The Effects of Family and Community Violence on Children

Abstract

This review examines theoretical and empirical literature on children's reactions to three types of violence--child maltreatment, community violence, and interparental violence. In addition to describing internalizing and externalizing problems associated with exposure to violence, this review identifies ways that violence can disrupt typical developmental trajectories through psychobiological effects, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), cognitive consequences, and peer problems. Methodological challenges in this literature include high rates of co-occurrence among types of violence exposure, co-occurrence of violence with other serious life adversities, heterogeneity in the frequency, severity, age of onset, and chronicity of exposure, and difficulties in making causal inferences. A developmental psychopathology perspective focuses attention on how violence may have different effects at different ages and may compromise children's abilities to face normal developmental challenges. Emphasis is placed on the variability of children's reactions to violence, on outcomes that go beyond diagnosable disorders, and on variables that mediate and moderate children's reactions to violence.

Risk Factors for Community Violence Exposure in Adolescence

“…It is important to note that the youth behaviors examined as risk factors for community violence in this study also have been identified as consequences of community violence exposure (Margolin & Gordis, 2000). Taken together, this research suggests that there are reciprocal associations between youth characteristics and exposure to violence.…”

Spatial Proximity to Incidents of Community Violence Is Associated with Fewer Suicides in Urban California

“…This study offers numerous strengths over previous studies of the association between exposure to community violence and suicide [8][9][10][11][23][24][25] by estimating easily interpretable risk difference parameters, employing objective exposure and outcome measures, and utilizing comprehensive statewide data at fine geographic and temporal resolution. A primary limitation of previous studies is that exposure to community violence is highly correlated with other life adversity (poverty, neighborhood deprivation, domestic violence, lack of access to social services) at the individual and community levels, and disentangling these effects is challenging.…”

“…6,7 Previous research among adolescents has shown that exposure to violence can increase suicidality. [8][9][10][11] However, these studies were generally limited to small samples, utilized self-reported measures of violence exposure and suicide-related outcomes, and assessed suicidal ideation or attempt rather than completed suicides.…”

Auto-regulação da aprendizagem em crianças e adolescentes filhos de vítimas de violência doméstica contra mulheres

“…Filhos de vítimas de violência doméstica contra mulheres apresentam maior risco de apresentarem défi-ces de competências sociais (Edleson & Gewirtz, 2007;Karreman, Tujil, Aken, & Dekovic, 2006;Margolin & Gordis, 2000), emocionais (Hirigoyen, 1999;Kitzmann et al, 2003;Wolfe et al, 2003) de resolução de problemas (Graham-Bermann & Levendosky, 1998) e dificuldades académicas (Halford, Sanders, & Behrens, 2001;Noble et al, 2005). Os níveis elevados de reactividade comportamental associados (Margolin, 1998) causam prejuízo no desenvolvimento neurocognitivo (Margolin & Gordis, 2000;Noble et al, 2005) e supressão ambiental do Q.I. (Koenen, Moffitt, Caspi, Taylor, & Purcell, 2003).…”