How Education can Prevent Violence

Today we have a guest posting from Lindsey Wright. The article doesn't necessarily represent the
opinions of Americans for UNESCO.
Bio: Lindsey Wright is fascinated with the potential of emerging educational technologies, particularly the online
school, to transform the landscape of learning. She writes about web-based learning, electronic and mobile
learning, and the possible future of education.
Violence is all too pervasive in society; from abusive parents to genocide. In fact, violence is considered a public
health issue by the World Health Organization (WHO). According to the WHO website, violence kills more than 1.5
million people worldwide. WHO, like plenty of other organizations, is working to prevent violence not only to save
lives, but to also prevent the other negative impacts of violence. For example, part of WHO's mission states
violence places a massive burden on national economies, costing countries billions of U.S. dollars each year in
health care, law enforcement, and lost productivity. In particular, WHO is working to prevent through education. A
proper education, whether it be through online courses or in a classroom, can help encourage young adults that
they can have a successful future away from crime and abusive substances.
Even though its important to understand the ways in which to prevent violence, understanding why humans are
innately violent is just as important. Actually, there is little evidence that proves whether humans are innately
violent, but rather, a harsh environment creates conditions in which violence is necessary to ensure both personal
and cultural survival. Research has shown that when exposed to violence, individuals must also be taught to value
or at least engage in violence as part of the social learning process. For instance, children who behave violently are
usually the product of a home in which one or both parents model violence. Thus, violence is a learned behavior in
any culture or environment and is not proven to be a natural trait in humans.
There are many areas in which one could educate a person in order to prevent violence. One way is through
impulse control and anger management classes. It is important to note however that having proper role models
can be key to young adults when they are attempting to attain these skills in a class. Having an appropriate role
model will not allow them to seek advice, but will give them someone to mirror themselves after and witness their
appropriate behaviors in the face of problems, conflict, anger and stress. A few examples of some great role
models are parents, teachers, and close family friends.
Another way that education can help prevent violence is through formal education. Formal education provides an
opportunity for children to learn important social skills, critical thinking skills, problem-solving strategies, and
communication skills. In fact, according to an article from the Good website, 80 percent of incarcerated people are
illiterate. School performance, more than any other single factor, is a major contributor as to whether a youth
becomes involved in drugs or violence. Basically, if a child grows up struggling in school the chances are they will
develop a low self-esteem or a desire to drop out of school. If children give up on their education then there are
not many options for them to pursue as adults; hence, resulting to a life of crime. Of course this isnt the case for
all children struggling in school, but according to the Good website, studies have proven that if a child reads on
grade level by the end of 3rd grade, there is a 99 percent certainty that child will never be incarcerated.
Health care professionals also play a crucial role in violence prevention education. The Institute of Medicine
recommends that all individuals who seek health care should be screened for intimate partner violence. Screening
offers an opportunity for patient education in a non-judgmental and supportive arena. This gives health care
professionals the opportunity to educate their patients about violence and validate other options for managing
stress or conflict.
Children live what they learn. Parents can learn necessary skills to impart appropriate behavior expectations and
model the behavior they want to see in their children. Organizations can help their employees learn about violence
and provide resources to learn new skills. There are many successful strategies available and can be adapted to fit
the needs of a particular school or workplace. All in all, education is the key to violence prevention.
Editor's note: Of course, UNESCO is the lead agency within the United Nations system for education, playing a
key role in the global Education for All effort. It also has defined the Culture of Peace as a central theme for the
entire Organization, involving all of its sectors. JAD

The Link between Early Childhood Education and Crime and Violence Reduction High quality early
learning and care is one of the most powerful weapons against crime, while poor early childhood
education multiplies the risk that children will grow up to be a threat to every American family. Quality
Child Care Cuts Crime Powerful evidence from one study after another proves that high quality care in
the first years of life can greatly reduce the risk that todays babies and toddlers will become
tomorrows violent teens and adults.1 New research on Chicagos government-funded Child-Parent
Centers tracked 3 and 4 year olds enrolled in the program for 15 years.2 Children who did not
participate in the preschool program were 70% more likely to be arrested for a violent crime by age 18.
This confirms similar results from the High/Scope Perry preschool program. 3 A 22-year study of this
program showed that leaving at-risk children out of this program multiplied by five times the risk that
they would become chronic lawbreakers as adults. 9% 15% Youth who received preschool program
Those who did not Child Parent Centers: Violent Arrest by Age 18 7% 35% Youth who received preschool
program Those who did not High Scope/Perry Preschool: Chronic Offenders (over 4 arrests) at Age 27
Children from child care centers receiving assistance from North Carolinas Smart Start quality
improvement program were half as likely as comparison children to rate poorly on behavior problems in
kindergarten.4 This is important because research consistently shows that children who exhibit problem
behaviors in the early grades are at far greater risk than other children of becoming teen delinquents
and adult criminals.5 Large national studies show that at-risk kids who attended quality child care
programs had no more behavior problems at age eight than did children of college-educated moms.6
But those at-risk kids who received poor quality care had significantly more problem behaviors.
Prevention Results in Cost Savings Investments in early childhood education lead to large economic
savings. The Child-Parent Center program has served 100,000 Chicago kids and will prevent an
estimated 13,000 violent juvenile crimes. It is saving taxpayers, victims, and participants over $7 for
every $1 invested, without counting pain and suffering from crimes. A study released by Vanderbilt
University estimates that the potential benefits in saving a high-risk youth from becoming a typical
career criminal are between $1 and $1.3 million.
Law Enforcement is Supportive Law enforcement is united in its support of early childhood education as
a strategy for crime prevention. In a recent survey conducted by George Mason University, when police
chiefs were asked to rate various strategies on their value as a crime prevention tool, high quality
early learning and care was given the highest rating for effectiveness by three to ten times more chiefs
than such alternatives as trying more juveniles as adults, building more juvenile detention facilities, or
installing more metal detectors in schools.8 Nearly 9 out of 10 police chiefs said that America could
greatly reduce crime by expanding quality child care programs.

