Youth violence is the intentional use of physical force or power to threaten or harm others by young people ages 10-24. It can include fighting, bullying, threats with weapons, and gang-related violence. A young person can be involved with youth violence as a victim, offender, or witness.

Youth violence is a serious public health problem. It is an adverse childhood experience (ACE) that can have long-term impacts on health and wellbeing. The good news is violence is preventable, and we can all help young people grow without violence.

Teen violence refers to harmful behaviors that can start early and continue into young adulthood. The young person can be a victim, an offender, or a witness to the violence.

Violent acts can include:

• Bullying
• Fighting, including punching, kicking, slapping, or hitting
• Use of weapons such as guns or knives

Some violent acts can cause more emotional harm than physical harm. Others can lead to serious injury or even death.

An important risk factor for violence in teens is the behavior of their friends and classmates. You should know who your kids hang out with and encourage healthy behavior and relationships.

Thousands of people experience youth violence every day. Youth violence negatively impacts youth in all communities—urban, suburban, rural, and tribal.

Youth violence is common. Homicide is the third leading cause of death for young people ages 10-24 and the leading cause of death for non-Hispanic Black or African American youth. Emergency departments treat more than 1,000 youth for physical assault-related injuries each day.

Some youth are at greater risk than others.

• Sexual minority teens are more likely to experience multiple forms of violence compared to their heterosexual peers.

• Black or African American youth and young adults are at higher risk for the most physically harmful forms of violence (e.g., homicides, fights with injuries, aggravated assaults) compared with White youth and young adults.

Youth violence is costly. Youth homicides and nonfatal physical assault-related injuries result in an estimated $100 billion annually in costs including medical, lost work, and quality and value of life. This estimate does not include costs to the criminal justice system. New 2020 cost data will be available soon.

Youth violence can have serious and lasting effects on young people’s physical, mental, and social health. It can harm development and contribute to impaired decision-making, learning challenges, decreased connections to peers and adults, and trouble coping with stress.

Youth violence is linked to negative health and well-being outcomes and disproportionately impacts communities of color. Violence increases the risk for behavioral and mental health difficulties. These can include future violence perpetration and victimization, smoking, substance use, obesity, high-risk sexual behavior, depression, academic difficulties, school dropout, and suicide.

Violence increases health care costs, decreases property value, negatively impacts school attendance, and decreases access to community support services. Addressing the short- and long-term consequences of violence strains community resources and limits the resources that states and communities can use to address other needs.

We can protect youth and support their growth into healthy adults. Certain factors may increase or decrease the risk of youth experiencing or perpetrating violence. To prevent youth violence, we must understand and address the factors that put people at risk for or protect them from violence.

It can impact individual behaviors and the relationship, family, school, community, and societal factors that influence risk and protective factors for violence.

Long-standing systemic health and social inequities have put many people from racial and ethnic minority groups at increased risk of violence. It is important for prevention efforts to consider societal conditions disproportionately experienced by Black or African American youth and young adults. This includes conditions like concentrated poverty, residential segregation, and other forms of racism that limit opportunities to grow up in healthy, violence-free environments. Addressing the root causes of violence is critical to reducing high rates of violence in communities of color.

Risk Factors for Perpetration

Risk factors are characteristics linked with youth violence, but they are not direct causes of youth violence. A combination of individual, relationship, community, and societal factors contribute to the risk of youth violence. Research on youth violence has increased our understanding of factors that make some populations more vulnerable to victimization and perpetration. Many risk factors for youth violence are linked to experiencing toxic stress, or stress that is prolonged and repeated. Toxic stress can negatively change the brain development of children and youth. Toxic stress can result from issues like living in impoverished neighborhoods, experiencing food insecurity, experiencing racism, limited access to support and medical services, and living in homes with violence, mental health problems, substance abuse, and other instability.

Watch Moving Forward to learn more about how increasing what protects people from violence and reducing what puts people at risk for it benefits everyone.

