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Abstract
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OBJECTIVE: This paper reports data on the prevalence of morbid thoughts of death or injury and the experiences of violence for a sample of 6 to 12 year old urban school children and examines the relationship of these thoughts and experiences to the child's emotional health. METHOD: Fifty-seven of the sample of 223 children who attended the same inner-city school described violent events occurring to themselves, a relative or friend. All children were interviewed and assessed on the Children's Depression Rating Scale-Revised (CDRS-R). RESULTS: Significantly higher CDRS-R sum scores, indicating the presence of suspected depression or of clinical concern, were recorded for the 57 children reporting experiences with violence. As well, the subgroup of 57 children were significantly more distressed by specific symptoms of low self-esteem, weeping, and worries about death or injury. CONCLUSIONS: Finding so many children reporting violent events occurring in their homes and community and that these children's experiences of violence were associated with emotional disturbances such as depression, dysphoric mood, low self-esteem, and excessive fears and worries about death or injury suggests the need for routine examination of the history of exposure to violence in the evaluation of inner-city children.
VioLit summary:
OBJECTIVE:
The purpose of this study by Freeman et al. was to describe the violent events experienced by a sample of urban grade school students. Using an index of depression symptoms, it assessed differences between the children who had experienced violent events with those who had not.
METHODOLOGY:
Using a quasi-experimental design, a sample of 223 children ages 6 to 12 years was acquired from a Midwestern inner city grade school. Participation was voluntary, confidential, and with parental consent. The sample included 118 males and 105 females with a racial/ethnic composition reflecting that of the school's population (39% white, 33% black, 19% Hispanic, 6% other). The mean score of the subjects on Duncan's socioeconomic index was a 33 on a scale ranging from 0 to 96. Within this sample, 25% (57 of 223) of the children reported experiencing one or more violent traumatic events. By using the Children's Depression Rating Scale-Revised (CDRS-R) during face-to-face individual interviews, this sub-group of the sample was compared to the rest of the children who did not report any violent traumatic events. The children in each of these two groups did not differ significantly in terms of gender, race/ethnicity, age, or socioeconomic status. The CDRS-R, which consists of 17 items ranging from performance on school work to suicidal ideation, was administered to the children by six experienced child clinicians from different racial/ethnic backgrounds. Previous studies indicated that the CDRS-R has a high interrater reliability. The data were analyzed by using chi-square analysis and univariate analysis of variance.
FINDINGS/DISCUSSION:
An analysis of just the children who reported experiencing violence was conducted to describe the types of traumatic events occurring, the likelihood of multiple traumatic events, and the actors who were the victims of the event. Four categories were used to classify the types of traumatic events. Forty percent of the children who had experienced violence reported suicides attempted or completed (most frequently involving friends), 19% reported murders, 22% reported traumatic accidental death, and 19% reported traumatic accidents or violent acts of intentional harm that did not result in death (e.g., rape, kidnappings). Twenty eight percent of these children experiencing violence reported multiple events ranging between two and three such incidents. Six categories were used to classify the actors who were victims of the violent acts. Twelve percent of the children reported that they were the victim of a violent act, 10% reported events occurring to first-degree relatives, 24% reported events occurring to second- or third-degree relatives, 30% reported events occurring to peer friends, 17% reported events occurring to other types of acquaintances, 7% reported witnessing a violent event occurring to a stranger.
When comparing the children who reported violence with those who did not, several trends occurred. The CDRS-R scores of the children who had experienced violent events were significantly higher than those who did not which indicates more severity of depression (p < 0.02). Significantly more children who reported traumatic events exhibited clinical concern about depression and suspected depression (p < 0.03). When analyzing the CDRS-R scores of the children who did report violence, there was not a significant difference in scores between the types of violence experienced, the number of violent experiences or the type of actor who experienced the violence. When a univariate analysis of variance was used, it was found that children who reported violent events exhibited significantly higher scores (more severe) on the items of self-esteem, depressed feeling, morbid thoughts and excessive weeping. Sixteen-point-six percent of the children in the sample exhibited clinically significant suicidal ideation; however, none were actively suicidal. The subjects who had been exposed to suicide were no more likely than the broader sample to have reported suicidal symptoms.
AUTHORS' RECOMMENDATIONS:
The authors claimed that there have been no previous studies systematically documenting childrens' exposure to community violence and their reactions to this violence. They pointed out that there may be underreporting in this study and post-traumatic stress disorder may be prevalent within some of the children. The authors argued that future studies could compare the high and low depression scores of children who have experienced violent traumatic events. "Exposure to violent events may, for instance, function as a vulnerability factor in combination with other biological or personal disposition factors...that together mediate the child's depressive symptoms" (p. 423). The authors also suggested that future studies need to further document the development and stability of depressive symptoms in urban children. They suggested in-depth direct interviews with children as a strong methodology to use. (CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado)
N1 - Call Number: F-386, AB-386
KW - Violence Effects
KW - Exposure to Violence
KW - Child Witness
KW - Child Victim
KW - Self Report Studies
KW - Child Depression
KW - Victim Depression
KW - Victim Adjustment
KW - Witness Adjustment
KW - Emotional Adjustment
KW - Psychological Victimization Effects
KW - Witnessing Violence Effects
KW - Middle Childhood
KW - Late Childhood
KW - Depression Causes
KW - Victim Depression
KW - Witness Depression
Language: en |