Bushman, B. J., Coyne, S. M., Anderson, C. A., Björkqvist, K., Boxer, P., Dodge, K. A., Dubow, E.F, Farrington, D.P., Gentile, D.A., Huesmann, L.R., Lansford, J.E., Novaco, R. W., Ostrov, J.M., Underwood, M.K., Warburton, W.A. & Ybarra, M. L. (2018). Risk factors for youth violence: Youth violence commission, International Society for Research on Aggression (ISRA). Aggressive behavior, 44(4), 331-336.
No abstract available.
Editors Note: In March 2018, the President of the International Society for Research on Aggression (ISRA), Mike Potegal, appointed a special commission to prepare a report on youth violence. This commission was “charged with the task of producing a public statement on the known risk factors for youth violence, based on the current state of scientific knowledge. If the Commission finds sufficient evidence of harmful effects, then its public statement may include public policy recommendations.” What follows is the final report of the Youth Violence Commission, delivered in March 2018.This report was written by a group of ISRA researchers with expertise on youth violence. This report is based on a previous youth violence report (Bushman et al., 2016), but it is shorter in length, more accessible in language, contains additional material, and is more up-to-date.
Introduction: In the wake of yet another mass shooting in the United States (U.S.), this one at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, which killed 17 people and injured 17 others, the International Society for Research on Aggression (ISRA) formed a Youth Violence Commission to compose a list of known risk factors for youth violence. The purpose of this list is to bring some clarity to the enormously complex issue of how youth become violent. In a social policy environment of significant concern with and attention to school safety and mass shootings, our intention is to provide a critical reminder that the question of why individuals engage in acts of severe violence does not have any simple answers. We hope this list will be useful to policy makers, news reporters, and members of society who are concerned about violent acts committed by youth in the U.S. and around the world.