David Rudd, dean of t the University of Utah's college of social and behavioral science, is a clinical suicidologist. He has also served as consultant to the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army and the Department of Defense.
As the economic downturn forces more companies to lay off workers, a workplace aggression expert at the University of New Hampshire cautions employers about what to do and not do when breaking bad news to employees and to be watchful for employees who exhibit a “hostile attribution style.”
When a California high school student was gang raped recently, as many as two dozen people stood by while the girl was assaulted. Two UNH researchers have extensively studied the bystander phenomena in sexual assaults and are available to discuss it.
A troubling sexual assault case raises questions about the role of bystanders. Meanwhile, the University of Kentucky has received a $2 million CDC grant to take a bystander education/violence prevention program into high schools.
Violence between couples is usually the result of a calculated decision-making process and the partner inflicting violence will do so only as long as the price to be paid is not too high. This is the conclusion of a new study by Dr. Eila Perkis at the University of Haifa.
A new study from the University of New Hampshire finds that U.S. children are routinely exposed to even more violence and abuse than has been previously recognized, with nearly half experiencing a physical assault in the study year.
In a first-of its-kind study, epidemiologists at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine found that, on average, guns did not protect those who possessed them from being shot in an assault. The study estimated that people with a gun were 4.5 times more likely to be shot in an assault than those not possessing a gun.
Two political scientists, Dr. Douglas Gibler and Dr Karl DeRouen, have received a grant of $205,000 from the National Science Foundation to analyze the effectiveness of political settlements in ending international conflict.
C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health finds few parents would grade schools with an "A" for school bullying and violence prevention programs.
A UNC-led study finds that 75 percent of Cambodians believe the Khmer Rouge trials will provide justice and promote reconciliation, but more than 87 percent of people old enough to remember the torture and murder during the Khmer Rouge era say the trials will rekindle "painful memories."
Comprehensive regulation of gun sellers appears to reduce the trafficking of guns to criminals, according to a study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The study is the first to incorporate measures of the enforcement of gun sale laws into a study of the effectiveness of those laws.
Boys who carry a particular variation of the gene Monoamine oxidase A (MAOA), sometimes called the "warrior gene," are more likely not only to join gangs but also to be among the most violent members and to use weapons, according to a new study from The Florida State University that is the first to confirm an MAOA link specifically to gangs and guns.
The recent string of violence among families throughout the country have increased the need for community resources to support those touched by the tragedies. Educational resources available from the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress, or CSTS of the USU, may be helpful in communities where tragedy and violence have shaken a normally quiet atmosphere.
Arizona State's David Altheide builds on his two-decade study of mass media messages of fear to argue that Columbine and other school shootings were redefined as a form of terrorism that was consistent with news emphases and social control efforts that emerged prior to the invasion of Iraq.
Though media hype insinuates that Mexican drug violence is crossing the border, a Texas Tech expert says violence declining, solution should be shared by U.S. and Mexico.
The record number of soldier suicides in 2009 is most likely due to the redeployment of soldiers with psychiatric illnesses and a small army fighting a long war, according to a Texas Tech University expert on suicide.
Crime expert and American University School of Public Affairs professor Lynn Addington can provide insight into what has been learned about school violence in the 10 years since the massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado. Addington can explain what can be done to prevent more shootings and some of the misconceptions in the last decade.
Ten years after the horrific massacre at Columbine High School sharpened the nation's views on youth violence, Binghamton University researcher Mary Muscari sees cause for optimism "” and for deep concern "” about the way adolescents are growing up in America.
States that perform local-level background checks for firearms purchases are more effective in reducing firearm suicide and homicide rates than states that rely only on a federal-level background check, according to a new study by researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.
Brian Monahan, an assistant professor of sociology at Iowa State University, says coverage of the Virginia Tech shooting falls under his definition of a "public drama." His research on how media constructed the events of Sept. 11, 2001 into the iconic public drama "9/11" will be the topic of a book he's publishing next year.
Columbine Remembered: April 20th marks the ninth anniversary of the shooting rampage. How Far Have We Come? Despite the widespread adoption of school security technology and screening measures, school violence is still a major issue facing today's adolescents and young adults, as evidenced by the more recent shootings including: Northern Illinois University on February 14, 2008, E.O. Green Junior High School in Oxnard, CA on February 12, 2008 and Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007. Statistics show that one in 12 high school students are threatened or injured with a weapon each year.
Students on college campuses should not hesitate to call the police if they suspect another student or faculty member could commit a violent act, says a criminal justice professor who has written extensively on the subject of school safety. In light of recent shootings at campuses in Illinois and Arkansas, Chester Quarles said students have a collective responsibility to act and diffuse potentially violent situations.
