention. The researcher seemed to be aware of the differences in
learning between genders. However, the researcher could have made it clearer whether the
intervention addresses the gender and cultural difference and how. It doesnt state what teaching

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methods works both for each gender but the fact that the researcher decided to use different
teaching methods lets me know that they were sensitive to what approaches they decided to use
regarding the different genders. As far as cultural differences, I think that an equal amount of
representation for each race would have been a great idea. Even if they had to go get participants
from a different school in the same area, I think that it should have been an equal amount of
representation for each race.
Results and Implications:
This intervention was created using the techniques that were thought to be most effective with
dealing with violence. They are few prevention programs that have been implemented in schools,
which emphasize social skills training and use peer role models and role playing. These
programs have been successful in reducing violent interactions among adolescent (as cited
Cirillo, p. 327, 1998). The findings of these previous programs suggests that a program
combining social skills training, cognitive restructuring, behavioral consequence, mentoring, and
problem solving approaches would affect violence avoidance beliefs (Cirillo, p.327, 1998). This
intervention focused on the same approaches but however, the results of a present study did not
support this belief.
In this intervention students apart of the experimental group met in the evening every week for
ten consecutive weeks. Each of these meetings lasted two hours. Participants were taught in
small and large group discussions, lectures, public speaking (Cirillo, 1998). Teaching methods
also included role playing, journaling and group/individual feedback. During the intervention
students engaged in group and individual problem solving, restricting the way that they think,
and social skills training. The main focus of the intervention was to focus on coping and problem
solving skills, relationship with peers, parents and other adults. It focused on conflict resolution

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and communication skills, methods for dealing with peer pressure related to violence, along with
drug and alcohol use. The intervention also focused on helping participants with thinking about
consequences and decision making abilities, positive social behaviors including learning how to
cooperate with others , self-responsibilities, respecting others, public speaking efficacy and
empathy ( being aware of other peoples feelings) (Cirillo et al., 1998).
I think this intervention would be somewhat effective in addressing the problem of school aged
youth violence because I believe that adolescents need to realize the consequences of their
violent actions, how to deal with anger, and how their violent behavior may affect other people. I
believe this intervention does a good job of doing that. Even with the students who are not
violent in school and are not using drugs and alcohol, due to them meeting the at-risk criteria, I
believe that this intervention can teach/prepare students how to deal with anger issues or violent
actions. This intervention could be useful in showing students how to avoid violence, deal with
peer pressure and other things. I believe that school violence would decrease if students were
aware of the consequences of violent actions, if they were taught how to deal with anger and how
to make better decisions. However this study was done in 1998, and violent interactions among
adolescents is still a major social problem continuing to occur today. Something may be missing
from this intervention or violence prevention/education programs may not be being implemented
into our school systems effectively like they should be. More research is needed to determine
effective intervention strategies to combat the growing problem of violence among American
adolescent (Cirillo, p. 329, 1998). I think this intervention would have been better if both
psychologist and social workers were able to come up with a better and more effective
intervention or find a way to implement these programs into our school systems. I think our
school systems should have some type of program with these teaching methods already

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implemented in them. A program or class should be taught to all students using the techniques
used in this interventions.
This study was not efficient enough. The participants in the study were selected by school
personnel only if they met the at-risk criteria environmental conditions. Other factors werent
included. Other factors may influence violence avoidance beliefs like parent involvement and
peer group mentoring. These factors could have had a greater impact on the outcome of the
interventions but they werent strong components of the intervention (Cirillo, 1998). The study
didnt take into consideration the fact that only the environmental factors may have made
participants at risk, but those factors didnt interfere with their pro-social skills (Cirillo, 1998).
This means that some of the participants may have already had the ability and skills to help them
avoid violence. It is also possible that the intervention wasnt long enough. At-risk populations
made need more than 10 sessions to see if the intervention was truly effective.
Even though the intervention did a good job of using different teaching methods, we do not
know if the participants could understand those teaching methods. Intellectual competence is
needed before interventions can be effective (as citied in Cirillo, 1998). This means that
participants must have the ability to understand what is being taught to them. They must have the
ability to acquire the knowledge. This study doesnt make it clear if the intellectual level of the
participants were matched.
A major challenge and barrier with this intervention was the fact that the number of participants
in this study was small. According to Cirillo (1998), this was due to the lack of training space
and parameters established by the social-cognitive group facilitator (p. 328). If there were more
participants, this would have increased the statistical power of the analyses, which may have
revealed significant differences between groups on violence avoidance beliefs (Cirillo, 1998).

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Conclusion:
All in all, this intervention was a great way to start addressing the growing problem of violence
among adolescents. The teaching methods in this intervention did a good job in using different
techniques to teach the participants and influence their violence avoidance beliefs. This
intervention could have been implemented better if the parents were involved, more factors were
involved when influencing the participants violence avoidance beliefs, a bigger practice setting
was used, and if more participants would have been a part of the study. I believe that a social
worker or psychologist would have been good experts at implementing this intervention the right
way. After the study many of the participants said that as a result of this intervention, they are
more aware of their ability to make better decisions rather than reacting in a violent manner
when confronted with negative situations. They also stated that this is the first time they felt a
part of a group that really cared for each other (Cirillo, 1998). Many of the teachers and
counselors stated that they have seen positive changes and pro-social behaviors by the
participants in this intervention. However, the instrument used in this intervention would not
have been able to measure these outcomes.
This findings of this intervention suggests that students who fight in school and use
drugs/alcohol are more likely to use violence to resolve a conflict. Violence avoidance skills
and drug education should be offered simultaneously (Cirillo, p. 329, 1998). At-risk students
who know how to avoid fights tended not to fight in school and when students gained knowledge
about ways to avoid fighting, they tend not to engage in violent behavior. This study was done in
1998, instead of sweeping the growing problem of violence among American adolescents under
the rug, we need to be doing more to address this problem. Offering interventions like these is
only a start to finding a solution to this problem. In my opinion instead of having the Zero

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Tolerance policy implemented into our school system, we need to offer violence prevention
education to those all students.

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References
Cirillo, K. J., Pruitt, B. E., Colwell, B., Kingery, P. M., (1998). School violence: Prevalence and
intervention strategies for at-risk adolescents. Adolescence, 33(130), 319-30. Retrieved
from http://search.proquezst.com.proxy.lib.wayne.edu/docview/195939191?
accountid=14925
Dupnack, J. (2015, April 9). Study shows startling stats about high risk youth in Flint.
ABC12news. Retrieved From: http://www.abc12.com/home/headlines/Study-shows-startlingstats-about-at-risk-youth-in-Flint-299243831.html?device=phone&c=y#.VSgEKthDAIM.mailto
Earls, F. J. (1994). Violence and today's youth. Future of Children, 4(3), 4-23.
Mason, S. (2012). Protecting our children: Preventing violence in our schools and communities.
Families In Society: The Journal Of Contemporary Social Services, 93(2), 83-84
Onolemhemhen, D. (2015) Lecture 8. Research Design. [PowerPoint Slides]. Retrieved from:
Wayne State University Blackboard: http://blackboard.wayne.edu
Onolemhemhen, D. (2015) Lecture 7. Research instruments. [PowerPoint Slides]. Retrieved
from: Wayne State University Blackboard: http://blackboard.wayne.edu
Onolemhemhen, D. (2015) Sampling Lecture. [PowerPoint Slides]. Retrieved from: Wayne State
University Blackboard: http://blackboard.wayne.edu
Rubin, A. & Babbie, E. (2013). Essential research methods for social work.