School violence: prevalence and intervention strategies for at-risk adolescents

Adolescence, Summer, 1998 by Kathleen J. Cirillo, B.E. Pruitt, Brian Colwell, Paul M. Kingery, Robert S. Hurley, Danny Ballard

TABLE 1

Age, Gender, and Ethnicity for Experimental and Control Groups

Characteristics                        Experimental       Control
                                          (n = 22)          (n = 21)

Age                14                        6               3
                   15                        6               4
                   16                        6               8
                   17 [greater than]        14               6

Gender             Male                     11              11
                   Female                   11              10

Ethnicity          White                     9              10
                   Black                     7               6
                   Hispanic                  5               5
                   Other                     1               0

Intervention

The experimental group met one evening a week for 10 consecutive weeks, each session lasting 2 hours. All sessions were conducted by the licensed counselor who developed the program. Teaching methods included small and large group discussions, lectures, public speaking and self-disclosure, role-playing, journaling, and group/individual feedback. In addition, 10 adult leaders from the business community served as mentors. They had been recruited through a series of newspaper and radio public service announcements. Mentors served as small-group facilitators and participated in session activities with the students.

During the 10-week program, participants engaged in group and individual problem solving, cognitive restructuring, and social skills training. The intervention focused on enhancing: (1) coping and problem-solving skills; (2) relationships with peers, parents, and other adults; (3) conflict resolution and communication skills, and methods for resisting peer pressure related to drug use and violence; (4) consequential thinking and decision-making abilities; (5) prosocial behaviors, including cooperation with others, self-responsibility, respecting others, and public speaking efficacy, and (6) awareness of feelings of others (empathy).

Data Analyses

Data were analyzed using SPSS. A two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures was used to test for significant differences between the groups on violence avoidance beliefs. Differences between drug/alcohol users and nonusers, students who fight in school and nonfighters, and students who have been threatened in school and those who have not were compared using t tests. Duncan's new multiple range test was used in post hoc analyses. The alpha level was set at p [less than or equal to] .05 for all analyses.

RESULTS

Two-way ANOVA revealed no significant differences between the experimental and control groups in mean scores on violence avoidance beliefs, F(1, 123) = 2.49, p = .12. Differences between pretest, posttest, and follow-up mean scores revealed that both groups experienced a slight decrease in violence avoidance beliefs from pretest to posttest ([M.sub.e] = -.82, [M.sub.c] = -3.72) and a slight increase from posttest to follow-up ([M.sub.e] = 2.64, [M.sub.c] = .53).