New Guide Aimed at Preventing Youth Violence

The rash of school shootings in recent years has heightened fears about the increasing amount of violence in the lives of America's youth and provided the impetus for a unique partnership aimed at dealing with this problem. The American Psychological Association (APA) and MTV: Music Television have teamed to provide valuable information to the nation's youth about how to identify potentially violent behavior and how to get help before anyone is harmed.

APA and MTV hope that by educating youth about the common precursors to violent behavior and how to seek help when problems arise, the disturbing trends that exist in today's schools can be reversed. Victims of violence in America today are most likely to be between the ages of 12 and 24 and, according to a recent APA/Penn, Schoen & Berland poll, 71% of youth say they want to learn the violence warning signs and 40% have been concerned about a potentially violent classmate.

"Violence is a learned behavior, and like any learned behavior, it can be changed," says Russ Newman, Ph.D., J.D., APA Executive Director for Professional Practice. "In order to do that, though, it is important to recognize the warning signs of violence and to get help before a violent act occurs."

As part of their efforts, APA and MTV have developed a Warning Signs guide to help young people recognize when a classmate or friend might be a potential danger to themselves or others. Examples of indicators in the Warning Signs guide include:

• losing temper on a daily basis
• significant vandalism or property damage
• increase in use of drugs or alcohol
• increase in risk-taking behavior
• enjoyment in hurting animals
• frequent physical fighting
• threatening to hurt others

The guide also provides suggestions for identifying and controlling the thoughts and feelings that may lead to violence.

Violence can be a way people express pent-up feelings of anger or frustration or be used as a tool to control others. But because there is no single cause of violent behavior, there is no single solution, experts say.

"When you recognize the warning signs of violence in someone else, it is important to do something about it by getting help," Newman says. "Hoping that someone else will handle it is not a solution - the risk for violent behavior won't go away by itself."

To receive a free copy of the APA/MTV Warning Signs guide, call toll-free 800.268.0078.

Note to editors: May is National Mental Health Awareness Month