Federal Activities Addressing Violence in Schools
Other Research
Asian American Adaptation of Families and Schools Together (FAST)
In efforts to provide and increase the availability of culturally competent and appropriate services for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs), the Families and Schools Together (FAST) program, a research-based outreach and multifamily group process, will be implemented and adapted to fit the cultural needs of Hmong-American families. To assess the effectiveness of the program, the founder of FAST and other researchers will research and document the impact of the adapted FAST program on the psychosocial functioning of Hmong children and their families and document the increase in protective factors due to implementation of the program. The intent of the project is to adapt and research the FAST program, to enhance relationship building and prevention programming, address the stress and social isolation issues that AAPI children and their families experience, and provide an overall attempt to reduce family, school, and community violence within this population.
Lead/Funder: Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS)
Adolescent Violence in Schools and Communities
This project with the Vera Institute of Justice addresses the context and meaning of violence in the lives of adolescents and the ways in which the danger of violence affects their development. Four areas are of particular concern: (1) what adolescents actually do in order to stay safe; (2) what kinds of social supports adolescents draw in order to avoid violence and to cope psychologically with exposure to violence; (3) the relationship between the fear of being victimized and the propensity to victimize others; and (4) an understanding of the meaning of violence for adolescents. In a comparative ethnographic approach, adolescents are being studied in three junior high schools in different areas of New York City and their communities. Data collection includes participant observation, neighborhood walks, life history interviews, parent interviews, and standard psychological instruments.
Lead/Funder: National Institute of Justice (NIJ)
Contact:Background Information and Text for Booklets to Foster Resilience in African Americans
A "White Paper" analyzing the current status of literature regarding resilient adaptation in African Americans will be developed. Based on a biopsychosocial approach, the paper will identify salient risk and protective factors and processes, document the status of research and evidence-based programs that foster resilient adaptation throughout the lifespan for African Americans, and provide recommendations regarding what programs and interventions need to be ready for national dissemination. The paper will also include federal policy recommendations to promote resilient adaptation among African Americans.
Lead/Funder: Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS)
Contact:Child Exposure to Violence and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Across Urban Settings
Investigators at Harvard University, under the auspices of the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods, are assessing 6,000 males and females, beginning at age 1, and subsequently at ages 4, 7, 10, 13, and 16. The aims of the study are both descriptive and analytic. Descriptive goals are to determine the prevalence and correlates of exposure to violence and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the context of a large urban environment that varies markedly in the social class and ethnic group compositions of its neighborhoods. Analytic aims relate to an examination of the causal links between exposure to violence and PTSD and other psychiatric disorders, as well as to an investigation of the consequences of such exposure for the cognitive, social, and academic functioning of children. The NIMH-supported component should advance current understanding of the causes and prevention of psychopathology in children and improve the planning and efficacy of health promotion and violence prevention activities at the local community level.
Lead/Funder: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Contact:Communication/Promoting Violence Prevention Messages/Resilience: School Violence Prevention Message/Campaign Development
The Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) will develop a partnership with the local Washington, D.C. ABC affiliate (WJLA-TV) to research, develop, and air program messages about school violence prevention. WJLA-TV will collect information about public perceptions of school violence in order to create messages that appropriate to the target audience. Research will be utilized to develop and test relevant messages with the target audience (e.g., parents, teachers). After incorporating the gathered research and key communication strategies, WJLA-TV will develop public service announcements that will be available for distribution among the current grantee network and the interested public.
Lead/Funder: Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS)
Contact:Coping with Stress Course
The Coping with Stress Course was designed to prevent the onset of depressive disorders among adolescents who report high levels of depressive symptoms but do not yet meet criteria for a depressive disorder. With programs in Oregon, Maryland, and Ohio, this group course teaches adolescents cognitive skills to identify and challenge negative or irrational thoughts and beliefs that may contribute to developing depression. Evaluation showed that the course was successful in reducing the number of cases of depressive disorder among adolescents at risk. In fact, twice as many students in the no-treatment group developed a depressive disorder than in the treatment group. Students in the treatment group also reported fewer depressive symptoms and better adjustment than students in the untreated group. However, with the passage of time, differences between the treatment and no-treatment groups decreased.
