Child and adolescent firesetting

Abstract

Firesetting by children and adolescents is a common, costly and complex problem across the USA and around the world, yet it remains an often neglected and under-resourced area of work.Whilst the absence of new research continues to hamper efforts to fully understand and ethically treat this potentially devastating childhood behavior, this chapter reviews what is currently known about juvenile firesetting along with some emerging findings in the field. Collectively, these studies provide some direction in screening, assessing and treating firesetting behavior in children and adolescents, whilst developments in novel assessment methods and understanding the role of key variables that contribute to firesetting behavior are also outlined.