ABSTRACT
Adolescent connectedness significantly impacts violence in schools. The main goals of this chapter are to define the mechanisms by which promoting connectedness can prevent youth violence and to present a framework for constructing developmental intervention programs to prevent violence in schools. Developmental interventions provide myriad opportunities for school counselors and prevention programs to prevent violence in schools. Central to developmental interventions is the tenet that by helping youths establish a balance of connectedness to school, family, and friends, they will become less likely to engage in violent behavior (Hawkins, Farrington, and Catalano, 1998; Mulvey and Cauffman, 2001). Three principles from a framework for implementing developmental interventions are presented to highlight how connectedness-promoting interventions can fill a very important void in comprehensive violence-prevention programming in the schools. To illustrate these principles, two developmental interventions are profiled at the end of the chapter.
