Antiviolence Education in High Schools

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Evaluations of education designed to reduce violence among adolescents suggest that trying to change attitudes can cause a backlash—attitudes become less desirable as a result of the intervention. In these evaluations, knowledge imparted by antiviolence education is neither practical nor retained at follow-up. Attendance could substantially affect evaluation results. Relations among experience with violence, attendance, and the effects of education have not been studied. In this study, a knowledge-based intervention was provided to approximately 350 Grade 11 students. Measures were knowledge of information presented in the intervention, attitudes about date rape, and self-reported physical and sexual aggression involving peers. Students who attended the intervention learned practical information with no attitude backlash. Girls had more favorable scores than boys on some measures at pretest. Students with the least knowledge at pretest were least likely to attend, and perpetrators knew less than victims. The effects did not depend on victim-perpetrator status. Enduring favorable effects were confined to small workshops.

This publication has 44 references indexed in Scilit: