EIF report
Preventing gang and youth violence: A review of risk and protective factors
This report asks which risk and protective factors practitioners working with children and young adults should look out for when assessing the likelihood of young people becoming involved in youth violence and gangs.
Full report
This report is based on the findings of academic research concerned with young people living in community settings, with a focus on risk/protective factors in relation to youth violence and gang involvement.
The studies reviewed were those that repeatedly measured the risk/protective factors of the same group of young people over a long period of time. The advantage of these studies is that they are able to measure risk/protective factors before youth violence or gang involvement has taken place, meaning that we can be more confident about the association between risk or protective factors and these behaviours. Therefore, this review considers the question of the risk of future outcomes, rather than the question of whether someone is currently in a gang or committing offences of youth violence.