Individual Risk Factors

• History of violent victimization
• Attention deficits, hyperactivity, or learning disorders
• History of early aggressive behavior
• Involvement with drugs, alcohol, or tobacco
• Low IQ
• Poor behavioral control
• Deficits in social cognitive or information-processing abilities
• High emotional distress
• History of treatment for emotional problems
• Antisocial beliefs and attitudes
• Exposure to violence and conflict in the family

Family Risk Factors

• Authoritarian childrearing attitudes
• Harsh, lax, or inconsistent disciplinary practices
• Low parental involvement
• Low emotional attachment to parents or caregivers
• Low parental education and income
• Parental substance abuse or criminality
• Poor family functioning
• Poor monitoring and supervision of children

Peer and Social Risk Factors

• Association with delinquent peers
• Involvement in gangs
• Social rejection by peers
• Lack of involvement in conventional activities
• Poor academic performance
• Low commitment to school and school failure

Community Risk Factors

• Diminished economic opportunities
• High concentrations of poor residents
• High level of transiency
• High level of family disruption
• Low levels of community participation
• Socially disorganized neighborhoods

Protective factors may lessen the likelihood of youth violence victimization or perpetration. Identifying and understanding protective factors are equally as important as researching risk factors.

Individual Protective Factors

• Intolerant attitude toward deviance
• High IQ
• High grade point average (as an indicator of high academic achievement)
• High educational aspirations
• Positive social orientation
• Popularity acknowledged by peers
• Highly developed social skills/competencies
• Highly developed skills for realistic planning
• Religious beliefs

Family Protective Factors

• Connectedness to family or adults outside the family
• Ability to discuss problems with parents
• Perceived parental expectations about school performance are high
• Frequent shared activities with parents
• Consistent presence of parent during at least one of the following: when awakening, when arriving home from school, at evening mealtime, or when going to bed
• Involvement in social activities
• Parental/family use of constructive strategies for coping with problems (provision of models of constructive coping)

Peer and Social Protective Factors

• Possession of affective relationships with those at school that are strong, close, and prosocially oriented
• Commitment to school (an investment in school and in doing well at school)
• Close relationships with non-deviant peers
• Membership in peer groups that do not condone antisocial behavior
• Involvement in prosocial activities
• Exposure to school climates with the following characteristics:
  • Intensive supervision
  • Clear behavior rules
  • Firm disciplinary methods
  • Engagement of parents and teachers

outh violence is a serious problem that can have lasting harmful effects on victims and their family, friends, and communities. CDC’s goal is to stop youth violence from happening in the first place.

In order to prevent youth violence, we must understand and address risk and protective factors at the individual, relational, community, and societal levels.

CDC developed a resource, A Comprehensive Technical Package for the Prevention of Youth Violence and Associated Risk Behaviors, to help communities take advantage of the best available evidence to prevent youth violence. This resource is can impact individual behaviors and the relationship, family, school, community, and societal factors that influence the risk and protective factors for violence. Strategies and their corresponding approaches are listed in the table below.

Parents and Families Can:

• Learn about links between teens’ experiences with violence and their health.
• Talk with teens about violence and ask how you can support them.
• Reach out to local programs to learn effective parenting practices.

Communities Can:

• Make teen mentoring, apprenticeship, and leadership programs more available.
• Collaborate with health departments and other partners to promote healthy and safe neighborhoods.
• Make use of effective social and economic policies that reduce violence.

Schools Can:

• Adopt policies and practices that create safe and supportive environments.
• Teach teens skills to navigate social and emotional challenges.
• Connect students to health and mental health services.
• Build strong bonds between staff and students to improve connectedness to school.

Empower teens to be part of the solution. Directly engaging teens in preventing violence helps them:

• Make healthy choices.
• Be a leader and voice for change for healthier communities and schools.
• Advise community and school decision-makers.
• Promote respect and empathy with family, friends, and peers.

Creating protective community environments where young people live and play is necessary to help reduce youth violence. Some environmental features are linked to violence and crime. These features can include the physical design of a space, the number of people in the space, and how the space is being cared for and used.

Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED)

Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) is an approach that focuses on improving the design of the built environment to help reduce opportunities for disputes and violence and promote positive behavior.

Communities applying CPTED activities reported decreases in gun violence, youth homicide, disorderly conduct, and violent crime. Communities also reported positive impacts on residents’ stress, community pride, and physical health. Some examples of these CPTED activities include:

• Repairing abandoned building and vacant lots
• Cleaning and maintaining neighborhood green spaces
• Upkeep of neighborhood housing

CPTED and School Violence

CDC developed the CPTED School Assessment (CSA). This tool assesses the use of CPTED principles in three areas of schools: grounds, buildings, and interiors.

CPTED principles that schools can consider include:

1. Natural surveillance
   This refers to the placement of physical features that improve visibility. Example: The strategic use of windows that look out on the school entrance so students can see into the school and know that others can see them.
2. Access management
   This includes using signs, well-marked entrances and exits, and landscaping to improve or limit access to certain areas. Example: Landscaping that reduces access to unsupervised locations on the school grounds.
3. Territoriality
   This involves creating a welcoming environment. Example: Motivational signs, displays of student art, and the use of school colors to create warmth and express pride.
4. Physical maintenance
   This includes repair and general upkeep of space. Example: Removing graffiti and making repairs to restrooms, light fixtures, and stairways to maintain safety and comfort.
5. Order maintenance
   This includes addressing and reducing negative behavior. Example: Having an adult present at all times while students move from one location to another.

