title: Impact of a universal school-based violence prevention program on violent delinquency: distinctive benefits for youth with maltreatment histories.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Child maltreatment constitutes a strong risk factor for violent delinquency in adolescence, with cumulative experiences of maltreatment creating increasingly greater risk. Our previous work demonstrated that a universal school-based violence prevention program could provide a protective impact for youth at risk for violent delinquency due to child maltreatment history. In this study we conducted a follow-up to determine if participation in a school-based violence prevention program in grade 9 continued to provide a buffering effect on engaging in acts of violent delinquency for maltreated youth, 2 years post-intervention.
  
  
  METHODS
  Secondary analyses were conducted using data from a cluster randomized controlled trial of a comprehensive school-based violence prevention program. Students (N=1,722; 52.8% female) from 20 schools participated in 21 75-min lessons in grade 9 health classes. Individual data (i.e., gender, child maltreatment experiences, and violent delinquency in grade 9) and school-level data (i.e., student perception of safety averaged across students in each school) were entered in a multilevel model to predict violent delinquency at the end of grade 11.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Individual- and school-level factors predicting violent delinquency in grade 11 replicated previous findings from grade 9: being male, experiencing child maltreatment, being violent in grade 9, and attending a school with a lower perceived sense of safety among the entire student body increased violent delinquency. The cross-level interaction of individual maltreatment history and school-level intervention was also replicated: in non-intervention schools, youth with more maltreatment in their background were increasingly likely to engage in violent delinquency. The strength of this relationship was significantly attenuated in intervention schools.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Follow-up findings are consistent with the buffering effect of the prevention program previously found post-intervention for the subsample of youth with maltreatment histories.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A relative inexpensive school-based violence prevention program that has been shown to reduce dating violence among the whole student body also creates a protective effect for maltreated youth with respect to lowering their likelihood of engaging in violent delinquency.
authors.affiliation: CAMH Centre for Prevention Science, 100 Collip Circle, Ste. 100, London, Ontario N69 4X8, Canada.
authors.forename: Claire V
authors.initials: CV
authors.lastname: Crooks
authors.forename: Katreena
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Scott
authors.forename: Wendy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ellis
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Wolfe
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology; D003479:Curriculum; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D007604:Juvenile Delinquency / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D009864:Ontario; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012574:Schools; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014754:Violence / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data