From a team of leading experts comes a comprehensive, multidisciplinary examination of the most current research including the complex issue of violence and violent behavior. The handbook examines a range of theoretical, policy, and research issues and provides a comprehensive overview of aggressive and violent behavior. The breadth of coverage is impressive, ranging from research on biological factors related to violence and behavior-genetics to research on terrrorism and the impact of violence in different cultures. The authors examine violence from international cross-cultural perspectives, with chapters that examine both quantitative and qualitative research. They also look at violence at multiple levels: individual, family, neighborhood, cultural, and across multiple perspectives and systems, including treatment, justice, education, and public health.

Author Biography

Dr Flannery is currently Professor of Justice Studies and Director of the Institute for the Study and Prevenetion of Violence at Kent State University. He was named a University Distinguished Scholar at KSU in 2006. He is a licensed clinical psychologist and an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Case Western Reserve University and University Hospitals of Cleveland. He is co-editor of Youth Violence: Precention, Intervention, and Social Policy (1999) for American Psychiatric Press and author of the recently released book Violence and Mental Health in Every Day Life: Prevention and Intervention for Children and Adolescents (2006) by Altamira Press. His primary areas of research are in youth violence prevention, the link between violence and mental health, and program evaluation. He received his PhD in 1991 in Clinical-Child Psychology from the Ohio State University. His previous appointments were as Assistant Professor of Family Studies at the University of Arizona, and as Associate Professor of Child Psychiatry at Case Western. He has published over 100 empirical articles and book chapters on youth violence prevention, delinquency, and parent-adolescent relations. He has also generated over $15 million in external support for his research. He has served as a consultant to various local and national organizations including the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Crime Prevention Council, and the National Resource Center for Safe Schools. Dr. Vazsonyi is currently the Professor of Human Development and Family Studies at Auburn University in Alabama. He has been a Fulbright Fellow, an Editor at the Journal of Early Adolescence, a Representative to the United Nations from Geneva and Vienna, and put on the Economic and Social Council for the American Society of Criminology. He is a reviewer for grants for the National Science Foundation, SAMHSA, the Department of Education, and reviews for over twenty journals. He has a particular interest in the application of a cross cultural and cross national comparative method of human development and violent behavior. Dr Waldman is currently a Professor of Psychology at Emory University in Atlanta, GA. He is a clinical psychologist with developmental interests who examines the genetic and environmental etiology of disruptive behavior disorders in childhood and adolescence. His current research explores the role of candidate genes in the development of externalizing behavior problems, as well as genetic and environmental influences on comorbidity and on the links between normal variation in symptoms and in personality in the general population.