Harold Huffman, campus safety and security program manager, is a nationally-consulted expert in the areas of prevention, response and recovery of educational-facility implemented violence from bullying to aggravated assault behaviors "“ all relevant issues in our state and nation.
Tragically, the Northern Illinois University and others like it illustrate the profound need for heightened security in large public spaces such as malls, corporate campuses, schools, and health care facilities. Security expert, John X. Adiletta discusses steps to improve security and public spaces and financial ramifications for increased security.
Schools have a tendency to close for the entire week after a shooting incident but it would be better if they remained open. At the very least they should be open for counseling, says a psychologist who has written four books on school crises and served on counseling teams after the shootings at Littleton, CO and Red Lake, MN.
School shootings, while heinous and frightening, remain relatively rare events, However, they leave behind a devastating aftermath of loss and psychological trauma and we need to take steps to recognize kids at risk to prevent further carnage.
A study by Vanderbilt's Shari Barkin, M.D., and colleagues found that a high number of families who own guns admit their guns are not always safely stored.
Few families store their firearms safely, according to a pediatric researcher at Brenner Children's Hospital, part of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. Robert H. DuRant, Ph.D., and his colleagues' research study results are published in the June issue of Pediatrics.
From three experiments of video simulations of shoot-no shoot decision scenarios with police officers, community members and college students, researchers from the University of Chicago, the University of Colorado at Boulder and the University of Denver determined that training and experience is effective in minimizing decisions based on stereotyped views.
In the wake of the tragic shootings at Virginia Tech, America is asking tough questions about its gun laws. But at the same time, Americans are also asking if stricter gun laws will really lead to less violence. Maria Kefalas, Ph.D., sociologist and director of Saint Joseph's University's Institute for Violence Research and Prevention is not convinced that it's the guns that equal violence.
In the hours immediately following the worst mass shooting in American history, a group of neighboring students, faculty, and administrators sprang into action to assist those in need, from the most grievously injured to the simply stunned student body at Virginia Tech.
Brian Quigley, Ph.D., director of counseling & psychological services at Marymount Manhattan College, is available for comment on the role of college counseling centers, particularly in the wake of the Virginia Tech tragedy.
Gregg Lee Carter, professor at Bryant University and a scholar of guns in America, calls Virginia Tech shooter Cho Seung-hui a "poster child for the failure of gun control" in the United States. "Everybody who wrote the Brady Law and the Gun Control Act of 1968 did so with the intention that someone like Cho never obtain a firearm," says Carter, "and he got two of them without any trouble."
Friends and family members of college students should provide a listening ear regarding students' fears and concerns about the Virginia Tech tragedy, says a Purdue University expert who studied how college students coped with 9/11.
School violence expert has conducted research involving a long-term national study of the behavior and patterns in the lives of 15 school shooters involved in 13 incidences of targeted school violence in American schools from 1996 to 2005.
A Purdue University communication expert says incivility is on the rise because people are lonely from lacking the basic relationships and friendships that are essential to human beings.
The following NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital experts are available to speak on the subjects of criminal psychiatry, mental and physical trauma, grief counseling, and PTSD.
Experts in grieving and post-traumatic stress disorder are available as sources for media covering the aftermath of the tragic shootings at Virginia Tech.
The killings at Virginia Tech have once again brought the issue of school violence to the forefront. Joseph Gasper, a graduate student in the Department of Sociology at Johns Hopkins, studies the nature of school crime and juvenile violence, as well as causes and prevention.
Pay attention. That is one of three keys to preventing tragedies like the one at Virginia Tech this week, according to Kansas State University's Briana Nelson Goff.
The American Academy of Pediatrics has a number of pediatricians who specialize in violence prevention and mental health issues available for interviews to discuss the recent campus shooting tragedy at Virginia Tech.
To help the media answer questions about the tragedy at Virginia Tech, Cornell University is offering psychology experts that specialize in identifying potential mental health problems in a student population and school violence. To reach these experts, call Blaine Friedlander at (607) 254-8093.
Death Education and Counseling association makes resources available to those affected by the Virginia Tech shootings and encourages sensitivity to those who show post-traumatic responses.
In the wake of the April 16 fatal shootings at Virginia Tech, several Central Michigan University faculty members are available to speak about the events from various perspectives.
A psychologist who has written four books on school crises and consulted at Columbine and Red Lake and a criminal justice professor who teaches one of the few courses on mass and serial murder, comment on the Virginia Tech shootings.
A new technology has been developed that could help prevent gun tragedies, especially when a gun is used by someone other than the gun's licensed owner.
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center has available for interviews two outstanding individuals with extensive experience in psychological trauma counseling (elementary and high school-age students).