Citation

Zimmerman GM, Pogarsky G. J. Marriage Fam. 2011; 73(1): 194-208.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, National Council on Family Relations, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1741-3737.2010.00798.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This study investigated differences in parent and child estimates of the child's exposure to violence. Using data (N = 1,517) from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods, analyses related differences between parent and child reports of the child's exposure to violence to the child's psychosocial functioning. Most parents (66%) underestimated their children's exposure to violence. Further, parental underestimation was associated with the child's internalizing and externalizing problems and delinquent behaviors but parental overestimation was not. Family support partially mediated these associations. Parental underestimation of the child's exposure to violence, therefore, reflected lower levels of family support, which in turn led to more internalizing and externalizing problems and delinquency for the child.