Safety for Kids (Fun Programs to prevent crimes & make youths productive Book 1)

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To enhance readability, the meta-analyses are cited here rather than throughout the text. Effect sizes are a standardized mean difference, corrected for small sample size and method effects. This measure reflects the average difference expressed in standard deviation units between the program group and comparison groups in regard to violence, substance abuse, and risk factors. Two major conclusions come from Lipsey's research. The first is that effective treatment can divert a significant proportion of delinquent and violent youths from future violence and crime. This finding contradicts the conclusions of scientists two decades ago who declared that nothing had been shown to prevent youth violence.

The second major conclusion is that there is enormous variability in the effectiveness of different types of programs for seriously delinquent youth. The most effective programs, on average, reduce the rate of subsequent offending by nearly half 46 percent , compared to controls, whereas the least effective programs actually increase the rate of subsequent offending by 18 percent, compared to controls. So, while some kinds of interventions substantially reduce youth violence and delinquency, others appear to be harmful iatrogenic , actually increasing involvement in these behaviors.

In fact, in most youth populations -- universal, selected, or indicated -- behavioral and skills-oriented strategies are among the most effective violence prevention approaches. Although Lipsey reports only a small average effect size for reducing recidivism with family therapy Table , the review literature indicates that specific strategies can be quite effective at preventing violence in delinquent youths and preventing further violence in already violent youths. One such approach is marital and family therapy by clinical staff.

While marital and family therapy can include several different strategies, a common thread is the focus on changing maladaptive or dysfunctional patterns of family interaction and communication, including negative parenting behaviors -- all risk factors for youth violence. Long-term studies have demonstrated positive effects of family therapy by clinical staff lasting up to 9 years. Three Model tertiary youth violence prevention programs that use the family therapy approach are Functional Family Therapy, Multisystemic Therapy, and Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care.

They are described below. Functional Family Therapy FFT is actually a secondary and tertiary prevention program, since it targets youths 11 to 18 years old at risk of or already demonstrating delinquency, violence, substance use, conduct disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, or disruptive behavior disorder. FFT is a multistep, phasic intervention that includes 8 to 30 hours of direct services for youths and their families, depending upon individual needs. The phases of the intervention include engagement to reduce the risk of early dropout , motivation to change maladaptive beliefs and behaviors , assessment to clarify interpersonal behavior and relationships , behavior change including skills training for youths and parents , and generalization in which individualized casework is used to ensure that new skills are applied to functional family needs.

These services are delivered in multiple settings by a wide range of interventionists, including supervised paraprofessionals, trained probation officers, mental health technicians, and mental health professionals with appropriate advanced degrees. The benefits of FFT include the effective treatment of conduct disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, disruptive behavior disorder, and alcohol and other drug abuse disorders; reductions in the need for more restrictive, costly services and other social services; reductions in the incidence of the original problem being addressed; and reductions in the proportion of youths who eventually enter the adult criminal justice system.

In two trials, recidivism was found to be lower among participants than controls. Evidence of a diffusion effect was also found, with fewer siblings of participants acquiring a court record in the 2 to 3 years following treatment. Multisystemic Therapy MST is an intensive family- and community-based treatment that addresses multiple determinants of antisocial behavior. This approach is implemented within a network of interconnected systems that includes one or more of the following contexts: MST targets families with children in the juvenile justice system who are violent, substance-abusing, or chronic offenders and at high risk of out-of-home placement.

Four types of services are delivered through a home-based model: While the intensity of services ultimately depends on individual youth and family needs, the average MST family receives 60 hours of direct services delivered over a period of 4 months. Program outcomes in serious delinquents include reductions in long-term rates of rearrest, reductions in out-of-home placements, improvements in family functioning, and reductions in mental health problems among treated youths, compared to controls.

Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care is a multisystemic multicontextual clinical intervention that targets teenagers with histories of chronic and severe criminal behavior as an alternative to incarceration, group or residential treatment, or hospitalization. Meta-analyses conducted by Lipsey and others demonstrate that community-based treatment is more successful than residential treatment for this population of youths. Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care implementers recruit, train, and supervise foster families to offer youths treatment and intensive supervision at home, in school, and in the community.

The program also provides parent training and other services to the biological families of treated youths, helping to improve family relationships and reduce delinquency when youths return to their homes. Youths who participate in this program also receive behavior management and skill-focused therapy and a community liaison who coordinates contacts among case managers and others involved with the youths.

Evaluations indicate that Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care can reduce the number of days of incarceration, overall arrest rates, drug use, and program dropout rates in treated youths versus controls during the first 12 months after completing treatment; it can also speed the placement of youths in less restrictive, community settings. Justice system approaches to preventing youth violence can be effective when they focus on providing services rather than instituting greater penalties.

