In their descriptions and goals, youth programs often refer to helping children and adolescents with the stress and challenges of their day-to-day lives, suggesting that youth programs may be “coping” promoting. Despite existing overlap, however, there is not much linkage of the study of youth programs to stress-coping frameworks nor mention of youth programs in the coping literature. In this chapter, coping intervention methods and approaches are examined as applicable to youth programs, and youth programs that are amenable to a coping perspective are discussed, highlighting conceptual and practical overlap between the two areas. These discussions form a basis for proposed future directions for further integration. Closer alignment between coping interventions and youth programs could provide important new insights into youth development, enhance understanding of coping in natural settings, and expand the reach and effectiveness of youth programming.

Exposure to community violence threatens the well-being of children in several ways. Living in communities plagued by violence threatens the very core of what is needed for healthy development and is related to a host of short- and long-term developmental problems (Bell & Jenkins, 1993; Cooley-Quill, Boyd, Frantz, & Walsh, 2001; Gorman-Smith & Tolan, 1998; Richters & Martinez, 1993; Schwab-Stone et al., 1995). Unfortunately, although it is possible to list many problems and disorders associated with exposure to community violence, we can say very little based on scientific study about variations in outcome, relations between specific types of exposure and outcome, and mechanisms through which children who are exposed do better or worse. We know that some children appear to suffer symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder or other types of internalizing disorders, and others seem to react by becoming more aggressive or showing greater behavioral problems. However, we know little about how and why these different reactions occur. We also have few empirically based treatments for children exposed to chronic community violence, and even less work has been conducted on how to protect children from exposure in the first place. So, although it is clear that exposure to community violence can harm children, the scientific knowledge base on promoting positive adaptation among youth exposed to community violence is very sketchy.