APA Policy Statements on Violence Prevention

  • Bullying Among Children and Youth (PDF, 36KB) 
    Integration of bullying prevention into APA's violence prevention activities and, where appropriate, into other activities of its directorates, divisions, and state and provincial psychological associations.

  • Corporal Punishment
    Opposition to the use of corporal punishment in schools, juvenile facilities, child care nurseries, and all other institutions, public or private, where children are cared for or educated.

  • Firearm Safety and Youth
    In July 2013 the board of directors appointed the APA Policy Review Task Force on Gun Violence Prediction and Prevention to review this policy adopted by the council of representatives in 1994. The task force will propose a policy to reflect current knowledge on gun violence prediction and prevention.

  • Gun Violence Protection 
    Gun violence affects society in many ways, including higher medical costs, reductions in quality of life and stresses on the criminal justice system. The question before psychology is what can science tell us about the most effective methods to reduce gun violence.

  • Psychological Issues Related to Child Abuse and Neglect
    APA Council of Representatives directs the executive vice president and chief executive officer to undertake an immediate initiative to apply the science and profession of psychology to the development and implementation of a national strategy for the prevention and treatment of child abuse and neglect.

  • Social Practices that Induce Violence (PDF, 24KB)
    Efforts by APA to stimulate research and to provide leadership concerning reduction and management of violence include a focus on socially endorsed and institutionalized expressions of violence, and that social policy initiatives of the APA include that focus as well.

  • Violence Against Children by Governments
    As a matter of policy, APA will consider, upon documentation of such abuses of children's rights, resolutions protesting such abuses and expressing solidarity with our colleagues who protest such abuses within their own country.

  • Violence in Mass Media
    On the recommendation of the board of directors and the Board for the Advancement of Psychology in the Public Interest, council voted to adopt the following resolution, as amended, as APA policy, replacing the 1985 resolution on television violence.

  • *Violence in Video Games and Interactive Media (PDF, 89KB)
    APA will advocate for the reduction of all violence in videogames and interactive media marketed to children and youth.

    *This 2005 policy statement is currently under review. The APA Board of Directors is in the process of appointing a task force to review the literature published in the area since the current policy statement was adopted. The task force will report its findings and recommendations on potential changes to the APA policy statement when its work is completed.