One promising justice system approach is wraparound services, in which comprehensive services are tailored to individual youths, as opposed to trying to fit youths into predetermined or inflexible programs.

Evaluations of Wraparound Milwaukee have shown reductions in recidivism and arrests during the year following participation. One juvenile justice system approach to preventing youth violence meets the standards described above for a Promising program: Intensive Protective Supervision Project. This intervention removes delinquent youths status offenders under the age of 16 from criminal justice institutions and provides them with proactive and extensive community supervision. This program has been shown to have greater deterrent effects on referrals to juvenile court than standard protective supervision does.

Several popular juvenile justice approaches to preventing further criminal behavior in delinquent youths have been shown to be consistently ineffective: Perhaps the most well known of these approaches, boot camps for delinquent youths are modeled after military basic training, with a primary focus on discipline. Compared to traditional forms of incarceration, boot camps produced no significant effects on recidivism in three out of four evaluations and trends toward increased recidivism in two.

The fourth evaluation showed significant harmful effects on youths, with a significant increase in recidivism. Boot camps typically focus very narrowly on physical discipline, a highly specific personal skill, rather than a broader range of skills and competencies, such as those addressed by effective programs. Boot camps are also a setting in which youths are exposed to other delinquent youths, who can act as models and positively reinforce delinquent behavior Dishion et al. Residential programs, interventions that take place in psychiatric or correctional institutions, also show little promise of reducing subsequent crime and violence in delinquent youths.

While some residential programs appear to have positive effects on youths as long as they remain in the institutional setting, research demonstrates consistently that these effects diminish once young people leave. Evaluations of two residential programs showed that participating youths were actually more likely to be rearrested and to report they had committed serious offenses during follow-up. In both studies, the comparison group consisted of youths assigned to regular training schools.

Two general approaches that are popular in residential settings are milieu treatment and behavioral token programs. Both strategies aim to change the organizational structures of residential programs. The milieu treatment approach is characterized by resident involvement in decision making and day-to-day interaction for psychotherapeutic discussion. While this approach shows some positive effects when individual responsibility is stressed, the more common strategy of group decision making has shown no positive effect on recidivism after release. Moreover, Lipsey and Wilson's meta-analysis shows that milieu therapy is one of the least effective approaches to preventing recidivism in serious juvenile offenders Table In behavioral token programs, youths are rewarded for conforming to rules, exhibiting prosocial behavior, and not exhibiting antisocial or violent behavior.

Like some other residential approaches, behavioral token programs can have positive effects on targeted behaviors while youths are institutionalized. However, when this strategy is used alone, any such effects disappear when youths leave the program. Another popular justice system approach to deterring youth violence, waivers to adult court, can have particularly harmful effects on delinquent youths.

The idea behind this approach, "adult time for adult crime," was widely accepted into practice in the s, when youth violence escalated dramatically. Evaluations of these programs suggest that they increase future criminal behavior rather than deter it, as advocates of this approach had hoped. Moreover, placing youths in adult criminal institutions exposes them to harm.

Several counseling, therapy, and social work approaches to treating delinquent youths have also been shown to be ineffective in the review literature, a finding that is consistent with the results of Lipsey's meta-analyses Table Even when implemented carefully and comprehensively, programs that use this approach have failed to demonstrate any positive effects on recidivism. In fact, one long-term follow-up of delinquent youths treated in this setting shows several significant negative effects, including increases in alcoholism, unemployment, marital difficulties, and premature death McCord, Meta-analyses also demonstrate that individual counseling can be one of the least effective prevention approaches for delinquent youths.

However, the effects of this strategy appear to depend largely on the population. Though relatively ineffective for general delinquency and only marginally effective for institutionalized seriously delinquent youths, individual counseling emerged as one of the most effective intervention approaches for noninstitutionalized seriously delinquent youths in Lipsey's studies Table The reason for this difference is unclear, but it illustrates the importance of program characteristics other than content, particularly the importance of matching the program to the appropriate target population.

A meta-analysis by Andrews and colleagues confirms this finding, demonstrating that appropriate treatment can deter reoffending, whereas interventions that are poorly matched to the populations served can have no effect or a negative effect. One tertiary youth violence prevention intervention meets the scientific criteria established above for Does Not Work: Scared Straight is an example of a shock probation or parole program in which brief encounters with inmates describing the brutality of prison life or short-term incarceration in prisons or jails is expected to shock, or deter, youths from committing crimes.

Numerous studies of Scared Straight have demonstrated that the program does not deter future criminal activities. In some studies, rearrest rates were similar between controls and youths who participated in Scared Straight. In others, youths exposed to Scared Straight actually had higher rates of rearrest than youths not involved in this intervention. Studies of other shock probation programs have shown similar effects. The most logical way to reduce these costs is to prevent violence altogether. Preventing a single violent crime not only averts the costs of incarceration, it also prevents the short- and long-term costs to victims, including material losses and the costs associated with physical and psychological trauma.