Lead/Funder: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Contact:(301) 443-5944
ftuma@nih.gov
Kimberly Hoagwood
(301) 443-3364
khoagwoo@nih.gov
www.nimh.nih.gov
Disruptive Disorders and Antisocial Behaviors in Puerto Rican Children and Adolescents in Puerto Rico and the Mainland
Investigators at the New York State Psychiatric Institute are comparing the development, comorbidities and risk factors of disruptive disorders and antisocial behaviors (ASB) in Puerto Rican children and adolescents in Puerto Rico and the mainland. This study is describing the development of ASB in Puerto Rican young people in the South Bronx in New York City and the San Juan Metropolitan Area in Puerto Rico. The researchers will examine whether differences in rates among Puerto Rican children at these two sites are explained by differences in the age of onset, in severity and persistence, and in the associated risk factors of ASB. The study will also assess comorbidities of ASB and conduct problems in this population cross-sectionally and ascertain whether the sequencing over time between ASB and its comorbid conditions differs between island and mainland Puerto Rican children. The study also will evaluate the association between individual, family, peer, and community factors and the development of ASB in each setting. Among the risk and protective factors to be examined are possible cultural determinants, such as strong familial attachments, parental and neighborhood monitoring, and type and level of acculturation.
Lead/Funder: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Contact:Don't Laugh at Me: How to Bully-Proof Your Child
The Project Respect Program
The Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) will provide evaluation guidance to the Project Respect program. Project Respect is an educational curriculum that is designed to teach and sensitize children to the pain caused by ridicule, bullying, and other forms of disrespect through the incorporation of music, video, and a curriculum guidebook. Don't Laugh at Me will also teach children how to resolve conflict in a creative manner.
Lead/Funder: Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS)
Contact:Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study
Investigators at the University of Wisconsin were initially funded in 1984 to conduct research on antisocial behavior among a representative New Zealand 1972 birth cohort. This was the first longitudinal application of a prospective measure of neuropsychological functioning to predict the initiation and persistence of delinquent behavior. Existing data on this cohort, interviewed at ages 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 18, and 21, allowed the investigators to trace the development of antisocial behavior. Ongoing work in the Dunedin study is exploring the following questions. Why do some young adults persist in antisocial behavior beyond adolescence while others desist? What broad constellation of mental disorders and life problems accompanies adult antisocial behavior? Can childhood aggression lead to adulthood abuse of family members? Can bonds to a job or a romantic partner foster recovery from antisocial behavior? How does parental antisocial behavior affect their children? Do developmental models of male antisocial behavior apply to women?
Lead/Funder: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Contact:Estimating the Full Costs of the Fast Track Intervention and its Impact on Reducing Mental Health Services Utilization
NIMH is currently sponsoring a 10-year multisite randomized clinical trial of Fast Track, a project designed to prevent the onset of serious conduct disorder in children and chronic violent crime in adolescents. After seven years, the evaluation of Fast Track indicates that the intervention does promote academic, cognitive, and social skills, and it reduces behavior problems and special education placements. The benefits, however, may not be sufficient to merit additional public funding and broader dissemination of the program. The Department of Public Administration and Urban Studies at Georgia State University will address the question of whether the value of Fast Track's benefits to the taxpayers and to society justify the cost of the intervention. Georgia State will provide information on both the implicit and explicit costs of Fast Track, as well as the value of reduced mental health expenditures resulting from involvement in the experimental group. Duke University's Office of Research will provide additional information on the measurement and evaluation of mental health services utilization and expenditures from the Fast Track project. The goal of this component is to provide a significant piece of the information needed to determine the extent to which the Fast Track intervention reduces expenditures on mental health services.
Lead/Funder: Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS)
Contact:Efficacy and Effectiveness Studies of Youth Violence Interventions
NIMH is funding approximately 17 efficacy studies including controlled trials of different approaches to youth violence prevention, treatment of externalizing behavior problems, and maintenance (adherence to care, aftercare). NIMH research has also focused on promising and successful interventions to treat and prevent adolescent depression, which often coexists with conduct problems. Several NIMH projects focus on determining whether cognitive therapy techniques that are effective for treating depression in adults, can be applied to preventing depression in adolescents. These include studies of the effects of after-school programs based on cognitive therapy and social problem-solving techniques and delivered by school staff. Other projects test the effects of pharmacological and psychosocial treatments for young people with depression (aged 12 - 17 years). Going beyond the effects of treatment on symptoms of depression, this research also focuses on how these interventions affect functioning in school, at home, and in the community.
NIMH is also funding approximately 13 effectiveness studies. These include implementation studies examining fidelity to protocol, organizational structure and climate, community mobilization, and provider or trainer training; information dissemination research; policy studies; large-scale community trials; and multi-risk and multilevel intervention approaches.
