Instead of focusing exclusively on risk factors for youth violence, it’s time to start looking at protective factors. At least that’s what a CDC expert panel recommended in a special supplement of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
Homicide continues to be the second leading cause of death for youth aged15-24, and the leading cause of death for African American youth, according the CDC. More than 700,000 young people aged 10 to 24 were treated in emergency departments in 2010 for injuries sustained due to violence.
While identifying risk factors for teen violence is a necessary component of combating the problem, the experts recognize that it’s also important to identify factors that protect youth against youth embracing violence — such as resilience, positive youth development and community assets. “Most youth, even those living in high risk situations, are not violent and more must be learned about the factors that are helping youth, protecting them from engaging in violent behavior so that others can benefit,” the experts wrote in the supplement.
The CDC convened the Expert Panel on Protective Factors for Youth Violence Perpetration to clarify unresolved definitional and analytic issues on protective factors; review the state of evidence regarding the factors that appropriately can be labeled as direct protective, buffering protective, or both; carry out new analyses of major longitudinal surveys of youth to discover new knowledge about protective factors; an assessing the implications of research identifying protective factors for prevention programs, policies, and future research. This supplement presents the group’s work on direct protective factors — in particular identifying factors that exhibit mostly direct protective effects.
For more information about youth violence in the United States, check out a number of resources available on the CDC’s violence prevention Web page.