The principles of CPTED may benefit schools by:

• Creating a warm and welcoming environment
• Fostering a sense of physical and social order
• Creating a sense of ownership by students
• Sending positive messages to students
• Maximizing the presence of authority figures
• Minimizing opportunities for out-of-sight activities
• Managing access to all school areas

Environmental design alone will not prevent all school violence. However, CPTED is a promising prevention strategy that may lead to safer schools. For more information about prevention strategies CDC’s technical package, A Comprehensive Technical Package for the Prevention of Youth Violence and Associated Risk Behaviors, highlights strategies based on the best available evidence to help states and communities prevent or reduce youth violence.

What is bullying?

Bullying is a form of youth violence and an adverse childhood experience (ACE). CDC defines bullying as any unwanted aggressive behavior(s) by another youth or group of youths, who are not siblings or current dating partners, that involves an observed or perceived power imbalance, and is repeated multiple times or is highly likely to be repeated. Bullying may inflict harm or distress on the targeted youth including physical, psychological, social, or educational harm. Common types of bullying include:

• Physical such as hitting, kicking, and tripping
• Verbal including name-calling and teasing
• Relational/social such as spreading rumors and leaving out of the group
• Damage to property of the victim

Bullying can also occur through technology, which is called electronic bullying or cyberbullying. A young person can be a perpetrator, a victim, or both (also known as “bully/victim”). For more information about bullying definitions please see Bullying Surveillance Among Youths: Uniform Definitions for Public Health and Recommended Data Elements.

How big is the problem?

Bullying is widespread in the United States. Bullying negatively impacts all youth involved including those who are bullied, those who bully others, and those who witness bullying, known as bystanders.

• Bullying is common. About 1 in 5 high school students reported being bullied on school property. More than 1 in 6 high school students reported being bullied electronically in the last year.
• Some youth experience bullying more than others. Nearly 40% of high school students who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual and about 33% of those who were not sure of their sexual identity experienced bullying at school or electronically in the last year, compared to 22% of heterosexual high school students. About 30% of female high school students experienced bullying at school or electronically in the last year, compared to about 19% of males. Nearly 29% of White high school students experienced bullying at school or electronically in the last year compared to about 19% of Hispanic and 18% of Black high school students.
• Bullying is a frequent discipline problem. Nearly 14% of public schools report that bullying is a discipline problem occurring daily or at least once a week.
• • Reports of bullying are highest in middle schools (28%) followed by high schools (16%), combined schools (12%), and primary schools (9%).
  • Reports of cyberbullying are highest in middle schools (33%) followed by high schools (30%), combined schools (20%), and primary schools (5%).

What are the consequences?

Bullying can result in physical injury, social and emotional distress, self-harm, and even death. It also increases the risk for depression, anxiety, sleep difficulties, lower academic achievement, and dropping out of school. Youth who bully others are at increased risk for substance misuse, academic problems, and experiencing violence later in adolescence and adulthood. Youth who bully others and are bullied themselves suffer the most serious consequences and are at greater risk for mental health and behavioral problems.

How can we prevent bullying?

Bullying is preventable. There are many factors that may increase or decrease the risk for perpetrating or experiencing bullying. To prevent bullying, we must understand and address the factors that put people at risk for or protect them from violence. CDC has developed a resource, A Comprehensive Technical Package for the Prevention of Youth Violence and Associated Risk Behaviors, to help communities take advantage of the best available evidence to prevent youth violence. This resource is also and can be used as a tool in efforts to impact individual behaviors as well as the relationship, family, school, community, and societal risk and protective factors for violence. The approaches in this resource, particularly universal school-based programs that strengthen youths’ skills and modify the physical and social environment, have been shown to reduce violence and bullying or key risk factors.

Different types of violence are connected and often share root causes. Bullying is linked to other forms of violence through shared risk and protective factors. Addressing and preventing one form of violence may have an impact on preventing other forms of violence.

What is school violence?

School violence is violence that occurs in the school setting. It describes violent acts that disrupt learning and have a negative effect on students, schools, and the broader community. School is the location where the violence occurs, not a type of violence.

