Faculty » Nancy G. Guerra

My professional research interests and practice experience have focused on youth development and violence prevention. I am particularly interested in social-cognitive predictors of children's aggression, violence, and delinquency, including information processing skills and normative beliefs. My research has involved longitudinal studies of risk for aggression and violence as well as preventive intervention studies designed to change children's cognitions and behavior. I was the principal investigator for the Metropolitan Area Child Study, an 8-year development and prevention study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. This study evaluated the impact of a comprehensive social-cognitive intervention involving children, teachers, and families on the prevention of aggression and violence in inner city and urban communities.

Since 2000, I have been the principal investigator for an Academic Center of Excellence on Youth Violence Prevention funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This center is a consortium of scholars working on several studies related to youth violence. Our recent research includes a large evaluation of bullying prevention programs, an effectiveness trial of the Families and Schools Together (FAST) intervention with Latino children and families, a randomized controlled trial of a new home visitation program for families of elementary and middle school children, Child Development Parent Training (CDPT), and an efficacy trial of Positive Life Changes, a 30-session cognitive-behavioral program for adolescents in high schools and correctional facilities. Our center also addresses issues of ethnicity and culture and how they relate to prediction and prevention of aggression and violence. Along with center collaborators, I edited two related books, Preventing Youth Violence in a Multicultural Society (APA books), and Treating the Juvenile Offender (Guilford Press). The website for this center is www.stopyouthviolence.ucr.edu.

I have served on several national expert panels and study groups, such as the President's Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's study group on serious and violent juvenile offenders. I also am involved in a number of international research projects on youth development and violence prevention funded by The World Bank and The Interamerican Development Bank in countries including Jamaica, Trinidad, El Salvador, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and South Africa. I recently served as Associate Editor for Child Development (2007-2010) and currently am the Editor for the Journal of Research on Adolescence (2010-2015). I also am a faculty fellow at the UCR Presley Center for Crime and Justice Studies.

Selected Publications

Guerra, N. G., Graham, S., & Tolan, P. H. (in press). Raising healthy children: Translating research into practice. Special Issue of Child Development on Raising Healthy Children, Jan/Feb 2011.

Williams, K. R., & Guerra, N. G. (in press). Collective efficacy and school bullying over time and across settings. Social Problems.

Guerra, N. G. (in press). Poverty as a context for child development: Effects on youth crime and violence. In R. Rosenfeld (Ed). Socio-economic correlates of crime and violence. Cambridge.

Cook, C., Williams, K. R., Guerra, N. G., Kim, T., & Sadek, S. (2010). Predictors of childhood bullying and victimization: A meta-analytic review. School Psychology Quarterly, 25, 65-83.

Metropolitan Area Child Study (MACS) (2007). Changing the way children "think" about aggression: social-cognitive effects of a preventive intervention for early elementary school urban children. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.

Morales, J., & Guerra, N. G. (2006). Effects of multiple context and cumulative stress on urban children’s adjustment in elementary school. Child Development, 77, 907-923.

Guerra, N. G., & Huesmann, L. R. (2004) A cognitive-ecological model of aggression. Revue Internationale de Psychologie Sociale,17, 177-203.

Guerra, N. G., Huesmann, L. R., & Spindler, A. (2003). Community violence exposure, social cognition, and aggression among urban elementary-school children. Child Development, 74, 1507-1522.