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The present study sought to determine whether or not there is an association between contextual effects of violent socialization on violent youth behavior across different nations.

The data in this study derive from the International Dating Violence Study, a dataset of over 17,000 college students collected in 32 different nations. Variables consist of various scales from the Personal Relationship Profile that focuses on experiences and behaviors occurring prior to age 15 years, as well as national indicators of violence. Multilevel modeling analysis was used to analyze the data.

The results indicate two important findings. First, violent socialization significantly varies across different national contexts and this contextual effect accounts for a significant proportion of variation in youth violence. Second, violent socialization, both within individual families and as a contextual effect within different nations, is significantly associated with increases in violent youth behavior across the nations.

The International Dating Violence Study is a cross-sectional convenience sample of college students, which is not representative of specific nations nor college students. Further, the present study classifies nations as a “community” rather than explore microlevel communities within a nation. Future research should focus on examining variation of area specific norms for subsets of communities within nations with representative samples of a general population.

The present study appears to be one of the first published studies offering empirical evidence for international research on the theoretical argument of the contextual effects of violence within a nation, and begins to increase knowledge among criminologists of such contextual factors being associated with youth violent behavior across different nations.

To review the literature on delinquency and victimization among Caribbean youth, utilizing an ecological perspective.

The review was initiated by a search of peer-reviewed journal articles published between 1993 and 2013, which investigated any or all aspects of juvenile delinquency and/or youth victimization in the Caribbean. Studies were critically reviewed to determine whether they addressed relationships between victimization and delinquency, and the role of the social environment on youth.

The search yielded 23 relevant studies: 64 percent of the studies were conducted exclusively in Jamaica, and more than 75 percent were school based. Half of the articles addressed the links between victimization and delinquency among Caribbean youth but the majority was primarily descriptive.

Only peer-reviewed journals were included, so unpublished country and organizational reports were not covered in the review.

More current and longitudinal studies are needed, which examine the connections between delinquency and victimization, and the experiences in the smaller or less developed Caribbean countries.

The review provides directions for the enhancement of positive youth development policy and practice.

This paper fills the gap in the understanding of the research on delinquency and victimization among Caribbean youth. The ecological framework also adds value to the understanding of the topic by highlighting the importance of various social contexts, such as the family, school, and neighborhood, on youth development in the Caribbean.

The aim of this paper is to help in understanding the relationship between the construction of the male identity and how social violence may be “reproduced” (using the concept of habitus after Pierre Bourdieu), in poor and socially excluded contexts. The paper aims to inform debate and policy making.

The paper draws on empirical data collected in 2008, in the form of life‐history interviews with male youths – including members and non‐members of gangs – from two poor and very violent neighbourhoods in Medellín, Colombia's second largest city.

Masculinities alone do not account for urban violence, but they play an integral role why violence is reproduced. In socio‐economically excluded contexts the gang becomes an attractive vehicle for “doing masculinity” for boys and young men. Youths who did not join gangs tended to have family support to develop a “moral rejection” of gangs, crime and violence during childhood, which contributed to them finding non‐gang pathways to manhood. Youths who joined gangs were less likely to develop this “moral rejection” during childhood, often due to family problems; and were more likely to admire older gang members, and perceive the gang as an attractive pathway to manhood.

As the sole researcher a limited number of 32 individuals were interviewed.

There is a lack of research on masculinities and gang affiliation in the UK and across the globe. This paper provides new conceptual ideas for understanding why young men make up the vast majority of violent gang members, whilst providing an original data set from a very violent urban setting.

The purpose of this paper is to examine characteristics of gang organization in youth correctional facilities as reported by youth and staff as well as to analyze the relationship between institutional violence and level of gang organization.

The data were collected through interviews with staff and youth in correctional facilities. Gang organization level averages are compared across youth and official perspectives, and the variability of responses among youth is also examined. Negative binomial regression models are conducted to determine the association between perceived level of gang organization and officially recorded violent behavior, both prior to and subsequent to the interview.

Perceptions of institutional gang organization vary notably depending on who is reporting. In contrast with prior studies of street gangs, controlling for youth demographics and offense characteristics, the authors find no significant relationship between gang organization and violence.