Examples of school violence include:

• Bullying and cyberbullying
• Fighting (e.g., punching, slapping, kicking)
• Weapon use
• Gang violence
• Sexual violence

Places school violence occurs:

• On school property
• On the way to or from school
• During a school-sponsored event
• On the way to or from a school-sponsored event

How big is the problem?

In 2019, CDC’s nationwide Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) was administered to high school students across the United States. According to YRBS results from 13, 677 students:

• About 1 in 5 high school students reported being bullied on school property in the last year.
• 8% of high school students had been in a physical fight on school property one or more times during the 12 months before the survey.
• More than 7% of high school students had been threatened or injured with a weapon (for example, a gun, knife, or club) on school property one or more times during the 12 months before the survey.
• Almost 9% of high school students had not gone to school at least 1 day during the 30 days before the survey because they felt they would be unsafe at school or on their way to or from school.

How can we prevent violence in schools?

All students have the right to learn in a safe school environment. The good news is school violence can be prevented. Many factors contribute to school violence. Preventing school violence requires addressing the factors that put people at risk for or protect them from violence. Research shows that prevention efforts by teachers, administrators, parents, community members, and even students can reduce violence and improve the school environment.

CDC developed technical packages to help communities and states prioritize prevention strategies based on the best available evidence. The strategies and approaches in the technical packages are intended to shape individual behaviors as well as the relationship, family, school, community, and societal factors that influence risk and protective factors for violence. They are meant to work together and to be used in combination in a multi-level, multi-sector effort to prevent violence.

School is back in session. As you stock up on pencils, take first-day pictures, and adjust to new bus schedules, take a few, quick steps that can keep your child safer during an emergency.

From tornadoes to water main breaks, emergencies can occur with little or no warning—even during the school day. As children head back to school, take a few steps to help protect your child from an emergency and to reunite with your child quickly and safely.

Protecting Your Child Is as Easy as A-B-C

Ask how you would be reunited with your child in an emergency or evacuation

• If students had to evacuate, where should you go to pick them up?
• How would the school notify you in the event of emergency?

Bring extra medication, special foods, or supplies your child would need if you were separated overnight

• What essential supplies would your child need if separated from you overnight? (Medications? Inhaler? Milk? Diapers? Battery pack for special equipment?)
• Does the school have an emergency stockpile of these items or could you bring extras to be kept at school?
• What is the school policy for how and when medicine can be administered to your child?

Complete a backpack contact information card and tuck one in your child’s backpack and your wallet

• Emergencies are chaotic! Make sure your child or their school knows how to reach you, and who should be called if your phone isn’t working.
• Download and complete your own backpack card.

Follow these A-B-C’s so that emergencies are less chaotic, children can be kept safe, and families can be reunited safely as soon as possible.

People of all ages can be bullied. Bullying may take place at home, school, or work.

• A 2013 survey from the National Center for Education Statistics found that bullying continues to affect many school-aged children: Slightly more than 1 out of 5 students in middle and high school experienced “traditional” bullying at school during the 2012–2013 school year. Six percent of students ages 12 to 18 reported that they had been pushed, shoved, tripped, or spit on during the school year. Of these students, 22% reported being injured in the event.
• The 2013 survey found that, during the same school year, 7% of students reported being cyberbullied.
• Data from the 2015 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that about 20% of U.S. students in grades 9 through 12 experienced bullying on school property within the last year.

Teachers and early care and education (ECE) providers have an important role to play in helping children both prepare for and recover after a public health emergency.

Public health emergencies and disasters affect millions of children worldwide each year. These emergencies and disasters include natural events (such as severe weather, earthquakes, fires, floods, and tsunamis) and man-made events (such as acts of terrorism). An emergency or disaster can be destructive to a child’s physical environment, as well as affect their mental health. As a teacher or ECE provider, you are committed to keeping schools and ECE programs safe and supporting children and their families. If your students experience an emergency or disaster, there are steps you can take to help your students cope and recover.

How can I help my students cope and continue to support their recovery from a disaster?

• Talk to children about what happened in a way they can understand. Keep it simple and appropriate for each child’s age. (Learn more about common reactions by age range)
• Provide children with opportunities to talk about what they went through or what they think about it. Encourage them to share concerns and ask questions. Younger children may draw pictures or may play with toys to express what they think and feel.
• Children react, in part, to what they see from the adults around them. When teachers deal with a disaster calmly and confidently, they can provide the best support for their students.
• Children who were directly exposed to a disaster can become upset again; behavior changes resulting from the event may be long lasting and can worsen or return if these children see or hear reminders of what happened. Be aware that that this could happen and know what resources are available at your school for children and families, should you need to report concerns to the appropriate people at your school.
• Proceeding with normal daily routines, such following familiar schedules when to eat and when to play, can help reduce stress. However, while recovering from disasters, children may have a hard time focusing on learning, they may need more time than usually to master new skills and concepts.

