Contact Site Map Home APA Online Public Policy Home Public Policy Home
PPO Masthead
Science Policy Public Interest Policy Education Policy News Take Action Fellowships About PPO

February 1999

Preventing Violence: The Importance of Early Intervention with Very Young Children

The American Psychological Association (APA) supports initiatives to address violence prevention with very young children (0-5 years). These early years are the time at which children are most vulnerable for learning aggression as a means of social interaction. Programs are needed that employ multiple strategies for providing supportive environments, developing pro-social skills, and accommodating ethnic, cultural, and economic diversity.

  • Violence is a major social and health problem that affects large numbers of children. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, juveniles accounted for 17% of all violent crime arrests in 1997. Juveniles are victims in nearly 25% of all violent crimes.

  • Violent behavior is relatively stable over time and across social domains. Aggressive behavior in early childhood is the single best predictor of aggression in later life. Early childhood offers a critical period for overcoming risk factors for violent behavior and providing supports for the development of pro-social skills and behavior.

  • Research has demonstrated that aggression is primarily a learned behavior that develops through observation, imitation, direct experience, and rehearsal. Children's likelihood to engage in violent behaviors is determined through a complex system of individual, family, peer group, community, and societal factors. Thus, violence prevention requires comprehensive solutions that address the multiple causal factors and the multiple contexts of violence.

  • Violence occurs across ethnically, culturally, and economically diverse groups who differ in values, beliefs, education, parenting techniques, and socialization practices. Violence prevention efforts must therefore include flexibility in order to incorporate individual differences.

  • Violence prevention efforts directed toward very young children (0-5 years) provide resources, activities, and system changes to ensure that children have constructive role models, emotional support, and opportunities to gain the necessary skills (e.g., problem solving, emotional expression, communication, anger management, and self-control) for effectively relating to others without violence.

  • Violence prevention programs for very young children yield economic benefits. Through the promotion of individual and family health and stability, these programs may reduce expenditures for medical care, special education, and involvement with the judicial system.

  • Violence prevention programs for very young children also enhance the quality of family life and help children grow physically, mentally, emotionally, and socially in environments that promote and support their development.

Recommendations

  • Establish violence prevention initiatives for very young children involving the individual, the family, and the community in a variety of contexts.

  • Incorporate violence prevention initiatives for very young children into existing violence prevention efforts and other education and health-related programs such as Safe and Drug Free Schools programs, Head Start, Healthy Start, Even Start, etc.

  • Dedicate resources to the development and long-term evaluation of violence prevention programs so that the programs can be improved as more is learned about effective prevention.

For more information about violence prevention with very young children or violence prevention generally, please contact APA's Public Policy Office at (202) 336-6062.

Back to Top^

© 2008 American Psychological Association
750 First Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002-4242
Telephone: 800-374-2721; 202-336-5500. TDD/TTY: 202-336-6123
PsychNET® | Contact | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Security | Advertise with us