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Community Violence (community + violence)
Kinds of Community Violence Selected AbstractsLinks between Community Violence and the Family System: Evidence from Children's Feelings of Relatedness and Perceptions of Parent Behavior,FAMILY PROCESS, Issue 3 2002Michael Lynch Ph.D. In this study, we examined some of the ways in which broader ecological systems may influence the organization of behavior within the family system. Specifically, links between exposure to community violence and children's relationships with maternal caregivers were investigated in a sample of 127 urban children between the ages of 7 and 13 years. Children were asked to indicate whether they had been exposed to a wide variety of violent events. In addition, their feelings of relatedness and separation anxiety, and their perceptions of maternal behavior were assessed. It was expected that exposure to community violence would be associated with feeling less secure with caregivers. Consistent with predictions from ecological-transactional theory, data supported this hypothesis. Children who reported that they had been exposed to high levels of community violence also indicated that they felt less positive affect when with their caregiver, were dissatisfied with how close they felt to her, felt more separation anxiety, and reported more negative maternal behavior than children exposed to less violence. Findings are discussed in terms of how violence may affect the family system and the protective function of human attachment. [source] Inner-City Children's Exposure to Community Violence: How Much Do Parents Know?JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY, Issue 4 2001Rosario Ceballo This study examines the psychological impact of children's exposure to violence and the influence of mothers' knowledge about their children's encounters with violence. Our sample consists of a poor, multiethnic sample of 104 fourth- or fifth-grade children and their mothers. Children in this sample were exposed to rather high levels of community violence, and on the whole, mothers greatly underestimated their children's exposure to violence and feelings of psychological distress. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that children's exposure to violence was associated with greater psychological distress. Our findings suggest that the detrimental effects of community violence are present for all children, irrespective of their racial background. Further, greater mother-child agreement about children's exposure to violence was related to better psychological functioning. The implications of these results for effective parenting strategies and community-based interventions are discussed. [source] Witnessing Community Violence and Health-Risk Behaviors Among Detained AdolescentsAMERICAN JOURNAL OF ORTHOPSYCHIATRY, Issue 4 2007Dexter R. Voisin PhD This study examines whether witnessing community violence, in the 12 months prior to juvenile detention, is related and health-related outcomes in the 2 months prior to being detained among 550 youth. Participants answered survey questions using audio-computer assisted self-interviewing procedures, which assessed demographic, problem, and drug and sexual risk behaviors. Multiple logistic regression analyses, controlling for significant covariates, indicated that adolescents, in the last 12 months, who reported witnessing community violence, relative to their peer witnessing no violence, were in the last 2 months prior to being detained, twice more likely to have suicidal threats, 2 times more likely to use marijuana and alcohol, 2 times more likely to get high on alcohol or other drugs during sexual intercourse, and 2 times more likely to have sex with a partner who was high on alcohol or other drugs. Finding suggest that detained youth, many of whom may not access traditional helath care, should be offered prevention and intervention services dring detention, which provides a critical window of opportunity for needed services. [source] Community Violence and Urban Families: Experiences, Effects, and Directions for InterventionAMERICAN JOURNAL OF ORTHOPSYCHIATRY, Issue 3 2005Karyn Horowitz MD The purpose of this study was to understand the impact of community-level stressors (particularly violence), coping strategies, and resources to prevent exposure to violence or to mitigate its effects in an inner-city community. Parents and children participated in focus groups, and children also completed standardized instruments. In the focus groups, parents and children identified several areas of concern related to "helpers," schools, community safety, and emotional distress. They identified protective resources including intensive monitoring and social supports. Fifty percent of the children met criteria for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and another 21% met criteria for partial PTSD. The mental health issues in children living with ongoing community violence necessitate that researchers use a qualitative approach to inform future interventions. [source] THE IMPACT OF CONTINUING EDUCATION TRAINING ON LAW GUARDIAN KNOWLEDGE, EFFICACY, AND PRACTICE BEHAVIORSFAMILY COURT REVIEW, Issue 1 2007Wendi Cross There is an increased demand for law guardians in domestic violence cases, especially those involving child witnesses. Training is required for law guardians to meet child clients' needs. While workshops and conferences are typical venues for continuing education training, their effectiveness is unknown. This pilot study compared law guardians who attended a conference on community violence and children to nonattendees on several training outcomes. Results showed a positive impact on attendees' feelings of efficacy and intentions to carry out new practice behaviors post-conference; differences were maintained at follow-up. Limitations and implications of this pilot study are discussed. [source] Links between Community Violence and the Family System: Evidence from Children's Feelings of Relatedness and Perceptions of Parent Behavior,FAMILY PROCESS, Issue 3 2002Michael Lynch Ph.D. In this study, we examined some of the ways in which broader ecological systems may influence the organization of behavior within the family system. Specifically, links between exposure to community violence and children's