It is difficult to predict how some children will respond to disasters and traumatic events. Because parents, teachers, and other adults see children in different situations, it is important for them to work together to share information about how each child is coping after a traumatic event.

After a disaster, teachers and ECE providers may also be struggling with severe posttraumatic symptoms and personal losses. This might prevent them from effectively participating in post-disaster intervention for the children in their care. In this case, it is important that teachers and ECE providers take care of themselves first and seek help from a professional. CALL or TEXT Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA’s) Disaster Distress Hotline: 1-800-985-5990; People with deafness or hearing loss can use their preferred relay service to call 1-800-985-5990.

School shootings can erode the sense of safety and security people usually feel. This is true at both an individual and community level. These sudden, tragic events challenge our need to see the world as orderly and controllable. People in the affected communities are forced to adapt to extreme loss or disruptions to their lives. Even those who live far away may find themselves feeling fear, anger and loss.

There are elements that research tells us are related to people doing better through adverse situations. With these 5 elements, you can choose the actions that can help you and your family better cope after a school shooting:

• Increase sense of safety
• Increase calming
• Connect with each other
• Build personal and family competence
• Foster hope

How to Apply the 5 Elements

You can modify these elements based on many factors, including the level of disruption in your life and the age of children in the home. Using them as a guide can help you create your own ways to help your family cope.

Pick some of the following ideas within each of these 5 elements or develop your own. Using them can help your family work through the challenges you are facing. If anyone is having a very hard time and needs more help, know that there are resources available to support recovery.

Increase sense of safety

When families don't feel safe it can feel overwhelming. School shootings can result in an ongoing sense of being threatened, so it is important to increase your sense of safety. It is helpful to give consistent safety messages to your family, such as:

• "We will get through this together."
• "No matter what happens, we will do what we need to do to take care of each other."

Some people feel safer by becoming involved in change efforts, activism or community programs that increase safety. For others, it may be more important to focus on what is in their capacity to control, even if those things seem like small actions.

Increase calming

School shootings can cause anxiety. People may have trouble thinking clearly or sleeping soundly. It is important to help yourself and your family find ways to take breaks and calm down, even momentarily.

• Offer simple calming strategies such as slowed, even breathing, talking through concerns, finding distractions (with books, videos or anything that can take your mind off what is happening), and taking short breaks.
• Try noticing and naming your feelings. Ground your attention by focusing on what you can see, feel and hear in the current moment.
• Understand that feelings such as sadness, anxiety and fear are common and that it's okay to talk about them.
• Think about limiting activities that trigger anxiety—such as checking the news—even if you think they are helpful.

Do your best to let family know that their well-being is one of your priorities. Keep to a routine. Structure helps younger children know what to expect and can be calming. Consider scheduling into your day shared activities that have meaning for your family.

Connect with each other

Be dedicated about connecting with loved ones within and outside the immediate family. Include family members who don't live in your home to make the circle wider.

Build personal and family competence

There are many ways to build competence and develop skills that can help you get through your current challenges. For instance, involve the family in a problem-solving approach to challenges, where you talk through problems; break them down into smaller chunks; brainstorm creative solutions together; negotiate the solutions that will work best for everyone; and take small, steady steps towards your goals.

Role-model competence. Demonstrating patience with yourself will show your children how to do the same. Just being your best self—whatever that best self is in that moment given the circumstances—will inspire others. As you strive to do your best remember to keep your expectations realistic. A crisis can make it hard to keep up our usual standards in what we think, feel, or do. You may need to adapt your expectations of what a good day is, and of what you demand from yourself.

Foster hope

It is natural that families may be scared, in shock, angry, sorrowful or discouraged following school shootings. This is particularly true for those in the communities where the violence took place. Focusing on the ways you and your family are safe or strong can help to foster hope. You can also discuss positive things that you see others doing, ways you believe that the situation will become better with time, or ways in which you are grateful. Ask others in your life to share how they have maintained hope or seen things from a more hopeful perspective. Highlight that many people are working hard to keep schools safe and help people recover.

