Aggressive behavior in children and teenagers is a serious problem, and having violent behavior early in life is strongly associated with injury, later criminal conduct and poorer health as an adult.
A Cochrane Systematic Review that draws data from more than fifty different trials shows that delivering programmes in schools that specifically target at-risk pupils, can have real benefits.
Intervention strategies that aim to reduce violent behavior in school children can either address a whole school or class, or alternatively target the children who already have threatening or aggressive behavior – an approach known as 'secondary prevention'.
A team of Cochrane Review Authors assessed the evidence for the effectiveness of school-based secondary prevention programs. They found that interventions designed to improve relationship or social skills appear to be the most beneficial. Interventions designed to teach students not to respond to provocative situations could also produce benefits.
"Among the most useful programs were those that taught children how to get on better with other people. These included teaching skills such as listening, thinking about the feelings of others, working co-operatively, and learning how to be assertive without being aggressive." says lead Review Author Dr Julie Mytton a Public Health Doctor based at the University of the West of England, Bristol, UK.
The programs were equally effective in both older and younger children, and in both boys-only groups and mixed sex groups.
Notes for editors
1. Review Paper: Mytton J. et. al: School-based secondary prevention programmes for preventing violence. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2006, Issue 3. Art. No.: CD004606.
2. The Cochrane Library contains high quality health care information, including Systematic Reviews from The Cochrane Collaboration. These Reviews bring together research on the effects of health care and are considered the gold standard for determining the relative effectiveness of different interventions. The Cochrane Collaboration (http://www.cochrane.org) is a UK registered international charity and the world's leading producer of systematic Reviews. It has been demonstrated that Cochrane Systematic Reviews are of comparable or better quality and are updated more often than the Reviews published in print journalsª.
3. The Cochrane Library can be accessed at http://www.thecochranelibrary.com. Guest users may access abstracts for all Reviews in the database, and members of the media may request full access to the contents of the Library. For further information, see contact details below.
4. A number of countries have national provisions by which some or all of their residents are able to access The Cochrane Library for free. These include:
Australia (www.nicsl.com.au/Cochrane)
New Zealand (http://www.moh.govt.nz/cochranelibrary or http://www.nzgg.org.nz/ or http://www.cochrane.org.nz/)
Denmark (www.vifab.dk or www.sundhedsportalen.dk or www.deff.dk or www.cochrane.dk)
England (www.nelh.nhs.uk/cochrane.asp)
Finland (www.terveysportti.fi)
Ireland (All residents within the Island of Ireland can access The Cochrane Library for free, thanks to funding for a national provision by The Health Research Board in Dublin and The Research and Development Office in Belfast)
Norway (www.cochrane.no)
Scotland (http://www.nes.scot.nhs.uk/)
Spain (http://www.update-software.com/Clibplus/ClibPlus.asp)
South Africa http://www.sahealthinfo.org/evidence/databases.htm)
Sweden (www.sbu.se)
Wales (All residents of Wales with access to the Internet can access The Cochrane Library for free, thanks to funding provided by The Welsh Assembly Government)
The Canadian Province of Saskatchewan www.thecochranelibrary.com)
The US State of Wyoming (www.thecochranelibrary.com)
There are also several programmes, such as the Health InterNetwork Access to Research Initiative (HINARI) that provide access in developing countries. To find out whether your country is included in any of these programmes/provisions, or to learn how to get access if you don't already have it, please visit: http://www.thecochranelibrary.com.
If you would like to see a full list of Reviews published in the new issue of The Cochrane Library, or would like to request full access to the contents of The Library, please contact Polly Young, tel: +44 (0)1243 770633, Email: pyoung@wiley.co.uk
ª Jadad AR, Cook DJ, Jones A, Klassen TP, Tugwell P, Moher M, et al. Methodology and reports of systematic Reviews and meta-analysies: a comparison of Cochrane Reviews with articles published in paper-based journal.
About Wiley InterScience
Introduced in 1997 and launched commercially in January 1999, Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) is a leading international resource for quality content promoting discovery across the spectrum of scientific, technical, medical and professional endeavors. In nearly a decade, Wiley InterScience has built its reputation by regularly adding new content and functionality; offering sophisticated search and navigation capabilities; and providing robust online manuscript submission and management tools.
Today Wiley InterScience features must-have content from more than 2,500 journals, books, reference works, databases, laboratory manuals and the Cochrane Library, which is the world's best-known resource for evidence-based medicine. More than half of Wiley's journals on Wiley InterScience are digitized back to Volume 1, Issue 1 as part of the development of the Wiley InterScience backfile collection. When the collection is completed in 2007, in conjunction with Wiley's Bicentennial, Wiley InterScience will be one of the largest archives of its kind with content dating back to 1799 and over 1.5 million articles of scientific and scholarly research.
About John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Founded in 1807, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., provides must-have content and services to customers worldwide. Our core businesses include scientific, technical, and medical journals, encyclopedias, books, and online products and services; professional and consumer books and subscription services; and educational materials for undergraduate and graduate students and lifelong learners. Wiley has publishing, marketing, and distribution centers in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, and Australia. The company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbols JWa and JWb. Wiley's Internet site can be accessed at http://www.wiley.com.