Lead/Funder: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Contact:(301) 443-5944
ftuma@nih.gov
Kimberly Hoagwood
(301) 443-3364
khoagwoo@nih.gov
www.nimh.nih.gov
Families and Schools Together (Fast) Track Program
The Families and Schools Together (Fast) Track Program is multifaceted, multiyear program designed for aggressive children in kindergarten starting at age 6. A four-site study in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Washington involves working with the child, their family, and the school system, including teachers. Preschool children at high risk were identified at 55 different schools. These children were randomly assigned for intervention or no intervention. The children initially enrolled in the study are now young adolescents. An evaluation of Fast Track indicated that by the third grade, students who took part in the program showed less oppositional and aggressive behavior and were less likely to require special education services than students who did not take part.
Lead/Funder: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Collaborators: Department of Education (ED), National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
(301) 443-5944
ftuma@nih.gov
Kimberly Hoagwood
(301) 443-3364
khoagwoo@nih.gov
www.nimh.nih.gov
Formative Research on Weapon Carrying
NCIPC is funding research on the factors that initiate and promote weapon carrying among adolescents and how these factors relate to interpersonal violence. Information from this study can be used to develop more effective interpersonal violence and weapon-related injury prevention programs.
Lead/Funder: National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC)
Contact:Health Behavior in School-Aged Children Study
The Health Behavior in School-Aged Children (HBSC) study is a unique cross-national research study conducted in collaboration with the World Health Organization. The HBSC study aims to gain new insight into, and increase understanding of health behaviors, lifestyles and their context in young people. HBSC collects data on a wide range of health behaviors and health indicators and factors that may influence their development and prevalence. International comparisons and research about health behavior help each country learn more about problems common to all adolescents or relatively unique to certain countries. Understanding why these problems do or do not occur in other countries may help prevent problem health behaviors in the United States.
The United States participated in the international study for the first time in 1998. Surveys have been conducted at 4-year intervals since 1985/86 with the number of member countries growing to about 30 members. Special research focus areas in the 1997/98 survey included peer relations and support, including bullying; perceptions of the school and its influence; school experiences; perceptions of parental expectations and support for school; violence; and injuries.
Lead/Funder: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
Contact:(301) 435-7597
Mary_Overpeck@nih.gov
Peter Scheidt
(202) 884-6516
Peter_Scheidt@nih.gov
www.nichd.nih.gov/new/releases/tv.htm
Intergenerational Transmission of Aggression and Violent Behavior
Investigators at the State University of New York, Albany, and the University of North Carolina, are exploring the intergenerational transmission of aggression and violent behavior with data from two longitudinal data sets. Focusing on a range of antisocial behaviors, including their onset, course, and severity, these studies will help to clarify continuity and discontinuity from parent to child. The investigators hope to identify mediating behavioral processes to explain the intergenerational transmission of antisocial behavior.
Lead/Funder: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Contact:Kindergarten Transition Studies
The National Center on Early Development and Learning at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill is examining how relationships between and among families, teachers, and young children affect the children's transitions from kindergarten to elementary school.
Lead/Funder: National Institute on Early Childhood Development and Education (NIECDE)
Contact:Linking the Interests of Families and Teachers (LIFT) Program
The Linking the Interests of Families and Teachers (LIFT) Program is a 10-week intervention in Oregon created for children and families who are at-risk for developing conduct problems because they live in neighborhoods characterized by high rates of juvenile delinquency. The LIFT Program is a multicomponent intervention that includes parent training, social skills training, a playground behavioral program, and regular communication between teachers and parents. Following program participation, students engaged in significantly less aggressive behaviors on the playground, parents demonstrated fewer negative behaviors during family problem solving activities, and teachers reported improved student social behaviors and peer interactions. Three years following the intervention, students who received the program were less likely to engage in consistent alcohol use, less likely to have troublesome friends, and were less likely to be arrested for the first time than students who did not receive the program. Students were also less likely to demonstrate inattentive, impulsive, overactive, and disruptive behaviors in the classroom than students who did not receive the program.
Lead/Funder: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Contact:(301) 443-5944
ftuma@nih.gov
Kimberly Hoagwood
(301) 443-3364
khoagwoo@nih.gov
www.nimh.nih.gov
Longitudinal Prospective Studies of Development, Course, and Outcome of Child Externalizing Behavior Problems, Psychopathology, and Other Outcomes
NIMH is funding approximately 79 studies that focus on individual, family, peer, neighborhood, school, community, policy, or multiple factor levels. They include methodological research as well as pilot studies of interventions. The NIMH portfolio includes several long-term studies that follow specific groups, or cohorts, of young people across the years of childhood, adolescence, and into early adulthood. Several of these studies involve national samples. The studies are longitudinal, continuing over many years, and prospective - that is, the investigators acquire data by monitoring developments in peoples' lives as they occur, rather than relying on recall of past events. These studies are concerned with the development, course, and outcome of child conduct problems, psychopathology, and a host of childhood and adult outcomes, including substance abuse, chronic behavior problems, academic failure, and early parenthood.