Many people turn to their values or beliefs as a way to make meaning or raise hope in a difficult time. For some, that might mean helping others or engaging in protest and activism. Others who have faith in a higher power spend more time in activities that foster those beliefs, like prayer, meditation, reading or reflection. Researchers have found that resilient families share open communication about feelings, engage in group problem-solving, make meaning in the face of adversity, share their hopes in overcoming challenges, encourage each other, and work to tolerate uncertainty. They also find ways to transform adversity through beliefs, positive growth, spirituality or religion.

Summary

The strategies you choose can make a difference in maintaining hope, ability to endure, connectedness, ability to remain calm, and sense of safety. As you practice these actions, adapt them to your current circumstances. Do your best from moment to moment and remember that you don't need to be perfect or steady at all times. Try to be kind to yourself and remember that anything you do to role model these strategies will help your children grow and be able to help others as friends or caregivers themselves.

People who are more directly affected by the shooting or those with previous histories of trauma or prior mental health conditions may need to get more tailored or individual support. Meeting with others who have faced similar challenges can help, however, mental health treatment may also be needed. If you feel very distressed or unable to function, contact a medical or mental health provider. There are effective treatments for acute stress disorder, PTSD, and complicated grief—all problems that can develop after a trauma. The sooner you get help, the sooner you will start to feel better.

School-Associated Violent Death Study

Homicide is the second leading cause of death among youth aged 5-18. Less than 2% of these homicides occur on school grounds, on the way to/from school, or at or on the way to/from a school-sponsored event. The School-Associated Violent Death Surveillance System (SAVD-SS) monitors school-associated violent deaths across the U.S. Information is collected each year from media databases and law enforcement officials. SAVD-SS presents the most recent data available on:

• school-associated violent deaths
• common features of these events
• risk factors for perpetration and victimization

These data play an important role in assessing national trends in school-associated violent deaths and helping inform efforts to prevent fatal school violence.

Case Definition

A case is defined as a violent death (i.e, homicide, suicide, or legal intervention) that occurs on school property, on the victim’s way to/from school, or at or on the victim’s way to/from a school-sponsored event. Violent deaths associated with functioning U.S. primary and secondary schools, both public and private, are included in the surveillance system.

Major Findings

• About 90% of school-associated youth homicide incidents from 1994-2016 involved only one victim.
• Multiple-victim incidents accounted for only 10% of all school-associated youth homicide incidents from 1994-2016, but involved a disproportionate number of all youth homicide victims (18.6%) during this time.
• Single-victim school-associated homicides are similar to youth homicides unrelated to schools, often involving male, racial/ethnic minority victims, and occurring in urban settings.
• While single-victim school-associated youth homicide rates remained stable from 1994–2016, multiple-victim school-associated youth homicide incidence rates increased significantly from July 2009 to June 2018.
• From 1994-2018, 95% of multiple-victim school-associated youth homicides were caused by firearm-related injuries.
• Firearms used in school-associated homicides and suicides came primarily from the perpetrator’s home or from friends or relatives.
• Nearly 50% of homicide perpetrators gave some type of warning signal, such as making a threat or leaving a note, before the event.

These findings underscore the importance of preventing violence at school as well as in communities.

Trends in School-Associated Violent Deaths—1992-2016

Unhealthy relationships can start early and last a lifetime. Teens often think some behaviors, like teasing and name-calling, are a “normal” part of a relationship. However, these behaviors can become abusive and develop into more serious forms of violence.

What is teen dating violence?

Teen Dating Violence is defined as the physical, sexual, psychological, or emotional aggression within a dating relationship, including stalking. It can occur in person or electronically and might occur between a current or former dating partner. Several different words are used to describe teen dating violence. Below are just a few:

• Relationship abuse
• Intimate partner violence
• Relationship violence
• Dating abuse
• Domestic abuse
• Domestic violence

Teen dating violence is widespread with serious long-term and short-term effects. Many teens do not report it because they are afraid to tell friends and family. The 2015 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey found that nearly 12% of high school females reported physical violence and nearly 16% reported sexual violence from a dating partner in the 12 months before they were surveyed. For high school males, more than 7% reported physical violence and about 5% reported sexual violence from a dating partner.

A CDC Report found among victims of contact sexual violence, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner, nearly 23% of females and 14% of males first experienced some form of violence by that partner before age 18.

What are the consequences of teen dating violence?

As teens develop emotionally, they are heavily influenced by experiences in their relationships. Healthy relationship behaviors can have a positive effect on a teen’s emotional development. Unhealthy, abusive, or violent relationships can have short- and long-term negative effects on a developing teen. Youth who experience dating violence are more likely to:

• Experience symptoms of depression and anxiety
• Engage in unhealthy behaviors, such as using tobacco, drugs, and alcohol
• Exhibit antisocial behaviors
• Think about suicide

Additionally, youth who are victims of dating violence in high school are at higher risk for victimization during college.