relationships with maternal caregivers were investigated in a sample of 127 urban children between the ages of 7 and 13 years. Children were asked to indicate whether they had been exposed to a wide variety of violent events. In addition, their feelings of relatedness and separation anxiety, and their perceptions of maternal behavior were assessed. It was expected that exposure to community violence would be associated with feeling less secure with caregivers. Consistent with predictions from ecological-transactional theory, data supported this hypothesis. Children who reported that they had been exposed to high levels of community violence also indicated that they felt less positive affect when with their caregiver, were dissatisfied with how close they felt to her, felt more separation anxiety, and reported more negative maternal behavior than children exposed to less violence. Findings are discussed in terms of how violence may affect the family system and the protective function of human attachment. [source] Socio-economic, socio-political and socio-emotional variables explaining school bullying: a country-wide multilevel analysisAGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR, Issue 6 2009Enrique Chaux Abstract Why do some countries, regions and schools have more bullying than others? What socio-economic, socio-political and other larger contextual factors predict school bullying? These open questions inspired this study with 53.316 5th- and 9th-grade students (5% of the national student population in these grades), from 1,000 schools in Colombia. Students completed a national test of citizenship competencies, which included questions about bullying and about families, neighborhoods and their own socio-emotional competencies. We combined these data with community violence and socio-economic conditions of all Colombian municipalities, which allowed us to conduct multilevel analyses to identify municipality- and school-level variables predicting school bullying. Most variance was found at the school level. Higher levels of school bullying were related to more males in the schools, lower levels of empathy, more authoritarian and violent families, higher levels of community violence, better socio-economic conditions, hostile attributional biases and more beliefs supporting aggression. These results might reflect student, classroom and school contributions because student-level variables were aggregated at the school level. Although in small portions, violence from the decades-old-armed conflict among guerrillas, paramilitaries and governmental forces predicted school bullying at the municipal level for 5th graders. For 9th graders, inequality in land ownership predicted school bullying. Neither poverty, nor population density or homicide rates contributed to explaining bullying. These results may help us advance toward understanding how the larger context relates to school bullying, and what socio-emotional competencies may help us prevent the negative effects of a violent and unequal environment. Aggr. Behav. 35:520,529, 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Aggressive behavior in response to violence exposure: is it adaptive for middle-school children?,JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 8 2008Suzanne Salzinger The role of aggression in adaptation to family and community violence was examined in a sample of 667 inner-city schoolchildren studied annually over three years in middle school. Regression analyses indicated that the association between Year 1 exposure to family and community violence and Year 2 aggression was mediated by aggression occurring contemporaneously with Year 1 exposure. Cognitive justification of aggression and friends' delinquency made small independent contributions to prediction of Year 2 aggression, delinquency, and externalizing behaviors. Year 2 aggression mediated the association between Year 1 community violence victimization and Year 3 negative adaptation (internalizing problems, anxiety, and depression). Year 2 aggression also mediated the negative association between Year 1 witnessing community violence and Year 3 positive adaptation (self-esteem). Cognitive justification of aggression and friends' delinquency made independent contributions to Year 3 negative adaptation. The pattern of relations among variables infrequently varied by gender. Implications for intervention are discussed. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] Community violence exposure and delinquent behaviors among youth: The moderating role of copingJOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 5 2003Margaret Rosario This study examines the moderating roles of guardian and peer support and behavioral coping strategies on the relations between youths' community violence exposure and their delinquent behavior. A sample of 667 public school sixth-graders in a large inner-city school district, and their parents or guardians, were interviewed to assess youths' recent exposure to community violence, their delinquent behavior, and proposed moderating variables. Support from guardians buffered the relation between girls' victimization by community violence and delinquency. Support from peers buffered the effects of witnessing community violence on delinquent behavior of boys, but it amplified the effects of victimization for both girls and boys. Avoidant coping behavior buffered the effect of victimization on delinquency for boys but unexpectedly amplified the effect of witnessing violence on delinquency for girls. For both genders, confrontational coping strategies amplified the impact of victimization on delinquency and, for boys only, amplified the impact of witnessing violence as well. Controls were imposed for variables expected to influence the relation between exposure and delinquency, such as ethnicity, family violence, delinquent behavior of friends, and recruitment cohort. Suggestions for future research and implications for intervention are discussed. