Intervening in School-Based Youth Conflict: Violence Reduction, Positive Youth Development, Peer Mediation, and Conflict Resolution Education

Public concern over youthful conflict was heightened during the latter half of the twentieth century by surges in juvenile violence and crime. In the 1990s, the prevention approach to reducing juvenile violence expanded to include a positive youth development focus which involved interventions to reinforce young people’s strengths. Strategies were devised and implemented in programs, including such school-based interventions as conflict resolution education and peer mediation, to enable youngsters to constructively manage conflict and increase the likelihood of positive outcomes. A review of the research provides promising evidence for the effectiveness of such programs in diminishing and managing school-based youth conflict. Consequently, schools may choose from a variety of demonstrably effective intervention programs to minimize student conflict and can base their decision in part upon the ease of implementing and maintaining the quality of the programs under consideration