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Abstract
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The 1980s witnessed an extraordinary increase in community violence in most major cities across the United States. In 1990 the homicide rate in Boston increased by 45% over the previous year; in Denver, by 29%; in Chicago, Dallas, and New Orleans, by more than 20%; in Los Angeles, by 16%; in New York, by 11%. In Washington, DC, which has the highest per capita homicide rate in the country, the 1990 murder rate set an all time record in the District's history (Escobar 1991). Across the country, 1 out of 5 teenage and young adult deaths was gun related in 1988 - the first year in which firearm death rates for both Black and White teenagers exceeded the total for all natural causes of death combined. Also in 1988, the firearm homicide rate for young Black males increased by 35%, and Black male teens were 11 times more likely than their White counterparts to be killed by guns (Christofel 1990).
VioLit summary:
OBJECTIVE:
This study by Richters and Martinez represented an effort to: 1) assess the extent to which young children living in a moderately violent inner-city community had been exposed both directly (as victims) and indirectly (as witnesses) to various forms of violence, and 2) examine the characteristics of the children and their families.
METHODOLOGY:
The authors followed a one-shot quasi-experimental case study design. The primary sample included 165 children, ages 6 to 10 years, living in a low-income, moderately violent neighborhood in Southeast Washington, DC. All children attended the same elementary school (K-6), with 111 children in the first and second grades, and the remaining 54 children in the fifth and sixth grades. Information concerning children's exposure to violence was elicited independently from the children and from their parents. In the case of the parents, this was done via a written assessment battery, or if reading skills were minimal, through oral administration of the battery. The children were surveyed in small groups while at school.
All parents completed their portion of the Survey of Children's Exposure to Community Violence which assessed the frequency with which an index child had been victimized by, had witnessed, or had heard about 20 forms of violence and violence-related activities in the community (excluding media exposure). Parents also completed the Conflict Tactics Scale and a questionnaire concerning a variety of characteristics of family history, composition, and demographics. Children in the first and second grades completed "Things I Have Seen and Heard," a 15 question structured interview that probed young children's exposure to violence in an age-appropriate format. Fifth and sixth grade students were assembled in small groups to complete the self-report version of the Survey of Children's Exposure to Community Violence. Teachers completed the Teacher-Observation of Classroom Adaptation which included 43 classroom problems of children, including internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Each behavior was rated on a six-point Likert Scale reflecting the frequency with which it was experienced by the child. Additionally, teachers were asked to what extent each childís home was characterized by stability or violence, and subsequently, those results were rated on a Likert Scale. Finally, teacher rating of nonparticipating as well as participating families were assembled to provide an estimate on the extent of study participation systematically being associated with characteristics of the children or their families. For initial comparison purposes, all categories of violent exposure were collapsed into two categories: direct victimization or witnessing violence to others. The resulting variables reflected the proportion of children who had been victimized by or had witnessed at least one instance of violence in the community.
FINDINGS/DISCUSSION:
It was found that 19% of the younger children (grades 1-2) had been victimized by some form of violence 61% had witnessed violence to someone else (e.g., witnessed homicides, stabbings, muggings, sexual assault, weapons carrying, or were approached about illegal drug use). Among the older children (grade 5-6), 32% wee victims of violence and 72% had witnessed violence to someone else. The parents' responses on the Conflict Tactics Scale indicated that a significant number of the children's homes were characterized by relatively high levels of violence between adults, 5 to 6 times the national average based on population survey data collected in 1985. In sum, both younger and older children in this sample had been exposed to relatively high levels of violence both in their homes and neighborhoods. Parent-child discrepancies in reporting were not resolved, but it was posited that it might be due to parents repressing information about their children's violence exposure as an active or passive coping strategy. Also, the absolute levels of exposure reported by the younger children were sufficiently high enough to raise questions about the veracity of their reports. There was no absolute criterion against which to gauge the integrity of their reports.
AUTHORS' RECOMMENDATIONS:
It was recommended that preventive intervention programs aimed at reducing exposure to violence be implemented. In addition, the authors believed that further and more detailed investigation into violence exposure among children was imperative. They noted that one of the most important goals for future research should be the identification of personal as well as family and community factors associated with higher levels of childrenís 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-677, AB-677
KW - Child Witness
KW - Witnessing Community Violence
KW - Witnessing Violence Effects
KW - Exposure to Violence
KW - Child Development
KW - Youth Development
KW - Psychological Victimization Effects
KW - Middle Childhood
KW - Late Childhood
KW - Urban Violence
KW - Urban Environment
KW - Urban Violence
KW - Family Characteristics
KW - Elementary School Student
KW - Grade 1
KW - Grade 2
KW - Grade 5
KW - Grade 6
KW - Child Victim
KW - Witnessing Spouse Abuse
KW - Spouse Abuse Effects
KW - Domestic Violence Effects
KW - Partner Violence
KW - Violence Against Women
KW - Children of Battered Women
Language: en |