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comm Psychol 31: 489,512, 2003. [source] Inner-City Children's Exposure to Community Violence: How Much Do Parents Know?JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY, Issue 4 2001Rosario Ceballo This study examines the psychological impact of children's exposure to violence and the influence of mothers' knowledge about their children's encounters with violence. Our sample consists of a poor, multiethnic sample of 104 fourth- or fifth-grade children and their mothers. Children in this sample were exposed to rather high levels of community violence, and on the whole, mothers greatly underestimated their children's exposure to violence and feelings of psychological distress. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that children's exposure to violence was associated with greater psychological distress. Our findings suggest that the detrimental effects of community violence are present for all children, irrespective of their racial background. Further, greater mother-child agreement about children's exposure to violence was related to better psychological functioning. The implications of these results for effective parenting strategies and community-based interventions are discussed. [source] Posttraumatic stress disorder and community violence: An update for nurse practitionersJOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF NURSE PRACTITIONERS, Issue 10 2009MSN Staff Nurse, Sarah J. Blizzard RN Abstract Purpose: An update on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and community violence for nurse practitioners (NPs) and other healthcare providers is required. Data Sources: A review of current literature on PTSD related to community violence is presented as well as an overview of PTSD disorders. Conclusions: Violence takes place in our communities and in our larger social world every day. In the face of increasing disasters and violent events, there is growing concern over the overall impact of violence on mental health. PTSD, a type of anxiety disorder, may develop as a result of exposure to these events. Implications for Practice: NPs have an important role to play in recognizing and treating PTSD symptoms in persons following exposure to a severe psychological trauma. [source] Predictors of acute distress among young adults injured by community violenceJOURNAL OF TRAUMATIC STRESS, Issue 3 2003Lisa H. Jaycox Abstract Acute reactions to trauma are examined in 267 individuals severely injured via community violence. Respondents were interviewed about pretrauma, peritraumatic, and acute posttraumatic factors. A series of bivariate and multivariate analyses were conducted. We found few factors related to peritraumatic dissociation (PD): only injury severity and neuroticism emerged as multivariate predictors and the effects were small. PD was strongly related to acute PTSD symptoms, and partially mediated the relationship between other factors and acute PTSD and general distress symptoms. Different patterns of predictors emerged for acute PTSD symptoms vis-à-vis general distress symptoms. Future research on predictors of PD is indicated to develop prevention and early intervention programs. [source] Traumatic Events Involving Friends and Family Members in a Sample of African American Early AdolescentsAMERICAN JOURNAL OF ORTHOPSYCHIATRY, Issue 3 2009Esther J. Jenkins PhD The current study examines violent and nonviolent traumatic events involving friends and family members as predictors of PTSD, depression, internalizing, and externalizing behaviors in a sample of 403 African American early adolescents from chronically violent environments. Although there are many studies of urban children's exposure to community violence, few address the unique contribution of events involving significant others, and almost no research addresses African American youths' exposure to traumatic events other than violence. This study found that violent and nonviolent traumatic events were pervasive in the lives of these urban youth, and that they were as likely to report loss and injury of a close other through an accident as an act of violence. There were strong gender differences in the data. Unexpectedly, injury or loss of a close friend or family member from nonviolent events, but not from violent events, predicted PTSD, internalizing, and depression for boys. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for school-based universal interventions in communities where large numbers of children live with loss and trauma. [source] Witnessing Community Violence and Health-Risk Behaviors Among Detained AdolescentsAMERICAN JOURNAL OF ORTHOPSYCHIATRY, Issue 4 2007Dexter R. Voisin PhD This study examines whether witnessing community violence, in the 12 months prior to juvenile detention, is related and health-related outcomes in the 2 months prior to being detained among 550 youth. Participants answered survey questions using audio-computer assisted self-interviewing procedures, which assessed demographic, problem, and drug and sexual risk behaviors. Multiple logistic regression analyses, controlling for significant covariates, indicated that adolescents, in the last 12 months, who reported witnessing community violence, relative to their peer witnessing no violence, were in the last 2 months prior to being detained, twice more likely to have suicidal threats, 2 times more likely to use marijuana and alcohol, 2 times more likely to get high on alcohol or other drugs during sexual intercourse, and 2 times more likely to have sex with a partner who was high on alcohol or other drugs. Finding suggest that detained youth, many of whom may not access traditional helath care, should be offered prevention and intervention services dring detention, which provides a critical window of opportunity for needed services. [source] Community Violence and Urban Families: Experiences, Effects, and Directions for InterventionAMERICAN JOURNAL OF ORTHOPSYCHIATRY, Issue 3 2005Karyn Horowitz MD The purpose of this study was to understand the impact of community-level stressors (particularly violence), coping strategies, and resources to prevent exposure to violence or to mitigate its effects in an inner-city community. Parents and children participated in focus groups, and children also completed standardized instruments. In the focus groups, parents and children identified several areas of concern related to "helpers," schools, community safety, and emotional distress. They identified protective resources including intensive monitoring and social supports. Fifty percent of the children met criteria for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and another 21% met criteria