Developmental Preschool and School Programs Against Violence and Offending

This chapter reviews knowledge on school programs against violence and offending, providing clues on features and components that were found to be the most effective. Interventions to prevent violence have been conducted for more than 50 years. The effectiveness of programs designed in the 1960s was limited, and therefore new programs appeared afterward focusing on specific predictors of problem behaviors. Later interventions started to consider several predictors at the same time and also aimed to promote positive behaviors. This approach is very useful since many social problems share similar risk and protective factors. This chapter describes the most important meta-analytic findings and gives examples of programs that have proved to be effective in reducing violence or delinquency. Examples of interventions found to be successful in reducing bullying, violence, or delinquency are described.