Lead/Funder: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Contact:Multisystemic Therapy (MST)
In multisystemic therapy (MST) specially trained therapists work with young people and their families in their homes, with a particular focus on changing the peers with whom the young people associate. MST therapists identify strengths in the families and use these strengths to develop natural support systems and to improve parenting skills. Specific interventions are individualized to the family and address the needs of the child, family, school, peers, and neighborhood. Multiple, rigorous outcome evaluations have demonstrated the efficacy of this approach, and an independent cost-benefit analysis found that this model had a very high cost-benefit payoff. A number of states are now attempting to implement this model.
Lead/Funder: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Contact:(301) 443-5944
ftuma@nih.gov
Kimberly Hoagwood
(301) 443-3364
khoagwoo@nih.gov
www.nimh.nih.gov
National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health
This large multilevel study was developed to analyze risk and protective factors related to adolescent health. The resulting data provide information on a variety of health related behaviors, including violence, and link health behavior and health status to characteristics of the family, peer, school, and community environments of adolescents. In addition this study will examine how behaviors and conditions of adolescence predict the achievement of health in early adulthood (ages 18-23 years). The initial survey questioned adolescents enrolled in grades 7-12 in the fall of 1994. More information is available at www.cpc.unc.edu/addhealth.
Lead/Funder: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Collaborators: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Office of Minority Health, Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, DHHS Office of Minority Health, DHHS Office of Population Affairs, National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of AIDS Research, NIH Office of the Director, NIH Office of Women's Health, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR), National Science Foundation (NSF), NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Science Research (OBSSR).
Contact:Nurse Home Visitation Program
The Nurse Home Visitation Program is a 20-year model of research in which nurses visit mothers during pregnancy and continue their visits through the child's second birthday to improve pregnancy outcomes, promote child health and development, and strengthen families' economic self-sufficiency. This program, currently underway in New York, Colorado, and Tennessee, appears to benefit high-risk families, particularly low-income unmarried women, reducing rates of childhood injury, child abuse and neglect, and other risk factors for early-onset antisocial behavior in children. Long-term follow-up of the children in two of the studied locations indicated that by the age of 15, they had fewer behavioral problems related to the use of drugs and alcohol, fewer instances of running away, fewer arrests and convictions, and fewer sexual partners, as compared to counterparts randomly assigned to receive comparison services.
Lead/Funder: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Contact:(301) 443-5944
ftuma@nih.gov
Heather Ringeisen
(301) 496-7227
hringeis@mail.nih.gov
www.nimh.nih.gov
Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS)
The PATHS Curriculum, based in Washington state, teaches children about self-control, understanding emotions, and problem solving. The PATHS curriculum has been evaluated using students in both regular education and special education classrooms. Students who received the PATHS curriculum demonstrated better knowledge of emotions than children who did not receive the curriculum. This emotional knowledge is thought to underlie the development of necessary social skills such as friendship development and maintenance, anger management, conflict resolution, and appropriate problem solving.
Lead/Funder: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Contact:(301) 443-5944
ftuma@nih.gov
Kimberly Hoagwood
(301) 443-3364
khoagwoo@nih.gov
www.nimh.nih.gov
Relationship Between Early Nonparental Child Care Quality and Later School Readiness: The Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods
This study examines the interactions of personality, family and school characteristics on school success and achievement, antisocial behavior, and drug abuse. The study follows 7,200 children in 80 Chicago neighborhoods. The study relates information about the children to information about urban neighborhoods throughout the city of Chicago in an attempt to understand how neighborhood characteristics affect children's lives. More information is available at http://phdcn.harvard.edu.
Lead/Funder: National Institute of Justice (NIJ)
Collaborators: National Institute on Early Childhood Development
and Education (NIECDE)
Role of Family and School in Promoting Positive Developmental Outcomes for Young Children in Violent Neighborhoods
The University of Maryland is examining the effects of neighborhood violence on preschoolers, the role of family and schools in reducing the impact of violence, and the effectiveness of early childhood antiviolence interventions. It is using a sample of 104 African American families with children in Head Start Centers in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.
Lead/Funder: National Institute on Early Childhood Development and Education (NIECDE)
Contact:School Associated Violent Deaths Study
This study is examining homicides and suicides associated with schools and identifying common features of school-related violent deaths. The study includes events occurring to and from school, as well as on both public or private school property, or while someone was on the way to or from an official school-sponsored event. The original study was published in 1996. The second part of the study examining deaths from 1994-1999 was completed in 2001.