The sample size is small and the data are cross-sectional. Future studies will need to be conducted in order to confirm these findings, as they contradict prior studies. The analysis of street gang organization may need to be approached differently by scholars.

Research has not been conducted on the organizational structure of gangs in youth correctional facilities or its relationship to institutional violence.

El Salvador’s youth have faced a climate of violence for decades. Schools have been identified as the most cost-effective ways to help students develop the life skills they need to prevent violence. This study examined the potential role of a physical education (PE) program taught by some of the first Salvadoran teachers to be trained to foster life skills through PE within schools.

Fourteen schools that had hired a PE teacher trained in life skills-based PE volunteered to participate in the study. Semi-structured interviews with the school director, PE teacher, and a focus group of students at each school were conducted.

Interviews were content analyzed and potential themes were initially placed into one of three life skills categories using a deductive analysis based upon the World Health Organization’s (WHO) (2002) three categories of life skills: (i) Coping and Self-Management; (ii) Communication and Interpersonal; (iii) Decision Making/Problem Solving. Then, using an inductive analysis, various themes within each life skills category were identified. The findings revealed that participants in the study identified the role that PE provides in developing life skills in each of the three categories and many identified the importance of these life skills to prevent violence both in and out of schools.

Findings from this study highlight the important role that schools play in the development of life skills and the prevention of youth violence. PE in particular offers a promising approach due to its applied nature and opportunity for students to learn through doing and the application of life skills in a safe manner. The findings also support the importance of trained PE teachers to deliver such programs.

Central America has and continues to be a region with high levels of youth violence. Given that PE is a mandatory school subject in Salvadoran schools (and in other Central American countries), shifting the focus toward a life skills-based approach to PE offers educators an opportunity to address the country’s number one public health concern which is youth violence. To our knowledge, this is the first study of its kind in El Salvador to explore the role of PE as it relates to youth violence and can help in future curricular revisions in schools and the development of degree programs at local universities.

Violence is still an alarming issue in Brazil, a country profoundly affected by social inequality. Since 1997, studies from UNESCO in Brazil have highlighted this worrying situation for youngsters from 15 to 24 years old, who are the portion of the population most exposed to violence, whether as victims, or agents. In terms of deaths that are caused by the so‐called external factors (i.e. homicides, traffic accidents and suicides), the quantitative data corresponding to the youth age groups are so high that they place Brazilian indices as the third highest in the world. In the light of the above, this paper provides a brief overview of the literature on the issue of violence in schools. In addition to that, the paper from the Director of the UNESCO Brasilia Office also analyses the series of studies and researches that UNESCO has been undertaking over the past years, an effort which would culminate into one of its most successful strategies to foster social inclusion through a community perspective, the “Making Room” program.

Youth violence victimisation impacts on health, mental health and future risk trajectories. A London hospital emergency department (ED) outreach youth service provides a unique intervention opportunity to support adolescents involved in violence. The purpose of this paper is to describe the set‐up of the service.

Young people (YP) targeted were aged 12‐18, from two London boroughs and attended ED with injuries from a violent incident. They were referred to Oasis youth workers for a mentoring/youth work intervention. Lifestyle and symptom scales were used to assess risk profile. Hospital staff questionnaires determined service awareness in the first six months, and interviews/focus group identified potential barriers to service uptake.

By 12 months, the service was operating smoothly. Of the first 505 YP attending ED, a third were referred, a third ineligible and a third non‐contactable/refused. Detailed analysis of the first 30 attending found most were male (87 per cent), equal White or Black ethnicity (40 per cent) with 20 per cent “Other” ethnicities, with only a third living with both biological parents. This was similar to the full population attending. Nearly half (49 per cent) had been assaulted, 30 per cent had injuries self‐generated through poor anger management, the remainder injured in fighting. Over half (57 per cent) had disorder, mostly behavioural, correlated with lifestyle risk scores. Barriers to service use/implementation included YP mistrust and fear of reprisals, problems with service visibility in the busy hospital environment and ineffective staff communication with YP, all countered during the running of the service. Gauging outcome at follow‐up is the second evaluation stage.

The youth violence project is an important initiative for intervention in youth violence.

