|
Abstract
|
Chronic violence is a growing problem in our society today as evidenced, among other factors, by the ever-increasing murder rate in many of our large urban centers in the United States. Emphasis has begun to be placed on chronic violence, causes that may contribute to it, and the impact of this violence on cities and the country at large. While concern has been expressed, we still have not addressed adequately, nor do we fully understand, the effects on the children who must grow up in environments where they are repeatedly being exposed to significant levels of violence.
VioLit summary:
OBJECTIVE:
The objective of this research by Osofsky et al. was to begin to document the effects upon children of exposure to chronic community violence, by learning about the amount and kinds of violence to which children are exposed.
METHODOLOGY:
The authors employed a quasi-experimental cross-sectional design with a non-probability sample of 53 mothers of fifth-grade students at an elementary school in a violent area of New Orleans, LA. This figure - 53 of a possible 83 mothers - represents a participation rate of 64%. Most of the families were headed by a single parent and were in the lower socio-economic classes, and all were Afro-American. The mothers of the students were interviewed to assess the extent of their children's exposure to violence, as well as any behavioral problems that they might have noticed in their children. The Survey of Exposure to Community Violence - Parent Report Version was used to assess the extent to which each child had been exposed to severe violence, such as shootings, stabbings and rapes, to less severe violence, such as beatings and chasings, and to moderately severe violence, such as threats, drug deals, accidents and arrests. Exposure was measured in terms of presence/absence, frequency, location, and familiarity with parties involved. The 28-item Survey of Children's Stress Symptoms - Parent Report was used to measure the frequency of behaviors that can act as indicators of stress, such as worries about safety, sleep problems and loneliness. The 19-item Conflict Tactics Scale measured frequency of family conflict, with minor conflict being measured with items concerning throwing, pushing and slapping, and severe conflict being constructed as hitting with a fist or an object, beating, and threatening or using a weapon. The 118-item Child Behavior Checklist was used as a measure of behavioral problems, yielding a Total score, and Internalizing score and an Externalizing score. Analyses included examination of frequencies, correlations and multiple regressions.
FINDINGS/DISCUSSION:
The Survey of Exposure to Community Violence showed that these children were exposed to high levels of violence within their community. 98% of the children had heard about a violent incident, 91% had seen such activities and 51% had been victimized in a violent fashion. Over one-quarter of the sample had seen a shooting, and almost one-fifth and witnessed someone being stabbed. Three of the children had been stabbed or raped. Almost half had seen a dead body or someone who had been wounded, and almost three-quarters had witnessed use of a weapon. Strong positive correlations were found between exposure to violence within the community, family violence and stress symptoms. Stress symptoms were also strongly positively related to hearing about or witnessing violence, and to severe family conflict. In a multiple regression, severe family conflict, witnessing severe violence and hearing about violence predicted 53% of the variance in children's stress symptoms. Community violence was also strongly and positively related to family conflict. Scores on the Child Behavior Checklist indicated that 45% of the children fell within the range for clinical behavior problems. Behavior problems were found to have strong positive relationships with family conflict, and higher scores were found on the total and externalizing subscales for children of younger mothers. No significant relationship was found between exposure to violence and behavior problems. The authors suggested that this finding might be due to the lack of variability of the children's scores on the behavior checklist, or possibly the impact of the community violence might be mediated through the family, as family conflict was related both to exposure and to behavior problems. Severe family conflict and age at which parenting began could account for 54% of the variance in the behavior scores. The authors concluded that their study had provided strong evidence that stress reactions in children were related to exposure to high levels of violence.
AUTHORS' RECOMMENDATIONS:
The authors suggested that more specific behavioral and clinical assessments be carried out to determine more fully the relationship between exposure to violence within the family environment and exposure to community violence. As well as directing special attention to the treatment of children who are exposed to chronic violence, the authors suggested that an even more specialized approach be taken with children who might have an underlying vulnerability, such as children of adolescent mothers who live in a chronically violent environment. The authors concluded that awareness must be raised about the magnitude and the urgency of the problem of chronic violence, and that more intensive research be conducted in order to refine our understanding of this problem and help further our development of treatment, prevention and intervention planning strategies.
EVALUATION:
The authors present an important and informative examination of the problem of chronic exposure to violence within the community. However, the small sample size suggests that the results be approached with some caution. Also, the use of students' mothers to report exposure to violence might have missed some of their children's exposure of which they were unaware. As such, these findings might be underestimating the true nature of the problem. Direct interviews of the children would have provided valuable additional information to the researchers, and also could have given insight into the differential responses to violence - whilst some children might have seen little violence but have reacted strongly, others might have been exposed to many such activities but have shown little behavioral or emotional reaction. Such possibilities would have been interesting to include in this study. A more thorough discussion of the implications of the results would also have been helpful. In general, the study provides a good foundation upon which to build future research, and it succeeds in drawing attention to the serious problem of children's exposure to violence. (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-145, AB-145
KW - Louisiana
KW - Urban Environment
KW - Urban Violence
KW - Urban Youth
KW - Late Childhood
KW - African American Child
KW - African American Victim
KW - African American Witness
KW - Child Victim
KW - Child Witness
KW - Witnessing Community Violence
KW - Psychological Victimization Effects
KW - Witnessing Violence Effects
KW - Exposure to Violence
KW - Child Stress
KW - Stress Causes
KW - Domestic Violence Effects
KW - Domestic Violence Victim
Language: en |