Citation

Israel AB, Engstrom DW, Ludlow C, Faulkner M, Marx A, Pacheco M. J. Aggression Maltreat. Trauma 1997; 1(2): 84-97.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1997, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1300/J146v01n02_05

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article presents findings from an evaluative study of a multidisciplinary violence prevention project jointly administered by a family practice clinic and junior high school in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The project team hypothesized that an intervention established on a public health model and aimed at enhancing adolescent self-esteem through cognitive and behavioral strategies would reduce the tendency to engage in violence of participating students. The project untied health care personnel, social workers and legal professionals in an effort to teach students specific cognitive tools for the reduction and avoidance of violent encounters. The experimental results do not reveal Project effectiveness in boosting self-esteem indicators among students, although the Project does seem to have contributed to the control of students' behavioral aggression. Although a clear relationship between self-esteem and violent behavior is not demonstrated by the experimental results, the project study suggests that school based, anti-violence programs based on a public health model can have a positive effect in the reduction of physical and verbal aggression among adolescents.