School of Public Health to study violent behavior
The School of Public Health will collaborate with San Bernardino and Redlands school districts to study the experience of violence among 7th and 8th graders.
Emmanuel Rudatsikira, MD, MPH, assistant professor of international health, School of Public Health, will serve as principal investigator for the study.
According to experts, youth violence is a public health emergency in the U.S. Between 1989 and 1994, arrests for homicide among youth ages 14 to 17 increased by 41 percent, compared to an increase of 18 percent for young people ages 18 to 24.
Overall, juvenile felony arrests in San Bernardino County increased by 59 percent between 1984 and 1993. Homicide became the leading cause of injury and death to children in the county in 1993.
From 1987 to 1994, attempted homicide and assaults accounted for 15 percent of all childhood trauma cases at LLUMC.
Implications for the health of school-aged children are severe. From July 1, 1992, to June 30, 1994, the first nationwide investigation of violent deaths associated with United States schools identified 105 school-associated deaths. Occurring in communities of all sizes in 25 states, homicide deaths were responsible for 80.9 percent of the total deaths.
Information about the experience of violence among pre-teens is scarce, according to Dr. Rudatsikira. This study, funded by the Center for Health Research, will help fill the information gap and lead to the development of intervention and prevention strategies that will more effectively use existing resources.
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