Testing a social ecological model for relations between political violence and child adjustment in Northern Ireland

Abstract

Relations between political violence and child adjustment are matters of international concern. Past research demonstrates the significance of community, family and child psychological processes in child adjustment, supporting study of inter-relations between multiple social ecological factors and child adjustment in contexts of political violence. Testing a social ecological model, 300 mothers and their children (M= 12.28 years, SD = 1.77) from Catholic and Protestant working class neighborhoods in Belfast, Northern Ireland completed measures of community discord, family relations, and children’s regulatory processes (i.e., emotional security) and outcomes. Historical political violence in neighborhoods based on objective records (i.e., politically motivated deaths) were related to family members’ reports of current sectarian and non-sectarian antisocial behavior. Interparental conflict and parental monitoring and children’s emotional security about both the community and family contributed to explanatory pathways for relations between sectarian antisocial behavior in communities and children’s adjustment problems. The discussion evaluates support for social ecological models for relations between political violence and child adjustment and its implications for understanding relations in other parts of the world.

Cumulative Effects of Exposure to Violence on Posttraumatic Stress in Palestinian and Israeli Youth

“…Exposure to ethnic-political conflict and violence has deleterious impacts on children (e.g., Betancourt et al, 2010; Cummings et al, 2010; Kithakye et al, 2010; Qouta, Punamaki, & El Sarraj, 2008). Researchers most often have been concerned with effects on post-traumatic stress (PTS).…”

Parenting Control in Contexts of Political Violence: Testing Bidirectional Relations Between Violence Exposure and Control in Post-Accord Belfast

“…It follows then that this increased concern about non-sectarian violence may be more salient to mothers in these areas, resulting in more stress induced from child and adolescent exposure to this form of violence and more vigilance in response to this type of violence. Another possibility is that the impact of sectarian community violence may spillover in other ways, such as increasing marital conflict (Cummings et al, 2010). …”

“…This response makes sense in this context as sectarian violence in Northern Ireland is targeted at individuals based on their ethno-political identification as Catholic or Protestant. Furthermore, in comparison to nonsectarian community antisocial behavior, sectarian antisocial behavior has been shown to have differential effects on family functioning in the form of increased marital conflict and parental monitoring in a cross-sectional sample (Cummings, Merrilees, Schermerhorn, Goeke-Morey, Shirlow & Cairns, 2010). …”

Youth in contexts of political violence: A developmental approach to the study of youth identity and emotional security in their communities.

“…Emotional security about community has been shown in cross-sectional and three-wave longitudinal tests to mediate the impact of sectarian, but not nonsectarian, antisocial behavior on youth internalizing and externalizing problems (Cummings et al, 2011; Cummings et al, 2010a, 2010b). Emotional security in the family system has also been shown to be an important mediating process for child adjustment in the face of sectarian violence (Cummings et al, 2012; Cummings et al, 2010b).…”