Bright Future May Help Teens Avoid Violence

If teens are offered the possibility of a good future, they may become more peaceful. A survey of 866 male teens in poorer neighborhoods showed that those who had a positive outlook were less likely to say that they’d threatened somebody else or injured others with a weapon in the past nine months. Based on the findings, researcher Dr. Alison Culyba writes, “Designing youth violence prevention interventions to help teens develop a positive future orientation may be an important part of reducing violence perpetration.” JAMA Pediatrics, June 2018