Interpersonal Violence in the African-American Community

The prevalence of violence reported for the African-American community continues to pose a significant concern to society as a whole and, in particular, to those charged with reducing it. Confronting the issue head on, Interpersonal Violence in the African-American Community: Evidence-Based Prevention and Treatment Practices both challenges existing stereotypes of African Americans and offers concrete, state-of-the-art advice on approaches that are currently – or may soon prove to be – effective with African-American populations.


The contributors to this volume offer unique insights gained through their extensive individual experiences in family violence prevention and intervention within the African-American community as well as their backgrounds in writing, teaching, training, and researching in this area. Taken together, their chapters expand the knowledge base on such topics as the:


Most useful and appropriate assessment tools for preventing violence in this community.

Developmental effects of the child welfare system on African-American youth.

Salient aspects of the extended family on African Americans, including grandparents acting as surrogate parents.

Strengths and limitations of African-American churches in curbing domestic violence.

Effective use of spirituality in interventions.

Guidelines for evaluating prevention and intervention programs.



Interpersonal Violence in the African-American Community is essential reading in a variety of professional and clinical settings – as well as graduate-level study – including social work, clinical child, school, and developmental psychology, couples and family therapy, shelters, and victim assistance programs.