Despite these facts, policy in the United States continues to focus on get-tough laws and incarceration for serious violent criminals, as opposed to prevention and intervention Greenwood, Federal spending on school-based crime, violence, and drug prevention programs is quite modest, compared to spending on crime and drug control strategies such as policing and prison construction Gottfredson et al.

Not only are preventive approaches more beneficial than get-tough laws, some prevention and intervention strategies cost less over the long run than mandatory sentences and other get-tough approaches. In an effort to determine the cost-effectiveness of California's three-strikes-and-you're-out law, which mandates life sentences for repeat offenders, Greenwood compared that approach to the benefits and cost-effectiveness of a number of crime prevention strategies. Using this price as the standard for cost-effectiveness, Greenwood calculated the costs per serious crime prevented of four prevention and intervention strategies: The costs calculated for each of these interventions included only direct program costs, not such indirect benefits as the money saved by averting incarceration or preventing victim trauma and its medical and social consequences.

Table shows the benefits of the various prevention and intervention programs with respect to the number of serious crimes each can be expected to prevent over the course of 30 years. The major disadvantage of the prevention approach is clear -- there is a time lag between implementation of programs and the appearance of effects. Because of this time lag, programs that are cost-effective in the long run do not appear so in the short run.

In addition, long periods between an intervention and the high-risk period of a youth's life offer more opportunity for decay of a program's effects Greenwood et al. In the case of early childhood programs, it takes approximately 15 years before significant effects on youth violence can be appreciated, given the peak ages at which young people are involved in violence.

Early intervention with delinquent youths that includes day treatment and home monitoring has a shorter lag time because the intervention is introduced later in life yet early in a violent career. Cost-effectiveness of early intervention in California 1. This is less than one-fortieth the estimated cost of preventing serious crime under the three-strikes law. Day treatment and monitoring for delinquent youths are also more cost-effective than mandatory sentencing, costing less than one-sixth as much as the three-strikes approach. The least cost-effective of the four are prenatal and early childhood intervention and school-based programs that target all students.

However, early childhood interventions that include prenatal home visitation and enhanced day care can be expected to halve the incidence of child abuse among high-risk families that is, low-income families headed by a single mother. School-based programs have benefits other than prevention of violent crime, including higher educational achievement for all students.

In a later analysis, Greenwood et al. In general, Greenwood's findings suggest that interventions targeting problem youths -- either children who act out or delinquent youths -- are more cost-effective than interventions that target general populations of youths. In addition, they confirm that prevention is truly more cost-effective in the long run than incarceration.

Costs aside, prevention may not have as great an effect on rates of violence as imposing longer mandatory sentences on repeat offenders. Other analyses demonstrate that the three-strikes law can reduce serious crime by 21 percent, whereas graduation incentives only reduce it by approximately 15 percent, parent training by 7 percent, early childhood intervention by 5 percent, and delinquent supervision by less than 2 percent Greenwood et al.

Graduation incentive programs could pay for themselves with the money they save by averting the eventual incarceration of many youths, and the other prevention and intervention strategies could pay for up to 40 percent of their costs in the same manner. Studies of two targeted early childhood intervention programs, the Perry Preschool and the Elmira, New York, Prenatal and Infancy Home Visitation by Nurses, indicate that these programs can actually save the government up to three times their cost when delinquency prevention and other benefits are considered Karoly et al.

It is noteworthy that although the cost-effectiveness data in Table were calculated using crime and population statistics for California, they have national implications with respect to the relative costs and benefits of violence prevention and incarceration. They note the importance of matching the intervention to the population -- a particular challenge for programmers, but one that has a critical effect on both the overall effectiveness and the cost-effectiveness of an intervention.

The results of the Washington study are summarized in Table While this table includes only the programs and approaches discussed in this report, the Washington study actually included many more programs and strategies, including some targeting adult offenders. All cost estimates in Table were calculated using the same methodology so that programs can be compared.

Although most costs are calculated as direct, per-participant program costs, the costs of Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care are calculated relative to regular group home costs, and the costs of intensive supervision programs and boot camps are calculated relative to regular court probation costs.

Thus, the negative program cost of boot camps means that these programs cost less to implement than regular court probation programs. This overall approach may not be the same one used by other researchers to calculate program costs, resulting in inconsistencies between costs in this table and those projected by individual program designers Box Comparative costs and benefits of prevention and intervention. Nevertheless, the Washington study offers some useful insights into the cost-effectiveness of youth violence prevention.

Looking at the benefits to the criminal justice system alone that is, benefits to the taxpayer , many early interventions and selected strategies come close to paying for themselves with the money they save; others actually achieve benefits that are greater than program costs. Programs targeting at-risk or delinquent youths can be even more cost-effective.

