Violence

• Gun Violence Prevention

  See research on gun violence and learn how to help people in an emotional crisis.

• Abuse of Women with Disabilities

  Women with disabilities may experience unique forms of abuse that are difficult to recognize — making it even harder to get the kind of help they need.

• Warning signs of youth violence

  Learn how to recognize danger signs and keep anger from escalating out of control.

• Raising children to resist violence: What you can do

  Children learn aggressive behavior early in life. Several strategies can help parents and others teach kids to manage their emotions without using violence.

• Partner Violence: What Can You Do?

  This brochure briefly describes violence in the home and provides advice for victims, abusers, and family and friends.

• What makes kids care? Teaching gentleness in a violent world

  In a world where violence and cruelty seem to be common and almost acceptable, many parents wonder what they can do to help their children to become kinder and gentler — to develop a sense of caring and compassion for others.

Getting Help

• Find a Psychologist
• Talking to your children about the recent spate of school shootings

  Every child will respond to trauma differently. Some will have no ill effects; others may suffer an immediate and acute effect. Still others may not show signs of stress until sometime after the event.

• How to find help through seeing a psychologist

  This brief question-and-answer guide provides some basic information to help individuals take advantage of outpatient (non-hospital) psychotherapy.

• Managing your distress in the aftermath of a shooting

  You may be struggling to understand how a shooting rampage could take place in a community, even a workplace or military base, and why such a terrible thing would happen.

• Intimate Partner Violence

  Nearly half of all women in the United States have experienced at least one form of psychological aggression by an intimate partner.

News

• White House begins campaign against campus sex assult

  September 19, 2014, Time

• CDC: Nearly 1 in 5 women have been raped

  September 5, 2014, The Washington Post

• More evidence happiness doesn't come from buying new things

  September 3, 2014, Huffington Post

• The power of the peer group in preventing campus rape

  August 18, 2014, NPR

• What American parents fear most

  August 12, 2014, MSNBC

Monitor on Psychology Articles

• Threat assessment in action

  February 2014

• Preventing violence against teachers

  November 2013

• What signals elder abuse and how can it be prevented?

  July 2013

• Violence against teachers spurs urgent call to action

  March 2013

Books

• Human Aggression and Violence

  2011

• Preventing Violence

  2006

• A Terrible Thing Happened: A Story for Children Who Have Witnessed Violence or Trauma

  2000

APA Offices and Programs

• Violence Prevention

  This area of Public Interest is responsible for disseminating research-based knowledge and information on violence and injury prevention.

• Violence Directed Against K-12 Teachers Task Force

  This task force draws upon research that has documented associations between school engagement and time on task and aggression behaviors in the classrooms and operates under the assumption that classroom practices and school-wide policies that foster academic achievement will minimize the incidence of violence against teachers.

• Women's Programs Office

  Improving the status, health and well-being of women psychologists and consumers of psychological services, and addressing issues such as gender disparities, domestic violence, disabilities and depression.

• APA Initiatives to Prevent Gun Violence

  APA-wide initiatives to prevent gun violence have involved communications with The White House, executive agencies, Congress, other organizations, APA members, the news media and the general public in support of vital mental and behavioral health services, training and research.