Aimed at providing a foundation for increasing the quantity and quality of physical and mental health care for children, this book describes the latest research and theories about family, school, and community prevention and health-promotion programs to improve the health status of children during the next decade. This impressive group of researchers examine such pertinent questions as: + Why do problem behaviors occur together (like substance abuse, delinquency, and school failure)? And, to what extent can common strategies prevent each of these difficulties? + Are we effectively using what we know to prevent drug use among children? + What strategies are the most promising for preventing unwanted pregnancy and AIDS? + Does violent/aggressive behavior result from unmet developmental needs? + What programs have been most effective in preventing depression and suicide in young people? + Are there reliable prevention strategies that can reproduce the risk of unintentional injury among children? This thought-provoking book identifies innovative and empirically based preventive and health-promotion strategies that schools and communities may implement to enhance childrenAEs social, emotional, and physical wellness and thus will be interest to professionals and practitioners in the fields of developmental psychology, clinical psychology, family studies, social work, counseling, human services, nursing, and public health.

The first edition of this book was also the first volume in the Issues in Children's and Families' Lives book series. Like the others in the series, this volume is devoted to issues affecting children and their families. The decision to devote the first volume to family violence was made because it was recognized that violence remains one of the major factors undermining the quality of family life, especially for women and children. It can be acknowledged that there has been some progress in the areas of social policy and clinical practice and yet the number of individuals and families affected by violence is still at an alarming level. The chapters in this second edition testify to the ongoing expansion of knowledge in the field of family and intimate violence. They attempt to summarize some of the best of current scholarship conducted by family violence researchers. Several chapters address issues of prevention, treatment, and intervention services. The contributors are all leaders in the field and reflect a variety of disciplines and different approaches. The diverse perspectives brought to bear on the subject by professionals from a range of disciplines add to the richness of this volume.

It is difficult to understand how society could have failed to recognize that children in abusive situations often live in families in which alcohol and other drugs are abused. Aimed at fostering more discussion between practitioners and scholars, this book explores unified approaches for prevention of and treatment for children and their parents who find themselves in these circumstances. The multidisciplinary cast of contributors probes such topics as the history of abusive behavior and intoxication using literary examples to illustrate key points; the research literature on drug-exposed children in the child welfare system and the interventions that facilitate their optimum development; the legislative and policy contexts in which potential collaborations between the fields of substance abuse and child welfare are being developed or abandoned; the damaging effects that parental and family substance abuse add to a host of child welfare problems; the need for clinicians to develop a sound therapeutic foundation to enhance their effectiveness with clients; and the search for solutions within drug-abuse treatment systems to develop services that improve the quality of life for children living with a drug-dependent parent. In addition, many contributors use writing devices to enhance comprehension of the issues. For example, one contributor uses a metaphor to examine what is important in the fields of substance abuse and child welfare, how we would begin to link them, what the stresses on this bridge would be, and why anyone would want to cross it. And, another contributor uses examples of successful collaborative efforts to examine the institutional, professional, and interpersonal barriers to collaboration between the fields of child welfare and substance abuse as well as the principles for overcoming these barriers. The book concludes with a provocative chapter that reminds us that not all substance abusers are child abusers. This book will help readers identify promising approaches to improve our nation?s health and the gaps that need to be bridged in order for meaningful improvement to occur.

A continuing issue of concern to society, in particular those charged with helping others, is the prevalence of violence reported for the African-American community. This volume in the Issues in Childrena (TM)s and Familiesa (TM) Lives series examines the psychological and sociological factors accounting for this violence from an African-American perspective. Further, it critically examines the current evidence based research as it applies to African-Americans. Topics addressed in this volume include child abuse, spousal abuse, domestic partner abuse, grandparents as parents, the church and African-Americans, spirituality, prevention and evaluation issues.

Interpersonal Violence in the African American Community: Evidence-Based Prevention and Treatment Practices provides a solid foundation for understanding violence within the African-American community from the perspective of African Americans as well as much-needed information on the development of evidence-based practices. This volume challenges existing stereotypes of African Americans and offers concrete, state-of-the-art advice on approaches that are, or might be, effective with African-American populations. Psychologist and allied professionals working in protective services, domestic violence shelters, and schools will find the booka (TM)s contents helpful to their practices. In addition to psychologists, the book is targeted to social workers, marriage and family therapists and other helping professionals working with the African-American community.

Gathering together scholars from across the social sciences, Black Family Violence is one of the first books to chart new courses for research, while simultaneously serving as a fundamental introduction to family relationship issues in the study of black family life.

This book provides a solid foundation for understanding violence within the African-American community from the perspective of African Americans. It challenges existing stereotypes of African Americans and offers concrete advice on approaches that are, or might be, effective with African-American populations. The content is driven by real-world, evidence-based practices based on sound scientific foundations.

