Violence in the lives of adolescents
Violence in the Lives of Adolescents provides answers to some of the most pressing questions about today's youth: Why is there so much violence in their lives? Why is so little being done about it? What can be done to shape safer lives for adolescents? How can therapists evaluate and treat an adolescent who has been touched by violence? The author describes the book's theoretical framework as the ecology of violence; therapists can intervene to stop violence on any of four ecological levels - individual, family, community, social policy. Following a brief history of adolescence in America, Chapter 1 explores the effects of violence on normal adolescent and family development. Chapters 2 through 6 present five case studies, which illustrate the ecological approach to five crucial issues: suicide attempts, sexual abuse/running away, delinquency, juvenile sexual offending, and physical abuse of adolescents. For each case the author not only presents theory and research, but also demonstrates the process of individual and family treatment. . The final two chapters discuss community and self-help approaches and social policy, development as ways for curbing adolescent violence. Action at these two higher ecological levels, community and social policy, influence the extent to which violence will shape the lives of adolescents; these two chapters suggest that today's victims are not inevitably tomorrow's victims and offenders. Despite the difficulties of living with, working with, and being an adolescent, this developmental period offers wonderful opportunities to break the cycle of violence. To intervene most effectively, therapists have to be able to view violence through personal, professional, and political lenses. This book offers a way to put what we know, and what works, into action.
Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Mental Health. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.
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What the reading experience may hold
A fuller profile for choosing with more confidence—not just another copy of the preview.
Mental Health
Use these as starting points rather than limits; the most memorable books often stretch beyond their catalog labels.
Catalog signals suggest violence, death, or criminal harm, abuse or trauma, suicide or self-harm, mental-health concerns. These notes may not be complete; consult a publisher or reader-supplied guide when detailed warnings matter.
These notes are inferred from available catalog information and may not be complete. Check a publisher or reader-supplied guide if you need comprehensive warnings.
Balanced tone · Urgent pace
A comfortable full-length choice for steady daily reading.
A good fit if…
Readers who want a thoughtful experience and enjoy noticing the connections beneath a book’s surface story.
This book's DNA
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Spoiler-Free Emotional Arc
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A quick reading snapshot
Edition facts and catalog signals to help you decide whether this book fits what you want to read next.
- ISBN-13
- 978-0-3937-0186-9
- Language
- English
- Edition record
- OL1102757M
A more thoughtful way into this book
This guide uses the edition details and category signals above to help you choose deliberately. It does not replace the author's work or a full review.
A comfortable full-length choice for steady daily reading.
Begin with its place in Mental Health, then notice where the book resists that label.
Read for connection, not completion.
Mark one passage that sharpens the book's central concern and one that complicates it. That tension often reveals more than a quick summary.
Three questions to carry with you
- Which ideas feel usable in your actual circumstances—not only persuasive on the page?
- Where does the author distinguish evidence, experience, and opinion?
- What would a small, humane experiment with one idea look like?
Editorial framework by Wesley Bryan, BookenDeX Founder and Editor.
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