The same trend holds when considering the benefits of youth crime prevention to both the criminal justice system and crime victims personal and property losses -- the largest economic returns are achieved with interventions targeted at juvenile offenders, who are at greatest risk of future offending.

However, even programs aimed at nonoffenders can achieve significant cost benefits when future savings to potential crime victims due to a reduction in the number of victims and the taxpayer are combined. In general, these analyses underestimate the benefits of prevention programs because they fail to consider many of the indirect benefits of preventing serious or violent offenses, such as increased work productivity, increased taxes realized, reduced welfare assistance costs, and reduced victim medical costs.

Clearly, we are past the era in which some observers believed that "nothing works" to prevent youth violence. Numerous programs have demonstrated their effectiveness in reducing risk factors for serious violence.

At the same time, there is a pressing need to evaluate more youth violence prevention programs. Of the hundreds of programs currently in use throughout the United States, only six met the criteria for a Model program, and 21 met the criteria for a Promising program. Of the school-based program modules reviewed by Gottfredson et al. For most violence, crime, and drug prevention programs now being implemented, there is simply no evidence regarding effectiveness.

Although well-designed program evaluations are expensive and time-consuming, they are the only way to determine the effectiveness of existing youth violence prevention programs. Nearly half of the most thoroughly evaluated strategies for preventing youth violence are ineffective, however, and a few are even harmful. It is in society's best interest to evaluate programs before exposing children and adolescents to them -- otherwise we run the risk of harming young people rather than helping them. The most effective youth violence prevention programs are targeted appropriately, address several age-appropriate risk and protective factors in different contexts, and include several program components that have been shown to be effective.

This finding is consistent with research showing that youth violence is affected by numerous risk and protective factors that span several environmental contexts individual, family, school, peer group, community and several stages of a youth's life see Chapter 4. While identifying best practices in youth violence prevention is critical to reducing the number of young people involved in and affected by violence, it is not the last step.

The manner in which a program is implemented can have an enormous impact on its effectiveness -- even the best programs are effective only when implemented with high quality and fidelity to the program's design. In other words, using an effective strategy is only part of what is required to achieve effective results. Details of program delivery, including characteristics of the youths receiving the intervention, the setting in which they are treated, and the intensity or duration of the intervention, play important roles in determining effectiveness.

Programs must be delivered with design fidelity, to a specific population of youths, within a specific context, and for a specific period of time. Unfortunately, very little is known about how to preserve a prevention program's positive effects when it is implemented on a wide-scale or national level. What research has been conducted indicates that effective implementation is at least as important to a program's success as the characteristics and content of the program itself Petersilia, ; Lipsey, a , b. Studies of program implementation consistently find that effectiveness depends on the following principles, according to a review by Petersilia , p.

The project addresses a pressing local problem. The project has clearly articulated goals that reflect the needs and desires of the "customer. The organization has a leader who is committed to the objectives, values, and implications of the project and who can devise practical strategies to motivate and effect change. The project has a director who shares the leader's ideas and values and uses them to guide the implementation process and ongoing operation of the project. Practitioners make the project their own rather than being coerced into it; that is, they buy into it, participate in its development, and have incentives to maintain its integrity during the process of change.

The project has clear lines of authority: There is no ambiguity as to who is in charge. The change and its implementation are not complex and sweeping. The organization has secure administrators, low staff turnover, and plentiful resources. While they acknowledge the importance of a program's characteristics, such as its theoretical basis, they also stress that positive change and success are dependent on much more than the specific characteristics of a prevention program or intervention.

Characteristics of the implementer, the environment in which the program is implemented, and even the target population have a significant influence on overall program effects. Both the Petersilia and Gendreau et al. In particular, the CDC study highlights the importance of training, monitoring, and supporting the staff who implement a program on the local level. An appropriate match between staff and the target population can also contribute to program success, particularly in parent- and family-based programs.

Staff must be committed to the program, experienced with the general strategy being used, knowledgeable about the target community, and capable of managing group dynamics and overcoming resistance. Likewise, as noted by Petersilia, maintaining community involvement is a key element of program success. Finally, linking a youth violence prevention program to existing strategies and support agencies in the community or school can contribute to success Thornton et al.

A similar group of implementation characteristics affects the success of school-based delinquency prevention programs, according to Gottfredson and colleagues In a study of more than 1, schools throughout the United States, they found that extensive, high-quality training and supervision, as well as support for the program from the principal of the school, are key elements of success.

Schools also appear to have greater success with standardized materials and methods, as well as programs that can be incorporated into the regular school program. Consistent with Petersilia's principles, local buy-in and initiation of school-based delinquency prevention are important predictors of program success. Multiple sources of information, including the use of an expert to assist with training and implementation, also help to ensure positive results.

