“We Are Raising Our Children in Fear”: War, Community Violence, and Parenting Practices in El Salvador

Abstract

Unprecedented gang violence in El Salvador places children and their families at high risk for experiencing multiple traumas. The influence of lifetime exposure to community violence on parenting practices and parent–child relationships among Salvadoran parents was examined using a mixed-methods approach. Thirty-six parents and primary caregivers of elementary school children living in urban areas of El Salvador participated in 4 focus groups and completed the Los Angeles Community Violence Checklist ( LACVC). All participants reported direct exposure or witnessing at least ≥2 violent events ( M = 6; SD = 2.58), indicating substantial direct and indirect lifetime exposure to violence. Predominant themes in the group discussions included parents’ experiences with the past civil war, the unpredictable nature of current community violence and its negative effects on children and parent–child relationships, as well as the adaptive and maladaptive parenting practices employed to raise their children in violent contexts. Parents also underscored the need for professional psychological support for their children and positive parenting education. Possible implications for clinical practice with Central American parents living in El Salvador and in the United States are discussed.

Child trauma exposure and subsequent emotional functioning in El Salvador.

“…It is also possible that the study sample of parents who are engaged in taking their children to the museum, may also be parents who try to take proactive methods to shield their children from the impact of growing up around violence and/or who utilized adaptive parenting practices described by Rojas-Flores et al (2013). The high preference for use of religious leaders in the current study is consistent with findings from focus groups with parents that described a positive influence of religion, noting that their use of prayer as was a way to buffer the negative impact of violence (Rojas-Flores et al, 2013). The connection with the church and church-related social activities, role of positive relationships with grandparents, and the educational and social offerings at the museum may also negate the impact in other areas of emotional, conduct, and peer-related problems.…”

“…We hypothesized that there would be high rates of exposure to traumatic and stressful life events for Salvadorian children and that exposure to multiple trauma types would be associated with higher levels of PTSS and greater emotional dysfunction. Given research that suggests that Salvadorian parents recognized the impact of violence exposure on their children (Rojas-Flores et al, 2013), we hypothesized that parents of youth who had greater trauma exposure and higher PTSD and emotional dysfunction would report greater need to seek treatment.…”

Low-Income Urban Filipino Mothers’ Experiences With Community Violence

“…Similar to previous findings on the coping processes of poor Filipinos (Tuason, 2010, 2011), mothers in this study recognized that mere prayers are not enough, and that they should be accompanied with active parenting and coping strategies. The instrumental role of religiosity and spirituality has been found in other cultures as well (Mattis, 2002; Rojas-Flores et al, 2013), suggesting the importance of examining both universal and unique cultural elements that explain the utility of religious or spiritual coping in the context of adversity.…”

Post-war, peri-youth: Physical and social remnants of the Tajik Civil War in childhood environments

“…In interviewee accounts, social and physical remnants of militarism and conflict were present and visible in their childhoods, yet it was only the passage of time that gave interviewees a greater understanding of the atypicality of their environments compared with the childhoods of those pre- and post-war and recovery (Rojas-Flores et al, 2013). The long process of awareness is elaborated on by Bamdad:Every day I would walk to school during those years [after the Civil War].…”