School violence: prevalence and intervention strategies for at-risk adolescents
Cirillo, K.J.; Pruitt, B.E.; Colwell, B.; Kingery, P.M.; Hurley, R.S.; Ballard, D.
Adolescence 33(130): 319-330
1998
ISSN/ISBN: 0001-8449 PMID: 9706319 Document Number: 495985
This study investigated the effects of social-cognitive group intervention on violence avoidance beliefs among at-risk adolescents. Fifty high school students were randomly assigned to an experimental or a control group. The experimental group participated in ten, 2-hour weekly sessions of a social-cognitive intervention. Both groups were administered a questionnaire before, immediately following, and 3 months after the intervention. Findings showed that the social-cognitive intervention did not result in significant differences between the groups on violence avoidance beliefs at posttest or follow-up. In addition, drug/alcohol users and nonusers, fighters and nonfighters, and students threatened at school and those not threatened were compared. Students who used drugs/alcohol and fought in school had significantly lower scores (i.e., a greater belief in using violence as a coping technique) than did students who did not engage in those behaviors.