for partial PTSD. The mental health issues in children living with ongoing community violence necessitate that researchers use a qualitative approach to inform future interventions. [source] Exposure to Violence, Coping Resources, and Psychological Adjustment of South African ChildrenAMERICAN JOURNAL OF ORTHOPSYCHIATRY, Issue 1 2001Oscar A. Barbarin Ph.D. The effects of exposure to direct and vicarious political, family, and community violence on the adjustment of 625 six-year-old black South African children was examined. Ambient community violence was most consistently related to children's psychosocial outcomes. Resources in the form of individual child resilience, maternal coping, and positive family relationships were found to mitigate the adverse impact in all the assessed domains of children's functioning. [source] Prospective effects of violence exposure across multiple contexts on early adolescents' internalizing and externalizing problemsTHE JOURNAL OF CHILD PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY AND ALLIED DISCIPLINES, Issue 8 2010Sylvie Mrug Background:, Violence exposure within each setting of community, school, or home has been linked with internalizing and externalizing problems. Although many children experience violence in multiple contexts, the effects of such cross-contextual exposure have not been studied. This study addresses this gap by examining independent and interactive effects of witnessing violence and victimization in the community, home, and school on subsequent internalizing and externalizing problems in early adolescence. Methods:, A community sample of 603 boys and girls (78% African American, 20% Caucasian) participated in a longitudinal study of youth violence. During two assessments 16 months apart, adolescents reported on witnessing violence and victimization in the community, school, and home, and their internalizing and externalizing problems. Results:, Multiple regressions tested the independent and interactive effects of witnessing violence or victimization across contexts on subsequent adjustment, after controlling for initial levels of internalizing and externalizing problems and demographic covariates. Witnessing violence at school predicted anxiety and depression; witnessing at home was related to anxiety and aggression; and witnessing community violence predicted delinquency. Victimization at home was related to subsequent anxiety, depression, and aggression; victimization at school predicted anxiety; and victimization in the community was not independently related to any outcomes. Finally, witnessing violence at home was associated with more anxiety, delinquency, and aggression only if adolescents reported no exposure to community violence. Conclusions:, Violence exposure at home and school had the strongest independent effects on internalizing and externalizing outcomes. Witnessing community violence attenuated the effects of witnessing home violence on anxiety and externalizing problems, perhaps due to desensitization or different norms or expectations regarding violence. However, no comparable attenuation effects were observed for victimization across contexts. [source] Betting on the evidence: Reported gambling problems among the Indigenous population of the Northern TerritoryAUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, Issue 6 2009Matthew Stevens Abstract Objectives: To address a shortfall in evidence with which to justify gambling-specific interventions for the Indigenous population, we analysed two surveys (2002 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey and General Social Survey) that contain information on reported gambling problems for the NT. Methods: Estimates of reported gambling problems are presented for each state and territory by remoteness for the Indigenous and total population for 2002. Factor analysis was used to identify the relationship between gambling problems and other negative life events for the NT Indigenous and total population. Results: High levels of reported gambling problems were apparent for the Indigenous population particularly in the remote parts of the NT and Queensland. Gambling problems were associated with other stressors relating to social transgressions. Among the NT Indigenous population, gambling problems were correlated with levels of crowding, community involvement, personal and community violence and self-assessed health status. Conclusions: The high levels of reported gambling problems suggest that gambling is causing significant problems for Indigenous people. The multivariable adjusted associations indicate that gambling-related problems are intimately connected to a range of community contexts. Implications: Policies of intervention need to address broader social and environmental contexts that are intrinsically associated with gambling (and associated problems), in addition to public education in harm associated with gambling and provision of counselling services to assist problem gamblers. [source] The Environment of Poverty: Multiple Stressor Exposure, Psychophysiological Stress, and Socioemotional AdjustmentCHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 4 2002Gary W. Evans The one in five children growing up in poverty in America have elevated risk for socioemotional difficulties. One contributing factor to their elevated risk may be exposure to multiple physical and psychosocial stressors. This study demonstrated that 8, to 10,year,old, low,income, rural children (N= 287) confront a wider array of multiple physical (substandard housing, noise, crowding) and psychosocial (family turmoil, early childhood separation, community violence) stressors than do their middle,income counterparts. Prior research on self,reported distress among inner,city minority children is replicated and extended among low,income, rural White children with evidence of higher levels of self, and parent,reported psychological distress, greater difficulties in self,regulatory behavior (delayed gratification), and elevated psychophysiological stress (resting blood pressure, overnight neuroendocrine hormones). Preliminary mediational analyses with cross,sectional data suggest that cumulative stressor exposure may partially account for the well,documented, elevated risk of socioemotional difficulties accompanying poverty. [source] | ||||||||||||||||