Why does teen dating violence happen?

Teens receive messages about how to behave in relationships from peers, adults, and the media. All too often these examples suggest that violence in a relationship is normal, but violence is never acceptable.

Violence is related to certain risk factors. The risk of having unhealthy relationships increases for teens who:

• Believe that dating violence is acceptable
• Are depressed, anxious, or have other symptoms of trauma
• Display aggression towards peers or display other aggressive behaviors
• Use drugs or illegal substances
• Engage in early sexual activity and have multiple sexual partners
• Have a friend involved in teen dating violence
• Have conflicts with a partner
• Witness or experience violence in the home

Communicating with your partner, managing uncomfortable emotions like anger and jealousy, and treating others with respect are a few ways to keep relationships healthy and nonviolent. Dating violence can be prevented when teens, families, organizations, and communities work together to implement effective prevention strategies.

How can we stop teen dating violence it before it starts?

Supporting the development of healthy, respectful, and nonviolent relationships has the potential to reduce the occurrence of TDV and prevent its harmful and longlasting effects on individuals, their families, and the communities where they live.
During the pre-teen and teen years, it is critical for youth to begin to learn the skills needed—such as effectively managing feelings and using healthy communication—to create and foster healthy relationships.

Teach safe and healthy relationship skills

• Social-emotional learning programs for youth
• Healthy relationship programs for couples

Engage Influential adults and peers

• Men and boys as allies in prevention
• Bystsander empowerment and education
• Family-based programs

Disrupt the developmental pathways toward partner violence

• Early childhood home visitations
• Preschool enrichment with family engagement
• Parenting skill and family relationship programs
• Treatment for at-rish children, youth, and families

Create protective environments

• Improve school climate and safety
• Improve organizational policies and workplace climate
• Modify the physical and social environments of neighborhoods

Strengthen economic supports for families

• Strengthen household financial security
• Strengthen work-family supports

Support survivors to increase saftey and lessen harms

• Victim-centered services
• First responder and civil legal protections
• Treatment and support for survivors of intimate partner violence, including teen dating violence
• Housing programs
• Patient-centered approaches

Many of us are facing challenges that can be stressful, overwhelming, and cause strong emotions in adults and children. Public health actions, such as social distancing, can make us feel isolated and lonely and can increase stress and anxiety.

After a traumatic event, people may have strong and lingering reactions. Learning healthy ways to cope and getting the right care and support can help reduce stressful feelings and symptoms.

The symptoms may be physical or emotional. Common reactions to a stressful event can include:

• Disbelief
• Feelings of fear, shock, anger, sadness, worry, numbness, or frustration
• Changes in appetite, energy, desires, and interests
• Difficulty sleeping or nightmares, concentrating, and making decisions
• Physical reactions, such as headaches, body pains, stomach problems, and skin rashes
• Worsening of chronic health problems
• Worsening of mental health conditions
• Increased use of tobacco, alcohol, and other substances

It is natural to feel stress, anxiety, grief, and worry during traumatic events such as mass shootings, natural disasters, or pandemics. Below are ways that you can help yourself, others, and your community manage stress.

Healthy Ways to Cope with Stress

Feeling emotional and nervous or having trouble sleeping and eating can all be normal reactions to stress. Here are some healthy ways you can deal with stress:

• Take breaks from watching, reading, or listening to news stories, including those on social media. It’s good to be informed but hearing about the traumatic event constantly can be upsetting. Consider limiting news to just a couple of times a day and disconnecting from phone, tv, and computer screens for a while.
• Take care of yourself. Eat healthy, exercise, get plenty of sleep, and give yourself a break if you feel stressed out.
• Take care of your body.
  • Take deep breaths, stretch, or meditate.
  • Try to eat healthy, well-balanced meals.
  • Exercise regularly.
  • Get plenty of sleep.
  • Avoid excessive alcohol, tobacco, and substance use.
  • Continue with routine preventive measures (such as vaccinations, cancer screenings, etc.) as recommended by your healthcare provider.
  • Get vaccinated against COVID-19 as soon as possible; get a booster shot if you are age 18 or older.
• Make time to unwind. Try to do some other activities you enjoy.
• Talk to others. Talk with people you trust about your concerns and how you are feeling. Share your problems and how you are feeling and coping with a parent, friend, counselor, doctor, or pastor.
• Connect with your community- or faith-based organizations.
• Avoid drugs and alcohol. These may seem to help, but they can create additional problems and increase the stress you are already feeling.
• Recognize when you need more help. If problems continue or you are thinking about suicide, talk to a psychologist, social worker, or professional counselor.