Currently, only about 50% of American youths live in traditional two-parent, first-marriage families. This fact, combined with often bleak economic and social realities, creates the backdrop of interactions between families, children, and schools are examined in this probing volume. Answering a need for evaluative research in this area of increasing public interest, the contributors build a model for evaluation, focusing on the dynamics of family-school connections. How is school achievement influenced by parent-child interactions and the family environment? How do school, family, community, and peer-group connections affect early adolescents? What is the family's role in the success of learning-disabled youth or in school truancy? What effect does parental discord and divorce have on a child's learning? These questions, as well as proposals for intervention and prevention, create the crux of this book designed to inform and motivate readers to respond to one of our country's most fundamental social concerns. Vital reading for everyone who wants to better understand child-school-community interaction, this book especially warrants reading by students, researchers, and other professionals in developmental psychology, family studies, psychology, and social work. "The book should be read by professionals who have contact with schools as part of their brief; by those educators who train the new generation of social workers, psychologists, and teachers; and by researchers who seek to understand the tapestry of social influences on children's development. The book is worth buying alone for the fruits of great scholarship evident in the extensive lists of up-to-date references at the end of each chapter, and in a superb appendix that offers a tour de force of a 19-page bibliography on the topic." --Child and Family Social Work

What factors contribute to family violence and how can they be identified early so that future violence can be prevented? Addressing these and related issues, the papers in this volume are a testimony to the rapid expansion of research, theory and practice in the family violence field.

Leading researchers and clinicians explore the roots of family violence, including both physical and sexual abuse, and examine assessment, treatment and prevention. Topics addressed include whether children or the elderly are at greater risk, and the role of substance abuse in family violence.

The first edition of this book was also the first volume in the Issues in Children?s and Families? Lives book series. Like the others in the series, this volume is devoted to issues affecting children and their families. The decision to devote the first volume to family violence was made because it was recognized that violence remains one of the major factors undermining the quality of family life, especially for women and children. It can be acknowledged that there has been some progress in the areas of social policy and clinical practice and yet the number of individuals and families affected by violence is still at an alarming level. The chapters in this second edition testify to the ongoing expansion of knowledge in the field of family and intimate violence. They attempt to summarize some of the best of current scholarship conducted by family violence researchers. Several chapters address issues of prevention, treatment, and intervention services. The contributors are all leaders in the field and reflect a variety of disciplines and different approaches. The diverse perspectives brought to bear on the subject by professionals from a range of disciplines add to the richness of this volume.

It is difficult to understand how society could have failed to recognize that children in abusive situations often live in families in which alcohol and other drugs are abused. Aimed at fostering more discussion between practitioners and scholars, this book explores unified approaches for prevention of and treatment for children and their parents who find themselves in these circumstances. The multidisciplinary cast of contributors probes such topics as the history of abusive behavior and intoxication using literary examples to illustrate key points; the research literature on drug-exposed children in the child welfare system and the interventions that facilitate their optimum development; the legislative and policy contexts in which potential collaborations between the fields of substance abuse and child welfare are being developed or abandoned; the damaging effects that parental and family substance abuse add to a host of child welfare problems; the need for clinicians to develop a sound therapeutic foundation to enhance their effectiveness with clients; and the search for solutions within drug-abuse treatment systems to develop services that improve the quality of life for children living with a drug-dependent parent. In addition, many contributors use writing devices to enhance comprehension of the issues. For example, one contributor uses a metaphor to examine what is important in the fields of substance abuse and child welfare, how we would begin to link them, what the stresses on this bridge would be, and why anyone would want to cross it. And, another contributor uses examples of successful collaborative efforts to examine the institutional, professional, and interpersonal barriers to collaboration between the fields of child welfare and substance abuse as well as the principles for overcoming these barriers. The book concludes with a provocative chapter that reminds us that not all substance abusers are child abusers. This book will help readers identify promising approaches to improve our nation?s health and the gaps that need to be bridged in order for meaningful improvement to occur.

Aimed at providing a foundation for increasing the quantity and quality of physical and mental health care for children, this book describes the latest research and theories about family, school, and community prevention and health-promotion programs to improve the health status of children during the next decade. This impressive group of researchers examine such pertinent questions as: + Why do problem behaviors occur together (like substance abuse, delinquency, and school failure)? And, to what extent can common strategies prevent each of these difficulties? + Are we effectively using what we know to prevent drug use among children? + What strategies are the most promising for preventing unwanted pregnancy and AIDS? + Does violent/aggressive behavior result from unmet developmental needs? + What programs have been most effective in preventing depression and suicide in young people? + Are there reliable prevention strategies that can reproduce the risk of unintentional injury among children? This thought-provoking book identifies innovative and empirically based preventive and health-promotion strategies that schools and communities may implement to enhance childrenAEs social, emotional, and physical wellness and thus will be interest to professionals and practitioners in the fields of developmental psychology, clinical psychology, family studies, social work, counseling, human services, nursing, and public health.

