A Long Road Ahead: Editorial for the Special Issue of the European Psychologist on “Understanding, Predicting, and Preventing Violence”

Abstract

Violence is global public health concern that pervades human experience in all walks of life. As such, it has long been a content area of chief interest for psychological science. In the World Report on Violence and Health, the World Health Organization (WHO; Krug, Dahlberg, Mercy, Zwi, & Lozano, 2002) predicated that “[t]he public health approach to violence is based on the rigorous requirements of the scientific method” (p. 4, emphasis added), aimed at four main objectives. First, to uncover extensive basic knowledge on all aspects of violence. Second, to investigate the causes and correlates of violence, including potential buffering or potentiating factors and with special attention to those factors that may be amenable to change if properly treated. Third, building on the above knowledge, to explore ways of preventing violence from occurring. Fourth and last, to implement promising interventions across a range of settings, disseminating the resulting information and determining the cost-effectiveness of such interventions.