Helping Others Cope

Taking care of yourself can better equip you to take care of others. During times of social distancing, it is especially important to stay connected with your friends and family. Helping others cope with stress through phone calls or video chats can help you and your loved ones feel less lonely or isolated.

Helping Children and Youth Cope with Stress

Children and youth often struggle with how to cope with stress. Youth can be particularly overwhelmed when their stress is connected to a traumatic event—like a natural disaster, family loss, school shootings, or community violence. Parents, caregivers, and educators can take steps to provide stability and support that help young people feel better.

Tips

Tips for Parents and Caregivers
It is natural for children to worry when scary or stressful events happen in their lives. Talking to your children about these events can help put frightening information into a more balanced setting. Monitor what children see and hear about stressful events happening in their lives. Here are some suggestions to help children cope:

• Maintain a normal routine. Helping children wake up, go to sleep, and eat meals at regular times provide them a sense of stability.
• Talk, listen, and encourage expression. Listen to your child’s thoughts and feelings and share some of yours. After a traumatic event, it is important for children to feel they can share their feelings and that you understand their fears and worries.
• Watch and listen. Be alert for any change in behavior. Any changes in behavior may be signs that your child is having trouble and may need support.
• Stressful events can challenge a child’s sense of safety and security. Reassure your child about his or her safety and well-being. Discuss ways that you, the school, and the community are taking steps to keep them safe.
• Connect with others. Talk to other parents and your child’s teachers about ways to help your child cope. It is often helpful for parents, schools, and health professionals to work together for the well-being of all children in stressful times.

Tips for Kids and Teens
After a traumatic event, it is normal to feel anxious about your safety and security. Even if you were not directly involved, you may worry about whether this type of event may someday affect you. Check out the tips below for some ideas to help deal with these fears.

• Talk to and stay connected to others. Talking with someone you trust can help you make sense out of your experience. If you are not sure where to turn, call your local crisis intervention center or a national hotline.
• Take care of yourself. Try to get plenty of sleep, eat right, exercise, and keep a normal routine.
• Take information breaks. Pictures and stories about a disaster can increase worry and other stressful feelings. Taking breaks from the news, Internet, and conversations about the disaster can help calm you down.

Tips for School Personnel
School personnel can help their students restore their sense of safety by talking with the children about their fears. Other tips for school personnel include:

• Reach out and talk. Create opportunities to have students talk, but do not force them. You can be a model by sharing some of your own thoughts as well as correct misinformation.
• Watch and listen. Be alert for any change in behavior. Are students withdrawing from friends? Acting out? These changes may be early signs that a student is struggling and needs extra support from the school and family.
• Maintain normal routines. A regular classroom and school schedule can provide a sense of stability and safety. Encourage students to keep up with their schoolwork and extracurricular activities but do not push them if they seem overwhelmed.
• Take care of yourself. You are better able to support your students if you are healthy, coping and taking care of yourself first. Eat healthy, exercise, get plenty of sleep, and give yourself a break if you feel stressed out.

Life can get challenging sometimes, and it’s important for kids (and adults!) to develop strategies for coping with stress or anxiety. This stress catcher “fortune teller” offers some strategies children can practice and use to help manage stress and other difficult emotions.

Create Your Stress Catcher

Download and print the PDF template, and then follow these steps to create your own personal stress catcher.

• Step 1. Color the stress catcher (on page 2), and cut out the square.
• Step 2. Place the stress catcher face down. Fold each corner to the opposite corner and then unfold to create two diagonal creases in the square.
• Step 3. Fold each corner toward the center of the square so that the numbers and colors are facing you. Turn over the square, and again fold each corner into the center so that the color names are visible.
• Step 4. Fold the square in half so that the color names are touching, and the numbers are on the outside. Now open it and fold it in half the other way.
• Step 5. Insert your thumb and first finger of each hand (pinching motion) under the number flaps.
• Step 6. Close the stress catcher so only the numbers show.

Use Your Stress Catcher

• Pick a number, and open and close the stress catcher that number of times.
• Next, pick a color and spell out the color name, opening and closing the stress catcher for each letter.
• Then pick a color that is visible and open that flap.
• Read what it says, and practice the coping strategy.
• This game can be played with one or two players and is a way to practice coping strategies.