cking the skills and the abilities to cope with problems and conflicts, young children who feel rejected by their peers often resort to aggressive behavior that may become violent behavior during adolescence (Flannery & Huff, 1999; Flannery & Williams, 1999; Lochman & Dodge, 1994; Loeber & Farrington, 1998). At the same time, studies have also indicated that appropriate interventions at the elementary school level can be effective in altering the development of aggressive young children (Hawkins, 1995; Gottfredson, 1997). In the remainder of this chapter, the creation of a school violence prevention program targeted at third, fourth and fifth graders will be discussed.
As described above, the prevalence of school violence at all school levels needs to be addressed. Furthermore, educators and administrators have not focused their efforts on creating effective violence prevention programs at the elementary school level to deal with the root causes of aggression in young children.
For the purposes of this study, the term "school violence" will encompass: 1) display of aggression; 2) bullying peers; and 3) hate bullying that involves victimizing others based on gender, race, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation (U. S. Department of Education, 1999).
The problem of school violence is highly significant because studies have shown that children who exhibit aggressive behavior in the third or fourth grades are likely to persist with their aggression at higher grade levels (Aber, Brown, & Jones, 2003). If the aggression in young children is not addressed, it is likely to escalate to a dangerous level (Flannery & Huff, 1999; Flannery & Williams, 1999; Lochman & Dodge, 1994; Loeber & Farrington, 1998).
The purpose of this project is to develop a comprehensive school violence prevention curriculum targeted at third, fourth and fifth graders to be adapted and implemented by school counselors. Its ultimate objective is to ...