Aggressors, Victims, and Bystanders (AVB)

A Conversation about Violence Prevention

With Ron Slaby, Ph.D., EDC researcher Violence is one of the most common, socially transmittable, and personally destructive problems we face. As violence in America rises to staggering levels, its effects reach younger children and youth in more and more communities.

Violence does not simply appear mysteriously and full blown in an adolescent. Rather, violence is learned; therefore, it can be unlearned or conditions can be changed so that it is not learned in the first place. Thus, a key to preventing violence lies in building children's internal resources to protect them against violence.

Ron Slaby, Ph.D., psychologist and co-author (along with Renee Wilson-Simmons, Dr.P.H. and Kimberly Dash, M.P.H.) of the THTM middle school violence prevention module Aggressors, Victims, and Bystanders, is a researcher who has spent decades studying children's aggressive behavior and effective prevention strategies. Says Slaby, "We know from our research that behavior leading to violence is guided strongly by an individual's habits of thought. An aggressive youth will commonly show a tendency to act impulsively, hold beliefs that support the use of violence, and lack skills in solving social problems. Youth who are repeatedly victimized also may develop habits of thought that put them at risk for violence. And the majority of youth—who are neither aggressors nor victims—play an important bystander role that often influences whether violence will occur."

While teachers alone cannot be responsible for helping young people to prevent violence, they can help students develop their own resources for solving social problems in effective and nonviolent ways. The middle school years represent a pivotal age for developing the habits of thought that will carry the preadolescent child into adolescence and young adulthood. Significant evidence exists to show that an individual's risk for violence can be changed through classroom intervention.

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Description of Aggressors, Victims, and Bystanders

The backbone of Aggressors, Victims, and Bystanders is the four-step Think-First Model of Conflict Resolution. The Think-First Model provide students with a framework for dealing with and changing the habits of thought that can result in violence. Through engaging classroom activities, students explore the Model in depth and practice the skills needed to carry out each step effectively in real-world conflict solutions.

Aggressors, Victims, and Bystanders is organized in the following manner:

• Session 1: Looking at Conflict in Our Lives
• Session 2: When Conflicts Become Violence
• Session 3: Examining Beliefs About Conflict and Violence
• Session 4: The Fight in Your Head
• Session 5: Keeping Cool
• Session 6: Sizing Up the Situation
• Session 7: Sizing Up the Situation Again
• Session 8: Thinking It Through
• Session 9: Thinking It Through Again
• Session 10: Doing the Right Thing
• Session 11: Delivering the Message
• Session 12: Visions of a Nonviolent World

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Results in the Classroom

Aggressors, Victims, and Bystanders has been extensively field-tested with nearly 700 students in urban, suburban, and small-city school districts. In schools in communities at high risk for violence, the curriculum changed students' thoughts and actions away from support of violence to increased:

• beliefs that aggression in not a desirable response
• intentions to resolve conflicts without aggression
• attempts to avoid violence and seek relevant information
• withdrawal of bystander acceptance and encouragement of aggression

For more information about awards and recognition that AVB has received go to "Who Says Aggressors, Victims, and Bystanders is Effective?"

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Sample Activity from Aggressors, Victims, and Bystanders

To see a sample violence activity, go here

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