Girls and violence: a review of the literature.

Violence and its prevention are key issues in community health nursing. Significant concern and controversy surrounds the current involvement of girls as witnesses, offenders, and victims of violence. This article provides a review of the literature about girls and violence, including the girls' roles as offenders, victims, and witnesses, predictors of violence, consequences associated with violence, and potential ideas for violence prevention. This information paves the way for a subsequent manuscript presenting a review of the literature about girls' perceptions of violence and its prevention and the results of a focus group study designed to determine girls' thoughts about community violence and prevention.

Girls' perceptions of violence and prevention.

This research examines girls' perceptions of violence and its prevention. A purposive sample of 32 young women ages 12-18 who were incarcerated, affiliated with the juvenile justice system, or self-identified as living in disadvantaged neighborhoods participated in 1 of 4 focus groups. Recursive, iterative analysis yielded seven themes, including: violence is learned, violence is contagious, violence is unstoppable, violence is necessary to manage stress and conflict, violence is belonging, violence is connected to other crime, and maybe it can be stopped. These themes provide important insights into young women's thoughts on violence and may inform policies and programs as prevention strategies.