An overview of reported youth violence in Puerto Rico.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this paper is to describe the prevalence of school and youth violence in Puerto Rico based on several representative samples surveyed in the Island during the 1990's.


BACKGROUND
Reviewing the available data on youth violence is necessary in order to decide the best strategies to follow in developing new ways to prevent and monitor it.


METHODS
Three surveys were reviewed in this paper: The Youth Risk Behavior Survey conducted by the Center for Disease Control (1991, 1995, 1997); The Methods for the Epidemiology of Child and Adolescent Mental Disorders Study (1991); and the Youth Survey (1997-98).


RESULTS
It was found that the prevalence of reported school violence in Puerto Rico tends to be somewhat lower than the prevalence reported in other sites of the U.S.A. Age and gender has a dramatic influence in the reports of youth violence in Puerto Rico. Male students are three times as likely to carry weapons than females and almost twice as likely to report hurting someone than females. Less than 10% of the male students ages 12-13 report carrying a weapon while fully 30% of those 18 year olds reported carrying a weapon. Being arrested also increases from only 3% in the youngest students surveyed to 10% on the oldest group (18 or older).


CONCLUSIONS
The CDC has recently reported that since the early 90's there has been a decrease in reported school violence in the U.S.A. This analysis of youth surveys replicated a similar tendency for Puerto Rican youngsters. Implications for prevention programs are discussed.
Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Graduate School of Public Health, Center for Hispanic Youth Violence Prevention, Filius Institute, University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Carmen Noemi
CN
Velez
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D000378:Agonistic Behavior; D000407:Alabama / Q000453:epidemiology; D003237:Connecticut / Q000453:epidemiology; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D005389:Firearms / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005391:Firesetting Behavior; D006801:Humans; D007604:Juvenile Delinquency / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends; D008297:Male; D009518:New York / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D011647:Puerto Rico; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012574:Schools / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012940:Social Problems; D014754:Violence / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends