ABSTRACT
Years after a shooting at an elementary school, exposed student survivors described, to the authors and their colleagues, a number of lingering effects from the trauma. The National Research Council and Institute of Medicine has concluded that developmentally appropriate, early youth interventions offer the greatest promise for preventing mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders. The emergence and maintenance of aggression and other youth disturbances is multidimensional. Combinations of risk and vulnerability factors along with particular experiences and conditions or contexts increase the possibility of school aggression and suicides and of other internalizing and externalizing problems. Preventive interventions for elementary-school-age children for a number of negative youth outcomes, including aggression and suicide, have employed training, counseling efforts, school-wide programs, and even dietary methods. Experiences that permit youth successes, the feeling of connection and of being valued, and an ongoing sense of safety are essential to safe schools, academic achievement, and positive youth development.
