Examined the role of availability of family support in moderating the negative effects of exposure to community violence on internalizing symptoms. Participants were 75 low-income African American children between the ages of 10 and 15. Two measures of availability of family support (mother's presence in the home and family size) were evaluated as moderators of the relations between exposure to community violence and depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. After controlling for age, sex, and concurrent life stress, mother's presence in the home moderated the relation between exposure to community violence and depressive symptoms but not the relation between exposure to community violence and PTSD symptoms. Children living in mother-absent families were at increased risk of depressive symptoms as exposure to community violence increased. In addition, family size approached significance as a moderator of depressive symptoms but not PTSD symptoms, revealing a trend toward children from smaller families being at increased risk of depressive symptoms as exposure to community violence increased. These findings suggest that although availability of family support is an important moderator for depressive symptoms, this is not the case for PTSD symptoms.

Children in kindergarten and Grades 1, 3, and 5 (N = 160) were isolated for 2-min study periods, during which they were free to manipulate pictures of categorized objects (animals, furniture, etc.) which were later to be recalled. The 3 younger groups showed a production deficiency but no mediation deficiency in this task situation: (1) except when assisted to do so by hints or instructions, they tended not to rearrange the pictures into spatial groups by class membership during the study periods, a study tactic which the oldest Ss tended to adopt spontaneously; (2) given such assistance, however, the resulting increase in study period manual clustering was accompanied by a decided increase in subsequent recall. (18 ref.)

This study examined the function of approach and avoidant coping on the relations between exposure to violence and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. The sample included seventy African-American, inner-city children (ages eleven to fourteen). Tests of moderating effects investigated the mechanism of two avoidant coping strategies, cognitive distraction and behavioral avoidance. Cognitive distraction was found to moderate the level of violence exposure such that, as violence increased, the use of cognitive distraction was related to an increased frequency of cognitive arousal. Behavioral avoidance moderated violence such that, under higher exposure to violence, the lowered use of behavioral avoidance was related to an increased frequency of behavioral arousal. Tests of moderating effects examined the function of two approach strategies, problem-solving and social support. Neither strategy showed significant effects. This study provided a first-step in the examination of coping within inner-city children.

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