Lead/Funder: National Center for Injury Prevention and Control
(NCIPC)
Collaborators: Division of Adolescent and School Health (DASH),
Department of Education (ED), Department of Justice (DOJ)
School Safety Technology Program
With the creation of the Safe School Initiative in the FY99 budget, Congress directed NIJ to use existing funds to develop new, more effective safety technologies such as less obtrusive weapons detection and surveillance equipment and information systems that provide communities quick access to information they need to identify potentially violent young people. Funding was provided to more than thirty projects and technical assistance activities in FY99 and NIJ continues reaching out to representatives of the education community to learn their security needs and identify opportunities to enhance the use of technology. The NIJ regional National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Centers (NLECTC) have designated points of contact at each Center to help evaluate school safety needs and to be a technical information resource for school safety and security personnel in their multi-state regions. The Centers have also added school safety (law enforcement personnel) to their Regional Advisory Councils. NIJ is coordinating with other federal experts in school security to develop programs that respond to articulated technology needs to improve safety in our schools. Some ideas for the NIJ Safe School Technology Program have come from an FY99 solicitation for safe school technologies. Eight awards were made for a total of $1,500,000 on topics as diverse as training tools, novel duress alarms, entry control evaluations, and information sharing systems. NIJ will continue expanding its technology research, development, and evaluation activities in 2000, emphasizing in particular: (1) concealed weapons detection, (2) surveillance, (3) information systems, and (4) training and technical assistance (this 4th approach will be used to better implement the first three). More information is available at www.nlectc.org.
Lead/Funder: National Institute of Justice (NIJ)
Contact:Secret Service School Shooting Case Study Project
This is an operational analysis of the approximately 40 cases of targeted school violence over the past twenty-plus years. The analysis of each case begins with the critical incident and works backward to identify pre-incident planning and communication behaviors and idea development. Other information being gathered includes previous threats, history of violence, current stressors, and school performance. The goal of the project is to provide operationally useful information to anyone with responsibility for preventing targeted violence in schools.
Lead/Funder: National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC)
Collaborators: Department of Education (ED)
Therapeutic Foster Care
This model offers a community-based intervention for serious and chronic offending delinquents. Therapeutic foster parents are carefully selected and supported with research-based procedures for working with serious and chronic delinquents in their homes. Treatment typically lasts 6 to 7 months. This intervention results in fewer runaways and fewer program failures than the usual placement in group homes (where delinquents are brought together), is less expensive, and is dramatically more effective in reducing delinquency than traditional group homes. The Foster Family-based Treatment Association, developed under NIMH leadership, now has some 400 members across the United States who promote the use of this research-based effective model.
Lead/Funder: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Contact:(301) 443-5944
ftuma@nih.gov
Kimberly Hoagwood
(301) 443-3364
khoagwoo@nih.gov
www.nimh.nih.gov
A "White Paper": Preliminary Considerations In Engaging Employers In Preventing School Violence
Studies indicate that the American workforce includes a vast majority of parents with preschool and school-aged children. Specifically, 63% of women with children under the age of six are employed and 78% of those with children aged 6 to 17 years work outside the home. Family stressors and fears of violence affect the ability of employees to be productive at work. This, in turn, impacts employers who may have role to play in partnering with community groups to prevent violence. The Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) is interested in engaging the business community in the process of violence prevention and fostering the healthy development of children. To facilitate such efforts, a "White Paper" will be developed to propose school violence prevention through the support and development of positive programs that increase resilience and protective factors for children and youth. The paper will also identify and provide recommendations for developing employers linkages with schools, law enforcement, and other essential systems, as well as identify areas where new technologies may be useful in knowledge dissemination.
Lead/Funder: Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS)
Contact:Young Children's Mental Health Research Initiative
ACF and NIMH have awarded several research grants as the core component of a new young children's mental health research initiative designed to develop and test applications of theory-based research or state-of-the-art techniques for preventing, identifying and/or treating children's mental health disorders within a Head Start context. These projects will help develop screening tools for identifying behavior problems in preschool children, test the effectiveness of research-based classroom interventions for very young children with serious disruptive behavior problems, and assess the mental health needs of this vulnerable population.
Lead/Funder: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Collaborators: Administration on Children and Families (ACF)
(301) 443-5944
cboyce@nih.gov
Kimberly Hoagwood
(301) 443-3364
khoagwoo@nih.gov
www.nimh.nih.gov