Effect of Education on Prevention of Domestic Violence against Women

Fatemeh Noughani, Ph.D1 and Jamileh Mohtashami, Ph.D
Author information Copyright and License information

This article has been cited by other articles in PMC.

Abstract
At least 20% of women, worldwide, have been abused sexually or physically by a man in their life time. World
Health Organization (WHO) (1997) has stated that violence against women is a priority issue in the fields of health
and human rights (1).
Approximately 2.1 million women are physically assaulted and/or raped every year in the United States. Of these
assaults or rapes, 1.5 million are abused by intimate partners: current or former spouses, boy friends, or girl friends,
including different or same-sex partners (2).
Domestic violence leads to a quarter of serious physical assaults on women, and nearly a third of all female
homicides. Domestic violence arises when one partner seeks to dominate or control the other partner physically or
psychologically (3, 4).
In 1998, approximately 900,000 U.S women reported to be physically or sexually assaulted by their intimate
partners in a criminal justice survey, compared to 1.1 million in 1993. A life time estimates vary from 5% to 51%,
with the most usual range between 25% and 35% (5, 6). Unfortunately, we do not have any accurate data on
domestic violence in Iran, but UNICEF states that 35% of women in Middle East reported being beaten by their
husbands at same point in their marriage (7).
Domestic violence is a significant cause of death, disability, and injury in the United States (8). The American
Medical Association (1992) has declared domestic violence as a public health problem of epidemic proportions.
The effect of domestic violence on women, children, families, and communities is multidimensional, affecting many
issues of social, psychological, physical, economic, legal, and political human functions (9, 10).
As a consequence of severe intimate partner violence, women more likely than men need to take medical attention
(11, 12), abstinence from work, and spend more days in bed as a result of being victimized. The psychological
consequences for those women who are the victims of intimate partners' violence are as follows: depression, suicidal
thoughts (6) and attempts, lowered self-esteem, alcohol and substance abuse, and post-traumatic stress disorder (2).
Family violence, and domestic violence specifically, has been increasingly recognized by the medical community as
a serious, non-remitting epidemic with adverse health consequences. This awareness, and the need to seek long
lasting solutions have been the major focus of international congresses, conferences and meetings around the world
(13, 7).
Women need to be empowered through education, employment opportunities, legal literacy, and right to inheritance.
In addition, education and information on domestic violence should be provided for them (14). Therefore, we
studied the effect of teaching on prevention of domestic violence against women employees in different faculties of
Tehran University of Medical Sciences and Health Services.
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Materials and Methods
An interventional, quasi experimental study has been conducted on the effect of teaching on prevention of domestic
violence against women employees in different faculties of Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Study group
consisted of 851 women from seven faculties of Tehran University, central organization and consultation center.
Among these women, forty-four claimed that they some how experienced family abuse, and therefore, all were
selected to participate in the study. Subjects were introduced to researchers by their friends and consolers
(purposeful sampling).

Participants did not show any signs of interest to participate in educational classes, therefore, the researcher
contacted them privately and obtained their consent.
The instrument of data collection was a questionnaire which included three sections. The first part consisted of 13
items about demographic characteristics; the second part contained spouse demographic data; and the third section
included 79 items about types of physical and mental/psychological assault, causes and consequences of domestic
violence, and how to manage them.
Content validity was ascertained by asking 15 faculty members, psychologist, psychiatric nurse, midwifery's,
community health, pediatric and medical-surgical nurses and women who suffer from domestic violence. Face
validity was also identified. Internal consistency(Cronbach's ) measurement was performed for scale reliability.
The results were as follows: types of domestic violence, r=0.74; causes of violence, r=0.85; rate of domestic
violence, r =0.74; and how to manage, r=0.80,indicated correlations.
An instructional booklet, prepared by the researchers, was given to the participants after they completed the
questionnaire. This booklet contained information about kind of domestic violence, causes, consequences, and the
ways to manage them.
To compare the impact of training, the same questionnaires were distributed to subjects again after six months.