Violence among children and adolescents and the role of the pediatrician

Violence has reached epidemic proportions in the United States and has become the single most important public health problem affecting adolescent males. It is believed that violence and its subsequent morbidity and mortality have a multifactorial origin, including development factors, gang involvement, access of firearms, drugs, the media, poverty, and family violence. Pediatricians have a critical role in reducing violence through early identification of family violence, education and counseling to decrease well-known risk factors, and provision of nonviolent problem-solving and coping strategies to children, youth, and their families. It is essential that we initiate preventive measures now rather than be paralyzed by the weight of the crisis.