TodayAEs young people face greater risks to their current and future health and social development as shown by the involvement of younger and younger children in smoking, drinking, gang membership, and acts of violence. Emphasizing developmentally and contextually appropriate prevention service delivery models, the authors of this volume identify state-of-the-art, empirically based strategies to strengthen the environments in which children develop. Since programs with strong conceptualization, design, and implementation have the potential to enhance childrenAEs social, emotional, and physical wellness, the authors first review ways to strengthen the family, child-care systems, early childhood education, school-based health and mental health services, and community-based mental health programming. They next explore the importance of theory-guided evaluation to clarify the process of program implementation as well as highlighting strategies for disseminating programs effectively. Throughout the chapters, the authors emphasize three themes: One, that scientists, practitioners, and policy makers must collaborate to diversify the portfolio of coordinated family-, school-, and community-based prevention services. Second, that rigorous evaluations of prevention programs are critical to document their efficacy and to identify ways to improve their quality. And, three, that well-designed prevention programs must be effectively conducted in order to insure implementation quality. This important new volume will be invaluable to professionals and practitioners in the fields of developmental psychology, clinical psychology, family studies, social work, counseling, human services, nursing, and public health.

"The editors have assembled an outstanding group of authors knowledgeable and experienced in the causes and prevention of violence. The volume is an excellent blend of history, theory, applications, and training programs dealing with violence. I learned important facts about epidemiology, resilience, and public health models. There are also interesting special chapters on both perpetrators and on victims (especially women and girls). This book is a gold mine of useful references." --George W. Albee, Past President, American Psychological Association "Unfortunately, violence permeates every aspect of American life. . . . It's on our streets, in our schools, and even in our homes. Preventing Violence in America provides an important service by creating a greater public awareness and understanding of this challenge. This book helps in our fight against crime and violence and in reaching our ultimate goal of creating a peaceful society for America's families." --Chris Dodd, U.S. Senator (CT) and Chair, Senate Committee on Children, Family, Drugs & Alcoholism "The editors have assembled an outstanding book that combines the history, theory, applications, and training for dealing with violence in our society. They quickly dispel the common belief that, in times past, the actual conditions and social climate were better than they are today. . . . This book promotes an understanding of the social context of violent behavior, whether occurring within the family or larger community, and points out connections between violence occurring within the home and in the community. . . . I was most impressed by the chapter written by Martin Bloom, which goes into great detail about the factors that contribute to the development of a resilient person--one who can turn away from violence, in spite of living in a negative environment. . . . This book offers as complete a discussion of violence as I've seen. It should be required reading for anyone who is seriously interested in trying to reduce the incidence of violence in our society." --Joseph M. Rimmer in Science Books & Films Why are people hurting, maiming, and killing one another in our society? What can be done to address the problem of violence in the United States? Preventing Violence in America confronts violence head-on by exploring these questions and examining current strategies for prevention. A talented group of scholars and practitioners joins up to review the history and theoretical explanations of violence and then tackles issues related to the disproportionate presence of violence within minority populations, the concept of psychological resiliency, how spirituality may serve as a protective factor, and the role of TV in promoting violence. The volume also analyzes prevention and intervention strategies in public health, among gangs in the High-Risk Youth program, and the implementation of the Second Step curriculum for use in school systems. Preventing Violence in America offers the most current information in violence prevention to professionals in social work and crime reduction as well as researchers and students in victimology, family studies, developmental psychology, and sociology.

Currently, only about 50% of American youths live in traditional two-parent, first-marriage families. This fact, combined with often bleak economic and social realities, creates the backdrop of interactions between families, children, and schools are examined in this probing volume. Answering a need for evaluative research in this area of increasing public interest, the contributors build a model for evaluation, focusing on the dynamics of family-school connections. How is school achievement influenced by parent-child interactions and the family environment? How do school, family, community, and peer-group connections affect early adolescents? What is the family's role in the success of learning-disabled youth or in school truancy? What effect does parental discord and divorce have on a child's learning? These questions, as well as proposals for intervention and prevention, create the crux of this book designed to inform and motivate readers to respond to one of our country's most fundamental social concerns. Vital reading for everyone who wants to better understand child-school-community interaction, this book especially warrants reading by students, researchers, and other professionals in developmental psychology, family studies, psychology, and social work. "The book should be read by professionals who have contact with schools as part of their brief; by those educators who train the new generation of social workers, psychologists, and teachers; and by researchers who seek to understand the tapestry of social influences on children's development. The book is worth buying alone for the fruits of great scholarship evident in the extensive lists of up-to-date references at the end of each chapter, and in a superb appendix that offers a tour de force of a 19-page bibliography on the topic." --Child and Family Social Work

With a focus on how to improve the effectiveness and cultural competence of clinical services and research, this authoritative volume synthesizes current knowledge on both the physical and psychological health of African Americans today. In chapters that follow a consistent format for easy reference, leading scholars from a broad range of disciplines review risk and protective factors for specific health conditions and identify what works, what doesn't work, and what might work (i.e., practices requiring further research) in clinical practice with African Americans. Historical, sociocultural, and economic factors that affect the quality and utilization of health care services in African American communities are examined in depth. Evidence-based ways to draw on individual, family, and community strengths in prevention and treatment are highlighted throughout. Winner--American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year Award