|
Abstract
|
This supplemental issue on the Youth Violence Prevention Centers contributed to this journal by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention emphasizes the public health impacts of youth violence. Importantly and in a timely fashion, it also documents some of the responses that have been and continue to be made to this major public health issue.
Youth violence is exacerbated by contextual factors but is by no means limited to underprivileged communities. It is pervasive, affecting all communities in one form or another at different levels of intensity and severity. It evolves over time and is influenced by ecological factors such as societal stresses caused by ideological, economic, or public health threats. Young people may be victims of, witnesses to, or perpetrators of violence or a mix thereof. Violence is triggered by personal history, lack of choices and opportunities, substance use or trafficking, racism, homophobia, genderism, and other forms of discrimination.1 In 2017, Salas-Wright et al. noted that, even though the incidence of fighting and violence among young people in the United States declined from 2002 to 2014, the pattern of disparities in youth involvement in these violent behaviors and the rate of homicides remained stable--consistently the highest among non-Hispanic African American youths, followed by Hispanic youths, and then non-Hispanic White youths.2 The health, social, and economic impacts of COVID-19 and of the 2020 through 2021 restrictive measures aimed at bringing the pandemic under control on the incidence of youth violence and on its prevention and control initiatives have yet to be assessed at a national level.
AJPH alone has published more than 60 articles and editorials on the topic since the year 2000. Yet violence among youths (i.e., individuals aged 10-24 years) persists. Youths are affected by multiple forms of violence: physical and emotional abuse or maltreatment in childhood; bullying, peer victimization, and cyberbullying in older youths; gender-based violence (including sexual abuse); use of firearms; and homicide and self-inflicted harm, including suicide.
It is of note that the American Public Health Association (APHA) has provided several policy statements emphasizing the need for building public health infrastructure for youth violence prevention. APHA Policy 2009143 was built on and advanced the APHA's existing policies for the prevention of firearm violence (Policy 2001184) and violence research (Policy 99265) as well as for health education and promotion (Policy 200496), child abuse prevention (Policy 8614(PP)7), and injury and violence prevention and control (Policy 99278). Policy 200914 reiterated APHA's commitment to promote healthy youth behaviors that could, if coupled with the right social and environmental interventions, prevent youth violence (Policy 2000279) and encourage healthy adolescent behaviors. The policy calls for congressional and state legislation and funding for comprehensive and integrated programs, such as the Safe Schools/Healthy Schools Initiative, community schools with after-school programs, health education programs, family resource centers, collaborative research on the impact of community schools, and age-appropriate incarceration.3
Given that violence among youths is a complex, multifactorial phenomenon, reducing its occurrence and severity requires interventions targeting multiple risk factors and vulnerabilities that may holistically improve the lives of children and youths...
Language: en |