A social-cognitive-ecological framework for understanding the impact of exposure to persistent ethnic-political violence on children's psychosocial adjustment

In this article, we describe a theoretical framework for understanding how persistent and extreme exposure to ethnic-political conflict and violence interacts with cognitive, emotional, and self processes to influence children's psychosocial adjustment. Three recent strands of theorizing guide our approach. First, we focus on how observational and social learning processes combine to influence the development of social-cognitive structures and processes that affect behavior. Second, we focus on the role of developing self and identity processes in shaping the child's interactions with the world and the consequences of those interactions. Third, we build on the complex systems perspective on development and assume that human development can only be understood accurately by examining how the multiple contexts affecting children and the adults in their lives interact to moderate biosocial factors which predispose individuals to develop in certain directions. We review the recent empirical literature on children's exposure to ethnic-political violence and we apply the social-cognitive-ecological framework to the empirical findings in this literature. Finally, we propose future directions for research and clinical implications derived from this framework.

Violence exposure and the association between young African American mothers' discipline and child problem behavior

OBJECTIVE

Children of adolescent mothers are at increased risk of violence exposure and behavior problems, which have been linked to mothers' disciplinary practices. This study examines how the effect of young African American mothers' discipline on their preschool-age children's externalizing and internalizing behavior varies by mother and child violence exposure.

METHODS

A sample of 230 African American mothers who gave birth as adolescents and their 3- to 6-year-old children were recruited from community-based day care and primary health care sites in the Washington, DC, metropolitan region. In-person interviews were conducted by trained research assistants who administered standard survey instruments.

RESULTS

Hierarchical regression models revealed an interaction effect such that adolescent mothers' harsh disciplinary practices, specifically physical discipline strategies, were positively associated with young children's internalizing and externalizing behavior in the context of high or moderate, but not low, maternal violence exposure.

CONCLUSIONS

Compared with less violence-exposed mothers, the harsh disciplinary practices of young African American mothers who have been exposed to high levels of violence are more strongly associated with their children's problem behavior. Practitioners should screen mothers for violence exposure in order to address potential issues of discipline and behavior problems.

Violence exposure, a chronic psychosocial stressor, and childhood lung function

OBJECTIVE

Chronic psychosocial stressors, including violence, and neuropsychological and behavioral development in children as well as physiologic alterations that may lead to broader health effects.

METHODS

We studied the relationship between violence and childhood lung function in a prospective birth cohort of 313 urban children (age range = 6-7 years). Mothers reported on their child's lifetime exposure to community violence (ETV) and interparental conflict in the home (Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS)) within 1 year of the lung function assessment.

RESULTS

In linear regression analyses, adjusting for maternal education, child's age, race, birthweight, tobacco smoke exposure, and medical history, girls in the highest CTS verbal aggression tertile had a 5.5% (95% confidence interval (CI) = -9.6, -1.5) decrease in percent predicted forced expiratory volume (FEV(1)) and a 5.4% (95% CI = -9.7, -1.1) decrease in forced vital capacity (FVC) compared with girls in the lowest tertile. The CTS verbal aggression subscale was associated with lung function among boys in the same direction, albeit this was not statistically significant. Boys in the highest ETV tertile had a 3.4% (95% CI = -8.0, 1.1) lower FEV(1) and 5.3% lower FVC (95% CI = -10.2, -0.4) compared with boys in the lowest tertile. The ETV score was not a significant predictor of girls' lung function.

CONCLUSIONS

Interparental conflict, specifically verbal aggression, and ETV were associated with decreased childhood lung function independent of socioeconomic status, tobacco smoke exposure, birthweight, and respiratory illness history. Gender differences were noted based on the type of violence exposure, which may warrant further exploration.

Preadolescents' report of exposure to violence: association with friends' and own substance use

PURPOSE

To evaluate whether children's Exposure to Violence (EV) is associated with their own or their friends' use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs (ATOD).

METHODS

The Violence Exposure Scale for Children-Revised (VEX-R) and the Substance Exposure Assessment (SXA) were given to 104 children participating in a longitudinal study of in-utero cocaine exposure (IUCE) at age 8.5, 9.5, and 11 years. Survival analyses evaluated the association of the quartile of VEX total score (higher scores indicating more violence exposure) at age 8.5 years, with time to first report of their own and their friends' use of ATOD from age 8.5-11 years.

RESULTS

The sample consisted of 90% African-American/Caribbean children (mean age 8.5 years, SD 3 years), 53% males, and 49% with IUCE. The percentage of children who reported having substance-using friends was 12% at 8.5 years, 25% by 9.5 years, and 45% by 11 years. In multivariate survival analyses controlling for caregiver type, IUCE category, and child gender, children in the upper quartile of VEX-R total score at age 8.5 years were at significantly greater risk of having reported friends' use of ATOD by age 11 compared to those in the first through third quartiles (hazard ratio = 2.2; 95% CI = 1.14, 4.23; p = .02). Quartiles of the VEX score, however, were not significantly associated with children's acknowledgment of their own use (p = .85).

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings suggest an association between EV in childhood and report of peer ATOD use at school age. Campaigns to prevent ATOD use should address the impact of childhood exposure to violence.

Prenatal cocaine exposure and children's language functioning at 6 and 9.5 years: moderating effects of child age, birthweight, and gender

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate whether prenatal cocaine exposure (PCE), or the interaction between PCE and contextual variables, is associated with children's language at age 6 and 9.5 years, adjusting for relevant covariates.

METHODS

Analyses were based on 160 low-income, urban children from a prospective study who completed a standardized language assessment at 6 and 9.5 years. PCE was determined using neonatal meconium assays and maternal self-report.

RESULTS

Significant interaction effects of PCE on language outcomes were found in multivariate longitudinal analyses using generalized estimating equations (GEE). Children with PCE had lower receptive language than unexposed children at 6 but not at 9.5 years, lower expressive language if they had lower birthweight, and lower expressive and total language if they were female. Other risk (e.g., violence exposure) and protective factors (e.g., preschool experience) were related to language outcomes regardless of PCE status.

CONCLUSIONS

Age, birthweight, and gender moderated the relation between PCE and school-aged children's language.