Improvements in any or all of these factors should improve the quality of the overall prevention program -- and its effects on youths. The CDC recommends monitoring the progress and quality of program implementation on a local level. This step can be particularly important when implementing Model programs. The proven effectiveness of these programs in multiple, long-term studies makes them suitable for implementation on a wide, or even national, scale, but even Model programs are successful only when implemented with fidelity.

While it is not always necessary to conduct expensive outcome evaluations of Model programs, given their demonstrated positive effects and ongoing national evaluations, it is critical to monitor the quality of implementation on the local level. Scientific research has established the effectiveness of a number of prevention programs, and evaluation studies are sure to identify more in the near future.

Although the studies cited above offer valuable guidance, more research is needed on how to implement youth violence prevention programs with fidelity on a national scale, how to monitor program fidelity on this scale, and how to increase community and agency capacity for implementing these programs. In addition, large-scale program dissemination will affect the overall benefits of individual youth violence prevention programs. Addressing these issues will require a major investment of time and resources, but it is the essential next step in the continuing effort to find effective solutions to the problem of youth violence.

View in own window. In multiple clinical trials, FFT achieved significant reductions in the proportion of youths who reoffended 60 percent of treated youths were arrested after the program versus 93 percent of controls in one study and 11 percent versus 67 percent in another and the frequency of offending up to 2. Diffusion effects on the siblings of target youths have also been observed, with significantly fewer siblings of FFT youths than control youths having juvenile court records 2.

Developmental Research and Programs, Inc. A research guide to what works. Less hype, more help: Reducing juvenile crime, what works -- and what doesn't. American Youth Policy Forum. A randomized evaluation of Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care compared to group care in boys only demonstrated the following results at a month follow-up: Treated boys spent significantly more days in their placements, were less likely to run away from their placements, and spent twice as many days living with their families or relatives.

One year after leaving treatment, treated boys had significantly larger decreases in arrest rates than controls, had significantly fewer arrests overall, and were significantly more likely not to have been arrested at all during follow-up. Treated boys also reported significantly fewer criminal activities general delinquency, index offenses, and felony assaults. In prior evaluations that included both boys and girls, Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care improved rates of program completion, reduced rates of incarceration and number of days incarcerated during the first year after treatment, and resulted in a faster drop in rates of problem behavior for seriously impaired youths.

Multidimensional treatment foster care. Comparison of two community alternatives to incarceration for chronic juvenile offenders.

Youth Violence: A Report of the Surgeon General.

Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 6, Family management and deviant peer association as mediators of the impact of treatment condition on youth antisocial behavior. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 5, Community-based treatment for adjudicated delinquents: Residential Treatment for Children and Youth. This program has been evaluated in multiple, well-designed clinical trials. Studies conducted in Memphis, Tennessee, and South Carolina among seriously delinquent youths show that participation in MST can have significant positive effects on behavior problems including conduct problems, anxiety-withdrawal, immaturity, and socialized aggression , family relations, and self-reported offenses immediately after treatment.

In Columbia, Missouri, MST improved family relations and arrest rates, including arrests for violent and substance-related crimes, and demonstrated a dose-response effect, with program completers demonstrating significantly more benefits than dropouts. Best practices of youth violence prevention: A sourcebook for community action. Prenatal and Infancy Home Visitation by Nurses has demonstrated effectiveness in both white and African American families in rural and urban settings.

Does exposure to violent movies or video games make kids more aggressive?

A year follow-up of low-income, teenage mothers in whom this intervention was implemented in Elmira, New York, showed a 79 percent reduction in reports of child abuse and neglect, a 31 percent drop in subsequent births, a 44 percent decline in maternal behavioral problems, a 9 percent decline in maternal arrests, a 56 percent decrease in running away by children, and reductions of 56 percent in arrests of children and alcohol consumption by children. The program also increased the average spacing between children by more than 2 years.

Preliminary results of a replication in Memphis, Tennessee, demonstrated positive effects on parental caregiving and childhood injuries and reductions in dysfunctional caregiving, including child abuse and neglect. Recent reanalysis of the year follow-up in Elmira showed that the program's effects on child abuse and neglect were significantly diminished in families that reported high rates of domestic violence more than 28 incidents since the birth of the study child. A new replication of the program in Denver has taken this limitation into account, adding elements on partner communication and assessment and referral for domestic violence.

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Prenatal and infancy home visitation by nurses. Guide for implementing the comprehensive strategy for serious, violent, and chronic juvenile offenders. Evaluations of the Seattle Social Development Project demonstrate reductions at the end of grade 2 in aggression, antisocial and externalizing behaviors, and self-destructive behaviors in children who participated in the program during the 1st and 2nd grades.

