Biography
Nancy G. Guerra is a Professor of Clinical/Developmental Psychology at the University of Delaware, and Associate Provost for International Programs. Prior to this, she was a Professor of Psychology at the University of California at Riverside and Director of the Academic Center of Excellence on Youth Violence Prevention funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2000-2011). She is an outgoing Associate Editor of the journal, Child Development, and current editor of Journal of Research on Adolescence. Her work emphasizes translational research focused on understanding and preventing youth aggression and violence, at-risk, vulnerable, and marginalized youth, and integrating positive development and core competencies with prevention of risk behaviors. She has published numerous research articles examining predictors of aggression and has developed and evaluated several preventive interventions. These interventions include the Metropolitan Area Child Study multi-component, school-based program, Viewpoints cognitive-behavioral program for juvenile offenders, Positive Life Changes (PLC) for at-risk youth based on core competencies for risk prevention and positive youth development, and Child Development Parent Training (CDPT), a home visitation program for parents of children and teenagers. She has co-edited several related recent books including Preventing Youth Violence in a Multicultural Society (APA Books, 2005), Treating the Juvenile Offender (Guilford Press, 2008), and Core Competencies to Prevent Problem Behaviors and Promote Positive Youth Development (Jossey-Bass, 2008). Her efforts have involved projects in the U.S. and internationally, including work in Jamaica, Trinidad, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Peru, Venezuela, and Chile. She was recently involved in a multi-year study of individual and community level youth violence and positive youth development programs in Jamaica funded by The World Bank, described in a related publication, Building an Ecology of Peace in Urban Jamaica (2010). She currently works with the Inter-American Development Bank on a randomized controlled trial of El Sistema Children and Youth Orchestra of Venezuela.