Communities that understand the causes of youth violence will be better equipped to develop local solutions to it. The more factors a community's plan encompasses, the greater the likelihood of reducing the potential for school violence. Characteristics of the Individual Child Child abuse and neglect can cause long lasting damage which schools and communities will have to confront. For purposes of this document, neglect encompasses a broad range of omissions. It ranges from the traditional vision of neglect that would shock each of us, to less obvious forms.
Neglect varies in degree, and it can affect some children more profoundly than others.
Child development research provides a foundation for understanding youth violence. But some children do. Abuse and neglect can actually affect brain development, which may affect an individual's propensity for violent behavior. Brain development research offers some answers to why some children turn to violence and others do not. The contemporary view is that both nature and nurture are constantly at play in determining how a child develops.