Other benefits of the program include lower rates of alcohol and delinquency initiation, improvements in family management practices and parent-child relationships, greater attachment and commitment to school, and less involvement with antisocial peers. Follow-up at age 18 shows that the Seattle Social Development Project significantly improves long-term attachment and commitment to school and school achievement and reduces rates of self-reported violent acts and heavy alcohol use. Replications of this program have confirmed its benefits in both general and high-risk populations of youths.

Raising healthy children through enhancing social development in elementary school: Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence. CSPV blueprints promising fact sheet: Seattle Social Development Project. Preventing adolescent health-risk behaviors by strengthening protection during childhood. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. The Seattle Social Development Project: Effects of the first four years on protective factors and problem behaviors. Interventions from birth through adolescence. Changing teacher practices in mainstream classrooms to improve bonding and behavior of low achievers.

American Educational Research Journal, 25, Reducing early childhood aggression: Results of a primary prevention program. Preventing school failure, drug use, and delinquency among low-income children: Long-term intervention in elementary schools. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 65, What works, what doesn't, what's promising. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs. More than a dozen studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of LST. On average, the program reduces tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use by 50 to 75 percent.

Long-term follow-up of students 6 years after participation in the intervention demonstrates that LST also reduces polydrug use by 66 percent, reduces pack-a-day cigarette smoking by 25 percent, and decreases the use of inhalants, narcotics, and hallucinogens. Results of the Kansas City study showed that the Midwestern Prevention Project significantly reduces the increase in drug use that occurs in middle school.

Specifically, cigarette, alcohol, and marijuana use were 5 percent, 2 percent, and 0 percent lower, respectively, in the Midwestern Prevention Project group at 6 months; 8 percent, 4 percent, and 3 percent lower after 1 year; and 9 percent, 2 percent, and 3 percent lower after 2 years. At 3 years, significant program effects on tobacco and marijuana use, but not alcohol use, remained. Based on early results of this program, a replication in Indianapolis Project I-STAR modified the Midwestern Prevention Project intervention by adding two sessions on alcohol use to the school curriculum, introducing a parent-training component a year earlier than in the initial study, adding a pretraining orientation for parent committee members, shortening the time between the various program components, and changing the community organization structure.

With proper planning, you can make sure your child gets plenty of playtime activity Call the Poisons Information Centre on 13 11 26 immediately if you suspect your child has been poisoned or given the wrong medicine or the wrong dose of medicine As they grow and develop, and with the help of adults, children become increasingly aware of how they can manage their own safety, and become safer road users Toddlers are most at risk of drowning because they are mobile and curious but don't understand the danger of water Asbestos fibres breathed into the lungs can cause a range of health problems including lung cancer and mesothelioma Learn how to safely store and dispose of household chemicals, and how to respond when a person is poisoned If you service your gas heater regularly and use it correctly, it will be safe and economical to use Injuries associated with ladder falls have been steadily increasing in Australia, especially among men aged 60 years and older doing work in and around the home Paul was sanding the exterior of his house when he overreached and fell more than two metres from his ladder Falls are a major cause of injury for older people.

Find out how you can prevent falls around your home If you use pesticides to control pests around the house, make sure you use as little as possible Don't advertise a party via SMS or the internet to limit the risk of gate-crashers and violent situations Heat kills more Australians than any natural disaster. Find out how you can treat and prevent heat-related illness Heatstroke is a life-threatening emergency that can be avoided by following simple prevention measures The early responses to hypothermia will be moving around, seeking shelter, hair standing on end goosebumps and shivering Choose a route that is appropriate for your age and fitness level.

Warm up and cool down with a slow, gentle pace to ease in and out of your exercise session Drinking untreated water, such as creek water, bore water and sometimes even rainwater can lead to illnesses including gastroenteritis Motor vehicle crashes continue to be one of the biggest killers and causes of injury in Victoria Safe driving is up to every individual on the road. You can be a safe driver by being alert and ready to take action at any time You can reduce your risk of being mugged or robbed while travelling by taking a few simple precautions When returning to a flood-affected area, remember that wild animals, including rats, mice, snakes or spiders, may be trapped in your home, shed or garden When returning to your home after a flood, take precautions to reduce the possibility of injury, illness or disease Houses, sheds and other buildings or structures burnt in a bushfire can leave potential health hazards Bushfire smoke can reduce air quality in rural and urban areas, and may affect people's health Planned burns are an important part of reducing the risk of bushfires Children can be affected by information regarding bushfire risk and they may become concerned about issues of safety.