Much of the research on intimate partner violence focuses on adults, and little of it emanates from the Global-South. The study reported upon in this chapter is aimed at addressing these gaps. Adopting a Southern Feminist Framework, it discusses findings from interviews with Brasilian and Australian advocates working on prevention of youth IPV. Participants from both countries noted disturbing instances of digital coercive control among the youth with whom they work, as well as underlying factors such as gender-based discrimination that simultaneously contribute to the prevalence of such behaviors, as well as their normalization among young people. However, they also emphasized the positive role that technology can play in distributing educational programming that reaches young people where they are and circumvents conservative agendas that in some cases keep education about gender discrimination and healthy relationships out of schools.

Current government policy aims to tackle youth anti-social behaviour and its psychological and social impacts. Given an increased likelihood that young victims of crime are also likely to engage in aggressive or deviant behaviour and to have psychological and social difficulties, interventions are needed which access vulnerable youth with adverse lifestyles to increase well-being and reduce offending. The current project utilised a hospital emergency department (ED) as an appropriate location to identify and interact with youth victims of violent crime; to support key lifestyle risk and mental health difficulties; and build resilience. The purpose of this paper is to use a youth work paradigm, to target vulnerable youth in a health setting at a crisis point where intervention may have a higher chance of uptake.

The study applied a quasi-experimental, longitudinal design. Using the strengths and difficulties questionnaire and the “What Do You Think” component of the ASSET risk assessment, data were collected from 120 youth aged 12-20, at baseline with 66 youth who successfully completed the programme with assessments at baseline and follow-up, at an average of 14 weeks.

There was significant reduction in both psychological problems and lifestyle risk at follow-up.

These findings support the government initiative to intervene in youth violence in healthcare settings. Challenges revolve around increasing participation and greater formalisation of the intervention.

The youth work led violence intervention in the ED is successfully tackling psychological problems and lifestyle risk following injury.

Recognising current, significant rates of youth sexual violence and abuse (YSVA) and the need for more comprehensive prevention approaches to combat this social issue, new approaches are required to ensure that agency is given to the people who are most affected and who know their lives the best. This paper aims to report a youth-led (Young Voices United [YVU] Committee) participatory design approach aimed at delivering the highest level of engagement to understand what people agree is needed to reduce YSVA in their own communities.

The seven-step co-design (Trischler et al., 2019) process was implemented following ethical clearance. Over five months, 13 group co-design sessions involving 102 young people aged 12–25 years, 17 parents/caregivers (including young mums) and 9 teacher/guidance officers were conducted. Purposive sampling was undertaken to ensure that young people who had previously experienced YSVA or were most at risk of experiencing YSVA were overrepresented. Convenience sampling was used to gain wider community involvement in co-design. Four sessions were facilitated by YVU members, who were aged between 12 and 25 years, and more than 66 people helped the design team. Inductive thematic analysis identified emergent themes across completed co-design sessions.

New ideas and solutions to prevent YSVA can be identified by young people who have previously experienced violence, carers, other young people and community members. A core finding in this study is the need for positive relationship role models and an enhanced understanding of consent. Education and training, a community promotional campaign, sector involvement, capacity-building and consideration of the unique needs of different target audiences were key ideas emerging from youth-led co-design. The YVU Committee provided recommendations for resource prioritisation.

This youth-led co-design process empowered the community. Project stakeholders have since formed partnerships won funding and used that funding to co-design and trial a new programme aiming to provide a safe haven for young people at risk of YSVA. The pilot programme delivers a safe and supportive environment for young people delivered at a time when it is needed most. Other geographical areas are now seeking to replicate the programme. The co-design processes and tools detailed in this study can be adapted to the design of programmes for those already engaged with the youth justice system and should be considered as part of a public health approach to effectively prevent and respond to YSVA and other youth crimes.

This paper advances understanding, providing a practical approach that ensures youth views are given weight [audience and influence described in Lundy’s (2007) participatory framework]. This paper explains how the YVU Committee, established at the commencement of the project, oversaw the community co-design effort, which followed Trischler et al.’s (2019) seven-step co-design process. Ideas were generated, and consensus views were consolidated, delivering the highest level of engagement according to Willmott et al.’s (2022) methodology, agent of change, training and engagement taxonomy. The participatory design method led to high levels of community engagement, and the success of the project is attributed to the establishment of the YVU Committee and stakeholder support.