ABSTRACT
According to a recent Surgeon General's report, numerous violence prevention programs have been initiated in schools and communities nationwide but few have been studied to the point of yielding confidence in their effectiveness (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2001). The evaluation shortage is most notable among prevention programs targeting adolescent populations. Researchers, practitioners, and policymakers alike typically view adolescence as too late for prevention. For instance, in the Surgeon General's report (2001) not a single primary prevention program for high school populations was included in the document's comprehensive review. Adolescent programs are more likely to target at-risk youth or violent offenders in the form of secondary or tertiary programs, respectively. Unfortunately, these programs are unlikely to change violent norms that are supported by conventional youth. In this case, such norms represent attitudes and beliefs held by the majority of students that allow common forms of aggressive acts (e.g., bullying, threats, relational violence) to continue unchecked. Norms signal that aggression is not only to be accepted, but that the bystander who reports or intervenes may be subject to peer and adult sanctions. Contrary to most prevention programs that focus on the aggressor, the program reviewed in this study targeted conventional norms, which regulate bystander behavior. This chapter presents an empirical case for primary prevention during adolescence using evaluation data from a school-based program.