Talking to children openly in a way that suits their age, while also involving Urban flash flooding can happen quickly and without warning. Heavy rain causes runoff to collect in dips, car parks and roads, and there is a risk of contamination, injury and disease When asbestos fibres become airborne, people working with asbestos may inhale particles which remain in their lungs Low-level exposure to cadmium over a long period of time may cause health effects because cadmium can accumulate in the body Using a computer can contribute to problems of the muscles and joints, eyestrain and overuse injuries of the arms, wrists and hands A clash of personalities at work is bad for business, because it can affect productivity and increase absenteeism Stress responses can develop over time after trauma, and support may be required by some workers or groups Dangerous goods are objects or substances that are potentially harmful to people or the environment, such as explosives or chemicals A person can be injured when handling objects in a variety of ways including pulling, pushing, holding or restraining Occupational overuse syndrome, also known as RSI, is caused by repetitive movements or awkward postures Sprayed chemicals can drift over neighbouring properties or water sources, and can affect human health, animals or the environment To reduce risks on the farm, use hazardous chemicals according to manufacturer guidelines or replace them with less dangerous options Any confined space on a farm can be dangerous and the threat may not be apparent until it's too late Any animal-handling practices can increase the risk of injury to farmers, farm workers and the animal Farm workers often experience muscle and ligament strain, but good manual handling techniques and safe work habits can prevent most injuries Most injuries and deaths involving quad bikes all-terrain vehicles are caused by the bike rolling over the rider Handling sheep can cause manual injuries and badly designed shearing sheds can present a range of hazards A Healthy Start to School — a guide for parents of children in their foundation year of school Asthma cannot be cured, but with good management people with asthma can lead normal, active lives This page has been produced in consultation with and approved by: Royal Children's Hospital - Safety Centre.

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Child safety and injury prevention Share show more. Always dial triple zero in an emergency Children and babies often need different emergency treatment than adults, so take a paediatric first aid course to keep your skills up to date. Keep your child under close supervision. You can reduce the risk of injuries by making a few practical changes to your home.

You can, however, dramatically reduce the risk of injuries by making a few changes to your home and keeping your child under constant supervision. All parents and carers should ensure they have current training in paediatric child first aid. Plan to do a CPR cardiopulmonary resuscitation refresher course once a year; first aid practices sometimes change and there is a tendency to forget when skills are not used regularly.

Never hesitate to call an ambulance if your child is severely injured, has collapsed, stopped breathing, is fitting or is suffering an anaphylactic reaction. Throughout Australia, the emergency number to ring is triple zero Child safety to prevent drowning Drowning is one of the leading causes of unintentional injury death for children under five years of age.

One and two year olds are most at risk as they are more mobile than infants, but are still developing motor skills and cannot judge hazards. The majority of toddler drowning deaths in Victoria in the last decade — occurred in home pools 34 per cent , bathtubs 29 per cent , dams 11 per cent and creeks 9 per cent. For every toddler who drowns, there are ten non-fatal drowning or immersion incidents requiring hospital treatment. All Australian swimming pools are required by law to be fenced. Safety measures to prevent drowning include: Never leave your child alone in the bath — children can drown quickly and silently in a few centimetres of water.

Be prepared with everything you need for bathing your child before entering the bathroom. Empty water from the baths buckets and wading pools immediately after use, and close the bathroom door when it is not in use. At the beach, teach children to swim between the flags. It is illegal for pools and spas not to be fenced off. Remove any objects which can be used to climb over the fence. At the public swimming pool, always watch them. Remember, lifeguards are not babysitters. Secure wire mesh of an appropriate rigid gauge over fishponds, aquariums, etc.

Teach your child to swim. Lessons are recommended from four years of age. Have a resuscitation chart by the phone and on the pool fence. Parents and caregivers should do a first aid course, and learn infant and child cardiopulmonary resuscitation CPR in case of an emergency. Child safety to prevent falls Falling is the most common cause of injury for children of all ages. The seriousness of an injury depends on the height the child falls from, the surface the child falls onto and what the child may hit as they fall.

A standing and toddling baby has frequent minor falls. Remove tripping hazards — create a clear area for play by removing tripping hazards from the floor, such as toys, rugs and electrical cords. Pad sharp corners of benches and tables or remove them from the play area. Never carry your baby around in a bouncinette or rocker chair. Put bouncinettes on the floor, not on a table or high surface. Change tables should have ends and sides that are raised at least mm to prevent your baby from falling.

Keep one hand on your baby at all times. Well, it really depends on the kid. But kid with mental illness or impulsivity should not play these games at all. That will just do more harm to them. They actually need a lot of treatment instead. That is just a myth. IT is related tell your dad that violent games make you violent Pokemon go is not violent.

I think that it can be true with young children. They are imprssionable and many, impulsive. In Florida their was a school shooting, my step dad said that what motivated the kid was violent games and he said he doesn't want us playing games anymore. But I research this and I found out that they don't now what motivated the kid to act this way, but the kid seemed to have some fascination with guns and he's had trouble with every teacher he's had, plus the fact that his mother died in November.

