Building relationships and resilience in the prevention of youth violence

Self Enhancement, Inc., is a grassroots, community-service organization working in the most disadvantaged high-risk community in Portland, Oregon. Its violence-prevention program targets middle-school and high-school students by providing classroom and community activities to these young people. These activities are designed to enhance protective factors and build resilience in youths to enable them to attain healthy and productive lives and to resist the threats of gangs, violence, and drugs. RMC Research Corporation works in partnership with Self Enhancement, Inc., to conduct research and evaluation on the effectiveness of its programs. The Self Enhancement, Inc., program works primarily at the individual student and interpersonal relationship levels. Resilience Theory and its culturally specific Relationship Model drive the formulation of specific strategies and activities. Program staff mentor each student through his or her preadolescent and adolescent years, promoting positive, prosocial norms and expectations for behavior through their peer group activities. The Self Enhancement, Inc., program consists of three major components: classroom, exposure, and proactive education. Classroom education focuses on anger management, conflict resolution, and problem solving. Exposure education consists of quarterly field trips to agencies and organizations in the Portland area that deal with the causes and consequences of violence in the community. Proactive education includes newsletters, student-run assemblies and conferences, and radio/ television public service announcements that communicate antiviolence messages. The evaluation plan is a longitudinal matched comparison group designed to assess the outcomes of the violence-prevention program. Key outcomes are protective factors, health-risk behaviors, and academic measures. Standardized assessment instruments (the Individual Protective Factors Index and the Youth Risk Behavior Survey) were administered to all students during winter 1994. The instruments will be readministered during the same period in the following two years of the project. School records were extracted to assess students' attendance and progress through their academic programs. Of the 326 seventh-, eighth-, and ninth-grade students participating in this study, 95% are African Americans and 51% are boys. The prevalence of fighting (56%) during the past 12 months is higher than that among African-American high-school students nationally, but weapon carrying (27%), alcohol use (30%), and marijuana use (18%) are the same or lower than national averages for this group. All baseline indicators are equivalent between the program and comparison groups with the exception of weapon carrying. Program students report carrying weapons more than do their comparison group counterparts. Baseline indicators of violence-related behaviors clearly indicate the need for intervention in this highly disadvantaged, African-American community. Through its historical presence and recent program development efforts, Self Enhancement, Inc., is well positioned to make a difference in the lives of these young people. The equivalence of program and comparison group students on baseline indicators of violence bodes well for an unequivocal assessment of program effectiveness over time.