All I'm saying is that vido games don't make you violent your environment does the people you hang around. So to this I say yes to video games. Reply if you agree. I believe violent media is ok for kids like me who know: That's like saying, "Oh, I watched the news and saw a bunch of stories about the corner. Time to find some dead people and cut them open! It just doesn't happen. Video games, movies, books, none of that should make your child violent unless they already have violent tendencies.

Yes, but only if the kid is really impulsive. Most normal kids who are taught that you should never act like this in real life, would probably be just fine. Do not expose an impulsive kid, to a lot of violent media. Young kids should only view media with reasonable and healthy behavior only. Video Games are far from exclusive to the teen audience, the reality is, same way you would think twice about a film, you should do the same for a Video Game.

Although if you let a kid watch horribly violent movies during their entire childhood and they were never exposed to fear, sadness, grief, and upsetting subjects, then yes, your child will become violent. But whose child has never experienced those feelings? Kids dont just go by "Monkey see monkey do" for their entire life. Kids know that hurting others is wrong. Children understand that pain is real and diffuclt. A child who knows they have the capability to hurt someone doesn't just go around punching and stabbing, do they?

The main thing you want your child to aviod is disregard for others. Other than that, if you know your child isn't too disturbed by violent actions, or too undisturbed, you know "violence makes me happy" they should be fine. Just because they see a guy in a game shoot someone doesn't mean they will! I play halo 4 and I don't just punch anybody I see! Go give an esports player a gun and see how far they get with it. A keyboard and a mouse will NOT teach you how to take the safety off a gun or fix it when it jams.

The same thing can happen in any other country. And you don't see mass shootings in those countries. Atleast not on the almost frighteningly frequent basis that it happens in America. This can also be proven through the fact that Japan on average plays more violent video games than every other country in the world and yet the homicide rate is so much lower than that of the US. This is because access to guns in Japan is restricted, not because of violent media.

I think the statement that all people who play violent games or watch violent movies, could suddenly snap and turn into murderers is false.

Promoting Healthy, Nonviolent Children

I do believe that violent media could be a contributing factor to real world violence, but I believe that mental health issues have more to do with real world violence. People often argue that young murderers often played around with guns and violent games, however if you do more research into these people it is rather obvious that all of them suffered from some form of mental illness. I agree with you. If you have someone who is mentally ill they don't need to be playing these game or watching violent movies.

If they are depressed, or showing aggression they don't need to be playing these games or watching violent movies. Sometimes they may have been molested or abused at home. Most people nowadays are to some degree socially awkward. We have our noses stuck into some form of technology we text, call or skype instead of a face to face conversation in real time and real life.

Go outside breath the fresh air, go hiking, skiing, swimming. I think people would feel much better give someone a hug. If you feel someone is being mistreated, talk to him or go tell an adult. Bless you sweet child.. If you gave a kid a shot gun which he or she used in a video game they wouldn't know how to take the safety off or load it. If someones kid does that than the kid was either not mature enough to be playing a violent video game or the parents didn't teach him or her right from wrong.

Now a warning, this isn't an excuse for your child to play god of war. I play it, not very frequently. It gives kids the frightening truth that if a gun were to be used on them, they'd have no chance. Why is that nobody ever talks about movies? Video games are nothing compared to what movies can get away with! Not at all, in fact it gets the aggression out. It always takes away time that they can have the chance to be aggressive and violent towards others and be away from ur control by gaming or watching TV.

Do not listen to these other parents who learn there facts from an article found 10 years ago and live by it, science changes and so does development of children. Violence is a ok. That is of course false if you have a special needs child with say autism of course. They do not have the mental capacity to recognise that is wrong and it may affect them. It depends on the maturity of the kid and the kids parents for decisions. I play gtaV saints row cod3 modern warfare ect. Video Games don't cause violence.

Quite simply, teenagers know the difference between games and reality. Younger kids probably shouldn't be allowed to play games like GTA or Mortal Kombat, but many of them don't understand the themes in these games anyway. It's often only people with psychological or mental issues that can take video games the wrong way, but the actual content in the game is not the cause of this. The Problem is that people often lump a lot of games into the category of "violent".

What it really comes down too is the nature of the violence, how it is being portrayed, and the overall tone of the game itself. Both games are at their base fighting games, games which comes with an inherent degree of violence; however the similarity between the two games on a content basis end there. Super Smash Brothers comes with all the violence of the average loony toon short. Sure you have characters punch, kick, and attack each other in any number of ways, but the important thing to notice is that there is no blood or gore, the most violent thing in the game is a character getting hit with a sword and flying through the air.

Mortal Combat however has an almost macabre obsession with gore, the famous fatalities are as gruesome as they are varied feel free to look them up but be warned the are not for the faint of heart. The important thing to know about buy games for your children violent or otherwise is that there is a wealth of knowledge available on almost every game in the market place. The gaming industry itself has a lot of different outlets for parents or children to learn about a games content before buying.

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